The Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine will cooperate with the NGO Prostir Mozhlivostey (Window of Opportunities – ed.) in training specialists in supporting war veterans and demobilised persons. They will assist in training, in particular, of the coaching staff of the Veteran Development Centres, where future support specialists will be trained, as well as provide training materials.

A support specialist is the first person to meet veterans upon their return to the community. He or she will provide information and support, advise on obtaining statuses, benefits, services, housing, rehabilitation, employment, starting a business, and provide legal assistance, said Oleksandr Porkhun, acting Minister of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, at a press conference.

He noted that the project to train specialists to support veterans was launched in 2023 as pilot. Based on its results, it was decided to strengthen cooperation with the public sector and make some changes in the approaches to training the specialists themselves.

"Veterans come back from the front as completely different people, because war changes consciousness and behaviour. It is to facilitate the transition to civilian life that we are introducing the institute of a veteran support specialist. After proper training, they will be employed in their communities and will help our Defenders in all their urgent needs. I am grateful to the Prostir Mozhlivostey for their active involvement and comprehensive assistance. I am confident that our cooperation will become a vivid example of how the state and the public can implement effective projects," said Oleksandr Porkhun.

Oksana Koliada, Chair of the Board of the Prostir Mozhlivostey NGO and Coordinator of the Coalition of Veterans' Spaces, spoke in detail about the cooperation with the Ministry of Veterans. In particular, the NGO will prepare all the tools necessary for the successful launch of the project: the methodology for selecting candidates, the work of the Commission, the development of texts, curricula, etc.

"This project is extremely important for our team at Prostir Mozhlivostey. A specialist in support of war veterans and demobilised persons will be a good partner for veterans. By introducing such a tool, the state guarantees them respect and truly high-quality services. This is our common task with the Ministry of Veterans," said Oksana Koliada.

In his turn, Deputy Minister for Veterans Affairs of Ukraine Maksym Kushnir presented a roadmap for the implementation of the project of a specialist to support war veterans and demobilised persons in Ukraine - the main stages, mechanisms, timeframes, etc.

"In total, the project envisages training up to 11,000 veterans' support specialists, and by the end of 2024, we should have graduated about 3,000 of them. Given the number of veterans who will be in Ukraine after our victory, we must do everything we can together with communities and all branches of government to meet our defenders from the front with dignity," said Maksym Kushnir.

Nadiia Adamenko, Director of the Department of Digital Development and Transformation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, informed about the use of digital mechanisms that simplify the project. This includes electronic registration of applications from candidates for the position of support specialists through the e-Veteran platform https://eveteran.gov.ua. This is an electronic service for scheduling an appointment with a specialist. It also includes an electronic office for the work of a specialist in supporting war veterans and demobilised persons.

"Persons wishing to participate in the project must ensure that they have their own electronic digital signature, which gives legal force to an electronic document similar to a handwritten signature and a wet seal on paper. You can learn more about this on our e-Veteran web platform," said Nadiya Adamenko.

"We have a common goal - to ensure the quality return of war veterans to communities. We have a lot of work ahead of us, because such a tool as a veteran support specialist is being introduced in our country for the first time. So I can proudly say that this is the first step in creating a veterans' infrastructure," Oleksandr Porkhun concluded.