UAH 700 thousand of the oblast budget for the implementation of the 1325 Action Plan: Zakarpattia’s experience
In Zakarpattia, the 1325 Coalition has managed to secure funding from the regional budget for the implementation of the 1325 Action Plan for two years in a row. The total amount is over UAH 700 thousand.
In December 2022, on the initiative of the Ukrainian Women’s Fund, the 1325-Zakarpattia Coalition was created, which at that time included 18 NGOs (now there are more than 27). Government agencies and institutions of the social protection system also joined as partners. The Coalition is a network that brings together implementers and stakeholders to implement the National Action Plan for the Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security until 2025.
The document includes specific steps to create conditions for ensuring equal participation of women and men in conflict resolution, peacebuilding and recovery processes.
“Plan 1325 is also about defence and security
According to the secretariat of the 1325-Zakarpattia Coalition, gender expert Marianna Kolodiy, the previous adoption of this action plan was a rather formal process: they simply copied the strategic goals of the National Action Plan. This time, taking into account the realities of the war, the activists decided that the plan should be as practical as possible, involving the participation of NGOs and funding from the regional budget. The deputies were less enthusiastic about the latter.
The first amounts that were proposed to be allocated for the implementation of certain measures were, for example, 40 thousand UAH per year. It is clear that it is better not to allocate these funds, because it is just the appearance of some work,” notes Marianna Kolodiy.
Representatives of the public sector were advised to forget about local budgets or regional budgets, explaining that all the money was spent on defence and security.
And we said that the 1325 Plan is also about defence and security, about the individual security of specific people, about the security of people within the community, within the groups where they work, study or live. The reaction is often the following: “Where is the UN Security Council, in New York, what are they doing? Where are the security challenges or security needs of our community?” “We are trying to show that if you develop an action plan that focuses on the needs, interests and capabilities of local residents, different groups of women and men, you will get a kind of roadmap that will gradually help you respond to security challenges within your community,” notes Marianna Kolodiy.
Emotional discussions continued until July 2023. It got to the point where action plans were adopted everywhere in the regions (usually without funding), but there was no consensus in Zakarpattia. This is because the coalition organisations put pressure on the regional state administration to not adopt the plan if it did not meet their requirements.
In the end, 4 months after the deadline, the Zakarpattia Oblast approved a regional action plan with funding, specific implementers of each measure, and indicators for each task.
It was a kind of victory. A precedent has been set that regional action plans to implement Resolution 1325 can in fact be approved in this format. Involve the general public, civil society organisations from the coalition and beyond. And thus strengthen the implementation of these measures of the regional plan,” says Marianna Kolodiy.
UAH 410 thousand from the budget and more than three million hryvnias from NGOs and donor funds
For 2023, UAH 300 thousand was allocated from the regional budget as part of the implementation of regional target programmes. And about one million hryvnias were to be contributed by NGOs involved in the implementation of the plan. In fact, it turned out that UAH 410 thousand was allocated from the regional budget. And NGOs raised more than three million hryvnias of their own and donor funds.
We planned 68 events and held 72. There were more seminars, trainings and working groups in Uzhhorod. On the contrary, more specific events took place in territorial communities. For example, many activities on prevention of domestic violence took place in Mukachevo, as well as in the Kamianska community. A security audit was conducted in Irshava and Solotvyno.
They created a working group in the community to conduct a security audit with the participation of the first deputy head of the community: they went around the entire community, drew seven routes that they believed needed to be analysed in terms of the security audit methodology, identified key problems in their community, wrote them out and applied to several donors to address these security challenges. “We arranged public transport stops and installed video surveillance cameras in those places in the community where there were the largest crowds of people and sometimes some conflict situations arose,” Marianna Kolodii described in detail.
The Solotvynska Hromada, for example, has set up a safety classroom to teach children about water safety, household safety, fire safety, information safety, mine safety, etc.
The security issues in the action plan cover a wide range of problems: from street lighting and pedestrian crossings to the prevention of domestic violence. The list also includes events for families of servicemen, missing persons and prisoners of war. The list also includes planning work with veterans, responding to challenges related to rehabilitation and mental health support.
For 2024, UAH 300,000 was allocated from the regional budget and it is planned that about one million hryvnias will be raised by NGOs.
The publication was made possible thanks to the support of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands within the framework of the project “Women, Peace, Security: Local Needs, Local Solutions” implemented by the Ukrainian Women’s Fund.
