New life – new business: internally displaced family received a grant for own business thanks to the project Rokada
The Poslavskyi family displaced from Kherson region to Mykolaiv region. This happened in May 2022. Then Hennadii and Iryna, together with the families of their adult children, evacuated from the occupation and settled in Voznesensk.
Before the full-scale invasion, the spouses had two businesses: Hennadii provided services in the field of information technology, and Iryna was engaged in accounting.
“We left the occupation on May 1, 2022. All our property remained in Nova Kakhovka: an apartment, the children’s apartments, an office. We took with us only our businesses and continued to work in our fields,” tells Hennadii.
Already in their new place, the family set up a vegetable garden. They say it was their way of calming the nervous system.
“Nature helps a lot. And eventually, this stress therapy grew into a new business. Today, we have a chicken coop, a greenhouse, and over 20 hundred square meters of garden beds, where we grow almost everything,” adds Iryna Poslavska.
Since 2023, the woman has served as the Deputy Head of the Council for Internally Displaced Persons under the Executive Committee of the Voznesensk City Council. That was exactly how she learned about the agricultural course at the ‘Heart of the Community’ Resilience Hub, managed by the Rokada Charitable Foundation, and suggested that her husband join the training with her.
For the couple, the course was an opportunity to gain new knowledge and connect with people who already had practical farming experience.
“We were deeply interested in both the training itself and the group of people that gathered. These were individuals who already had greenhouses, land plots, and prior experience in farming. This exchange of knowledge became truly valuable,” says Iryna, noting that even after completing the course, the group stays in touch and the participants continue to advise one another.
The training at the ‘Heart of the Community’ Resilience Hub gave the Poslavskyi family more than just knowledge—it allowed them to develop an idea and apply for a grant. As a result, their project, ‘Our Homestead Plot,’ secured support and funding for its implementation.
“The family was able to purchase equipment and materials necessary to expand their farm: a wood chipper for mulching garden beds, a multi-position ladder for orchard and greenhouse work, as well as small greenhouses and watering hoses,” specifies Yevheniia Boikova, the educational program manager.
Already this summer, Hennadii and Iryna have harvested strawberries, zucchini, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and orchard fruits.
“We sold part of the harvest, and processed and canned the rest. We also use the harvested crops to feed the poultry in our chicken coop. This is how the farm became an integrated system where we use what we grow as efficiently as possible,” Hennadii states.
Kateryna Matsko, the coordinator of the Mykolaiv regional office of Rokada, shares that the Poslavskyi family’s story is by no means the only example of participants achieving success through professional courses in the Voznesensk community.
“Currently, in the Voznesensk community, we have six beneficiaries who have successfully defended their business ideas and are waiting for their equipment. As part of this professional course, grants of up to 50,000 UAH are awarded in kind. Within this budget, the grant recipients draft a list of the equipment they need to launch or scale their projects,” Kateryna Matsko explains.
Ahead for the family Poslavskyi is the implementation of new ideas. The spouses plan to install a second greenhouse and try to grow untypical for the region berry and vegetable crops. The first, by the way, was managed to set up also at the expense of a grant.
The project “Building Resilience and Supporting Vulnerable Individuals and Organizations in Southern Ukraine (BRAVE)” is implemented by the Rokada Charitable Foundation with the financial support of the German government through AWO International and Aktion Deutschland Hilft.
