The Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, the Ministry of Education and Science, in partnership with the Swiss-Ukrainian project DECIDE, have launched an initiative to rebuild schools called DECIDE: Rebuilding.

The initiative provides communities in Chernihiv, Poltava and Odesa regions with the opportunity to attract grant funding to repair school shelters and turn them into modern educational hubs.

The initiative was launched yesterday, 25 July, with the participation of Oleksandra Azarkhina, Deputy Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine.

"This is a crucial initiative, especially on the eve of the start of the school year. After all, a restored school or kindergarten is one of the key conditions for restoring life in the affected communities and returning Ukrainians home. There is still a lot of work to be done: 1,781 schools were damaged or destroyed as a result of the full-scale invasion. We are also using funds from the Fund for the Elimination of the Consequences of Armed Aggression, EIB loans, grants from UNOPS, UNDP Ukraine and directly from communities to finance the reconstruction of schools. Thanks to this cooperation, 404 schools have already been restored. It is critical that the reconstruction is carried out in a transparent and accountable manner, using the DREAM system - the State Digital Ecosystem for Recovery Management. We have already entered 213 school reconstruction projects worth UAH 7.6 billion into the system," said Oleksandra Azarkhina.

As part of the Initiative, it is planned to repair school shelters in 25 communities in Chernihiv, Poltava and Odesa regions.

The plans are expected to provide at least 15,000 students with access to education in the shelters.

The communities selected to participate in the Initiative will receive the following:

• grant for the construction of a shelter and the creation of an educational hub on its basis;
• expert support in the process of shelter construction;
• training in project management and fundraising;
• project management training for school teams.

Details on how to apply for the initiative are available here: https://cutt.ly/AwavvEJh.

The total budget of the Initiative is UAH 172 million.

Background information

DECIDE is a Swiss-Ukrainian project Decentralisation for Improved Democratic Education. It aims to support education reforms and decentralisation processes to develop an effective education management system in Ukraine. DECIDE is implemented with the support of Switzerland, represented by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).