DECIDE Project shared its experience in implementing «DECIDE: RECONSTRUCTION» initiative at the conference on safe education
DREAM electronic system (State Digital Ecosystem for Recovery Management) and community projects for school and shelter restoration were discussed at the conference Safe Education: Presentation of New DREAM Functionality for Financial Programs. The event was attended by representatives of the government, DREAM team, and local and regional authorities.
During the conference, Valentyna Poltorak, manager of the Swiss-Ukrainian Project DECIDE, spoke about the successful experience of implementing «DECIDE: RECONSTRUCTION» initiative in Poltava, Odesa, and Chernihiv Regions.
«Thanks to the Swiss government, we launched “DECIDE: RECONSTRUCTION” initiative and decided to create pilot projects in different types of communities. We mostly work in small rural and settlement communities and we understood that such communities do not have a high capacity to develop project documentation and oversee the reconstruction. Therefore, we have formed a group of construction experts, including engineers, architects, as well as financiers and lawyers, who accompany this process», — said Valentyna Poltorak.
Switzerland allocates 170 million hryvnias for the reconstruction of schools to provide safe education in shelters for children during the air raid alert. In many regions, students stay in the shelters for 3-4 hours, as air raid alerts often sound during the day.
In the summer of 2023, DECIDE Project selected communities to participate in the initiative, and DECIDE is currently implementing 27 projects. In particular, it repairs 24 shelters in schools, creating full-fledged underground educational spaces, comprehensively restores school No. 13 in Chernihiv, and reconstructs the inclusive resource center in Borodianka, Kyiv Region, on the basis of which, in particular, an early intervention center will be created.
The schools, communities and local self-governments are involved in «DECIDE: RECONSTRUCTION» initiative. The school teams are involved in planning and designing the spaces and their stuffing.
In addition, DECIDE will soon launch an educational component for local self-governments on social infrastructure reconstruction and project management.
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DECIDE project is implemented by DOCCU NGO and PHZH International Projects in Education with the support of the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine.