Community Recovery Academy | the final stage of the educational project training municipal managers for the recovery period

The half-year journey is almost over. The first enrolment of the global Community Recovery Academy project is now reaching the finish line, with four intensive training modules, dozens of lectures from the leading experts, hours of practical work and discussions completed.

Ahead is the final workshop, where each community will present its key work – the Community Recovery Profile.

From theory to practical solutions

The global Community Recovery Academy project was founded by the Association of Ukrainian Cities and the NGO “Mariupol.Reborn” to train municipal managers for the recovery period. The project is supported by the UK Government through the UK International Development programme and the International Republican Institute IRI Ukraine in partnership with Metinvest and SCM. Academic partners of the project are Metinvest Polytechnic and the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

The course brought together 110 participants from 37 communities of Ukraine. De-occupied, frontline and temporarily occupied territories – these communities gathered together to gain the required knowledge, to share experiences and to create a foundation for future recovery.

The training included four key modules featuring lectures (including open lectures) by leading Ukrainian and international experts, as well as forums and workshops with participation of state officials, experts and the international community:

·        Strategy for the community: national and international level

·        Economic modelling, recovery of cities and territories

·        Preservation of community, returning people and overcoming social conflicts

·        Project resources and investment attraction

Each of these blocks provided participants with a deep understanding of current challenges and actual opportunities for recovery of their communities.

The training will culminate in a workshop where participants will finalise and present their findings – the Recovery Community Profile. This will be not just a document, but a strategic roadmap for each community, containing a vision, mission, step-by-step action plan and real projects for future development. This project marks the practical outcome of the entire course and forms the basis for real changes in the communities.

Impact and future

The first enrolment of the Academy has already shown its effectiveness: graduates became recovery managers for their communities, ready for practical challenges. Not only did they gain knowledge, but also insights from real-life cases, experience of colleagues and international experts that can already be used today.

“The team of the Mariupol municipality launched the Community Recovery Academy as a strategically important project that gives Ukrainian managers a chance to get unique knowledge from the best foreign and international educators. Ukraine is in dire need of qualified, interested and motivated managers who are ready to roll up their sleeves and work hard to build economically strong and comfortable communities,”  said Vadym Boichenko, founder of the Community Recovery Academy and Mayor of Mariupol.

We are not waiting for changes, we are creating them. Together we are building strong communities for strong Ukraine!