Information hub for social cohesion and unity

The City Development Institute of Zaporizhzhia is expanding its collaboration with civil society organizations to support social cohesion, public dialogue, and inter-sectoral cooperation.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, almost 233,000 people have moved to Zaporizhzhia from temporarily occupied towns and rural areas. In these circumstances, our city has become a hub for many non-governmental organizations, where they have established local offices providing aid to the people. Local volunteers and charitable foundations also work to support internally displaced persons (IDPs) and city residents.

To ensure effective communication and humanitarian response between all these actors, the NGO STEP, together with the CDIZ, created the Ednannia Information Hub (meaning ʺUnityʺ in Ukrainian).

What was done:
A workspace was arranged for public meetings and dialogues between civil society organizations and local authorities. A printing point is available here to help activists and volunteers better inform the community. In the past few months, CDIZ has organized coordination meetings to establish partnerships between civil society organizations and local authorities.

Results achieved:
1. More civil society organizations have become involved in cooperation with the local council, resulting in the signing of 10 official memoranda.
2. Twenty meetings were held to discuss local concerns and possibilities for cooperation.
3. Information materials for citizens and IDPs were prepared.

The Ednannia Information Hub was established at the initiative of the NGO STEP, together with the City Development Institute of Zaporizhzhia, with the assistance of UNDP in Ukraine and financial support from the European Union provided under the EU4Recovery – Community Empowerment in Ukraine Programme.