As our Community Social Work Centre team has formed, it has become clear that since the start of the invasion there is a very limited understanding of the current state of social and community support services within the district of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine. To fill this gap, the local social workers’ team, in cooperation with IFSW, has started mapping the support services across the province.
Our first target is to map if the NGO support services that were active before the war are still in existence, to assess what services they may be able to offer to the public, what professional staff expertise they may have, and what support they may need.
In this initial stage we are interested to identify the support and care services that could be included and coordinated within the broader social work response, and also to identify those services that can be connected with the European networks for support.
This mapping and investigation will be a critical first stage in developing a social diagnostic understanding of the province. Such a framework will identify capacities and strengths within the communities that could be reinforced, built upon, or replicated to extend social protection. The analysis will also identify the more vulnerable communities and/or populations, and involve them and the wider communities in identifying and co-building solutions that also provide social and economic protection for them.
Over the next days and weeks, as this process continues, meetings with the regional and local NGOs will be held at the Centre. We look forward to working with them in identifying their needs and resources for the short and long term, as well as hearing how they may be able to contribute to this broader vision for social and economic development.
For more information, visit: https://www.ifsw.org/social-work-in-ukraine/