The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine together with the International Labor Organization (ILO) presented a new joint pilot project called “Economic Empowerment of Women as a Response to the COVID-19 Crisis in Ukraine,” the communications department of the UNDP in Ukraine said.
It says that he project aims to contribute to a sustainable recovery of living standards of the COVID-19 crisis-affected population in Ukraine by promoting and supporting women’s economic empowerment. This is to be done by improving the relevant institutional frameworks, and increasing economic opportunities to improve women’s livelihoods. The project will be implemented in two target regions of Ukraine – Rivne and Sumy regions.
UNDP Resident Representative to Ukraine Dafina Gercheva, speaking at the launch of the joint project, said that it aims to address shortcomings that were exposed by the pandemic, and to scale up efforts to support vulnerable groups.
“The promotion of women’s economic empowerment is a crucial step that brings us closer to gender equality. I’m confident that this project will serve as a starting point for a great partnership, promoting equal economic opportunities, and supporting women’s economic resilience – despite the formidable challenges the current crisis is posing,” Gercheva said.
In turn, Director of the ILO Office for Central and Eastern Europe, Markus Pilgrim, noted that access to the labor market is a key issue in Ukraine – 36 percent of women between 15-64 years are outside the labor force.
“The pandemic sharpened the existing problems of the Ukrainian labor market. In times of crisis, entrepreneurship constitutes an important and sometimes unique opportunity for women to get out of poverty, but could also lead to further improvements – decent employment, gender equality and economic empowerment,” Pilgrim said.
It is noted that this project is all about promoting gender equality and women empowerment at all levels, including national, sub-national and community levels.
The joint project has a total of four activities with several sub-activities, holistically addressing the topic on the macro-, meso-, and micro levels. Besides several events to encourage inclusive policy dialogue, four local communities and two Business Membership Organizations will be supported to strengthen their portfolio to support women-led businesses.
The project would provide 100 women with training to advance their entrepreneurial skills by applying modules of the world’s largest entrepreneurship development program.
Afterwards, 25 women-entrepreneurs will receive mentoring assistance to certify their business or other related activities. Furthermore, 25 micro-, small and medium enterprises are selected to receive e-commerce training in the target regions.
Over the past two years, the prosecutor’s office has initiated 560 criminal cases on the fact of unlawful acts committed by law enforcement officers. And only six of them were brought an accusation.
Former Interior Minister of Ukraine Anatoliy Mohyliov said this at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Tuesday, noting that no one in the Interior Ministry today is watching the punishment of persons who have committed violation of the law.
“The complete absence of departmental control over violators within the system gives rise to permissiveness and undermines the foundations of the entire state. Remember the murder at the post of a policeman in 2015 – the suspects were detained, they were charged, after which … everyone was released! When persons involved in such a grave crime calmly walk down the street and work, including in government agencies, this is nonsense!” the ex-minister noted.
The ex-head of the Kyiv district police department, Denys Yaroslavsky, in turn, recalled the case with the service center of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in Kharkiv region. According to him, in November 2020, as part of an ongoing investigation, journalists were able to obtain fake license plates of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, medical certificates of suitability for driving in the name of the head of the Kharkiv region police, Police General Valeriy Sokurenko, a certificate with a photo of SBU Chairman Ivan Bakanov and ex-Deputy Head of the President’s Office of Ukraine Serhiy Trofimov. Moreover, without the presence of the officials themselves. All this was made in the premises of the regional service center of the Interior Ministry in Kharkiv region. After reviewing the materials, Denys Yaroslavsky on the air in November 2020 transferred the relevant documents, testifying to numerous corruption actions in the system of service centers, to Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko. The latter promised to study and go into the matter.
According to journalist Ihor Lesev, after the broadcast of the materials of the journalistic investigation, a group of companies led by Serhiy Vakulenko (as a part of Vip-Expert LLC, Region-Expert LLC, Transkom-plus LLC) moved from the building of the service center of the Interior Ministry to another office. None of the responsible persons of the service centers or the main department of the National Police in Kharkiv region incurred any responsibility for the production of false medical certificates, fake registration numbers of vehicles and illegal transactions of its purchase and sale. At the same time, only the non-payment of the lease by Vakulenko’s group caused damage exceeding UAH 200,000 to the service centers in Kharkiv.
According to another participant in the press conference, ex-military prosecutor of Ukraine Ihor Serkov, while the suspects in the journalistic investigation have not been announced they are suspected of committing a crime with the election of an appropriate preventive measure, the violations mentioned in the film are abstract.
“If the employees of the service centers and the officials of the main department of the National Police in Kharkiv region associated with them, suspected of corruption and illegal actions, are not punished, there is no guarantee that this scheme will not find its continuation in the very near future. The main principle is lost – the inevitability of punishment of suspects,” Serkov said.
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The plan of the Big Construction program as of mid-November 2020 was already completed by 87%, the Big Construction project office at the President’s Office of Ukraine has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“For all of us, Big Construction is, first of all, a significant managerial and media challenge. Some 87% of completed objects speak for themselves – this is an absolute record of completion for all the years of independence. By the end of the year, they should approach 95%,” Deputy Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said.
According to the office, by mid-November, work was completed at the following facilities: schools – 93%, state roads – 92%, kindergartens – 89%, sports facilities – 87%, local roads – 81%, piece structures – 78%.
In total, within the framework of the Big Construction program, announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in early 2020, it was planned to update and build 6,500 km of state and local roads, more than 150 artificial structures, 100 schools, 100 kindergartens, 100 sports facilities.
According to Tymoshenko, in 2021, in addition to the continuation of current projects (roads, schools, medical institutions, etc.), new infrastructure areas will be added to the Big Construction program: updating checkpoints on the borders of Ukraine and their entrances, a government program for affordable housing, public-private partnership projects in the medical field, the development and renewal of regional aviation infrastructure.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on September 18 adopted bill No. 3991 on amendments to the state budget. The matter concerns the allocation of UAH 3.16 billion of unused state funds for infrastructure projects, a significant part of which is unfinished construction.
Kovalska Industrial and Construction Group intends to invest $ 70 million in the construction of five business centers in the Unit.City innovation park, CEO of the group Serhiy Pylypenko has said at a press briefing.
“The Kovalska team will undertake the construction of a cluster, which, in particular, will include five business campuses with a total area of 70,000 square meters. Investments in the development of the innovation park from the group will exceed $70 million. The project is expected to be completed in four years,” a press release from the company says.
Pylypenko noted, joining the project as a 100% campus investor will allow the company to gain a foothold in the status of a professional commercial real estate developer.
All properties are expected to be certified according to the Leed Silver green standard. To develop the projects, Kovalska involved the Polish architectural bureau APA Wojcoechowski and the international engineering company TEBIN.
“Thanks to its financial, technical resources and its construction capabilities, Kovalska fully takes control of this project – from the concept to the completion of construction and management,” Pylypenko said, stressing that the company is a 100% investor in the project.
According to the founder of UFuture holding, Vasyl Khmelnytsky, who is quoted by the press service, the Unit.City project has been implemented only by 7%. Attracting powerful strategic partners to the development of this project will provide an opportunity to bring it to the global level in 2023.
Double liability company Interchem (Odesa) and PrJSC Darnitsa pharmaceutical firm (Kyiv), together with the Zagoriy Foundation, have implemented a project to drain the foundations and walls of the Saint Sophia’s Cathedral and adjacent monasteries from excess moisture using the BioDry Swiss technology.
Director General of the Sophia of Kyiv national conservation area Nelia Kukovalska said at the presentation of the project on Wednesday, the project cost was UAH 4 million, the pharmaceutical companies provided UAH 2 million each.
“At present, the humidity of the walls and foundations of the Saint Sophia’s Cathedral is three to four times higher than it is normal. The use of BioDry technology will reduce the humidity by a third during the first year, and within three to four years it will reach the normal humidity of the monument,” she said.
Kukovalska said that currently BioDry equipment is installed in all monuments of the Saint Sophia’s Cathedral.
“The walls of the cathedral do not have waterproofing and are being damaged. When we learned about the threat to the Saint Sophia’s Cathedral due to excessive moisture, we did not hesitate for a second. We were able to find partners with whom we implemented this project. Today, we see moisture leaving the walls, Sophia he is “recovering.” We are glad that we helped the main symbol of spirituality to survive,” Director General of the pharmaceutical company Interchem Anatoliy Reder said.
In turn, Board Chairman of Darnitsa Group Dmytro Shymkiv said that for the implementation of the project the most innovative solution was found, which is used to preserve cultural monuments in the world.
“This technology is biocompatible with the environment. It already works and naturally eliminates the prime cause of moisture in the foundation and walls,” he said.
Co-founder of the Zagoriy Foundation Kateryna Zagoriy said that “the reconstruction of the Saint Sophia’s Cathedral during the time of Ivan Mazepa was a symbol of the restoration of Ukraine after the Ruins.”
“I am confident that this joint project of the pharmaceutical companies will become another important step towards restoring the culture of charity in our country,” she said.
For his part, Eustratius (Zorya), Deputy Head of the External Church Relations department of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) said that at present in Ukraine “a huge number of churches are being destroyed.”
“It is important for Ukrainian society to form a culture of patronage. With all due respect to the state, the patron will always invest more effectively in projects. We, the OCU, are working to attract patrons through the structures that our church has created, including through the Mazepa Foundation created by the Metropolitan’s Foundation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine to implement projects for the preservation and support of monuments. We have a huge number of monuments, more than the number of patrons,” he said.
Eustratius said that, despite the fact that “over the past 30 years, much has been done to revive churches, hundreds of churches throughout Ukraine need to be taken care of, and dozens of churches require prompt intervention to preserve them.”
“Usually these are churches that are located in villages. They are in such a state that local communities are not able to support them,” he said.
Kukovalska said that the Bursa (Seminary) building on the territory of the Saint Sophia’s Cathedral is currently in the most critical condition, the cost of restoration of which is about UAH 162 million.
“Today, there is a big problem that has not been resolved for years and can lead to the destruction of the 17th century monument. Unfortunately, the tenant has not left for two years, he does not vacate the premises. We fear that in the near future serious destruction may occur, some of the premises will perish,” she said.
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation together with the Health Ministry of Ukraine have launched the project titled “Mental Health in Ukraine”, Deputy Health Minister Iryna Sadoviak said.
“Last week, with the assistance of the Ministry of Health, the project “Mental Health in Ukraine” was launched. On behalf of the ministry, I would like to emphasize the importance of the project and cooperation with international partners, in particular, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, which is the implementer of the project,” she said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.
The deputy minister said that the ministry alongside prepares an action plan to implement the concept of psychiatric care development.
“In 2018, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a concept for the psychiatric care development by a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers. It provides for the creation of a holistic system of mental health care and elaboration of all effective routes for the patient. The concept provides that the focus of psychiatric care will be on an outpatient level, rather than in hospitals. In the near future, the ministry will present an action plan to implement this concept,” she said.
“I would like to draw attention to the fact that in Ukraine psychiatric care is focused on the provision of inpatient care. There are 56 mental hospitals in total, with 27,000 beds. This is a large number. To switch to outpatient care, we work on changing the patient’s routes. Most patients who stay in hospitals, they don’t need such help, they need social support. The project that we are implementing includes stages of intersectoral cooperation. We will attract communities, social protection departments, the Ministry of Education. To effectively provide assistance in psychiatry, it is necessary to identify problems on the primary level,” the deputy minister said.
