Taras Hereliuk on the NGO "Power of Community" project: training, support and new opportunities for veterans

Veterans and their families face many challenges after returning from war, including finding employment, adapting to civilian life, and needing psychological support. In Kolomyia, the NGO "Strength of the Community" (ГО "Сила громади") together with its partners is implementing a project under the "Varto: Yednannya 2.0" competition, where veterans can acquire new professional skills and find jobs, while the "Hart" space helps them socially integrate and receive support for themselves and their families.

In a conversation with LIGA.net, the project manager of NGO "Strength of the Community", Taras Herelyuk, explains how the training programs for veterans and their family members work, which skills participants gain, and also shares the first success stories and plans for the future.

The idea and goal of the project.

– What main need of veterans and their families prompted the creation of the "Power of Community" project, and how does it try to solve it?

"We started talking about a project of a similar nature back in early 2024, when we conducted a sociological study called 'Road Home' in our community. One of the key targets was to identify the needs of veterans and their family members in our region."

Even then, 22% of the veterans we surveyed (as well as active-duty military personnel who spoke about their potential needs after demobilization) indicated an interest in assistance with employment.

In addition, we also interviewed both veterans and their family members, trying to understand the reasons for the need for employment or retraining, which laid the first foundation for the ideas of similar projects.

And at the end of 2024, we decided to apply for the competition. "Worth It: Unity 2.0" with a project of this kind, strengthened by a partnership with another local organization — NGO "Triangle", who already had experience conducting similar trainings and workshops for other target audiences.

We also decided to implement our project at a support center for veterans and their families. "Hart", the creation of which in the city of Kolomyia was undertaken by our organization. The development of this space is one of our priorities, including within the framework of this project.

– Who is your target audience, and how do you motivate veterans and their families to participate in training programs and events at "Gart"?

"Our target audience is undoubtedly veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war, but also their family members (because the need for decent employment and/or retraining of family members of veterans is not always mentioned)."

We try to inform people about the opportunities available in the project – trainings, workshops, courses – through all available local information channels, both ours and those of our partners, in order to give everyone who really needs it the opportunity to register.

– How are participants for training programs selected, and what are the criteria?

We strive to provide opportunities for the maximum number of participants from our target groups, but since project resources are limited, selection is sometimes necessary.

Therefore, to participate in the activities, participants are first asked to fill out a questionnaire, based on which we select those who will attend the course. During the course (besides, of course, belonging to the target group), we primarily consider the participant's motivation and their need and desire to apply the acquired knowledge and skills in their future professional activities.

The remaining criteria include additional membership in vulnerable groups (disability, single parents or guardians, etc.), possession of basic skills that may be needed in a specific field, etc. Some activities take place offline, so the ability to attend them in the city of Kolomyia is important.

Curriculum and Participant Achievements

– What professional skills do participants acquire, and how do they apply them in their lives or at work?

– Our project offers the following educational directions:

- Course on the Fundamentals of Digital Professions (SMM, content creator, targetologist, photographer). The goal of the course was not to fully teach them these professions, but to familiarize them with the basics, to give them a basic understanding of what each profession entails, and to inspire them to develop in these areas.

Some training participants expressed a desire to further develop as specialists in these fields, while others viewed this knowledge as a boost for their own activities (for example, as tools for developing their own existing or planned business). After this series of trainings, the five most active and successful participants received the opportunity to take a longer and more in-depth course in their chosen profession on the Projector platform free of charge.

- Employment workshops and individual consultations They help participants to write resumes, search for jobs, and prepare for interviews. We also provide basic assistance with grant searches for starting a business and offer advice on writing grant applications as part of these consultations.

- Driving school training for obtaining a driver's license or upgrading a driver's license category. This program is aimed at those for whom the lack of a driver's license is an obstacle to employment in the desired field, or who need to drive a vehicle to run their own business.

Recruitment is still ongoing for the following fields:

- Training and mentoring in IT. This training will take place online and last 3-4 months. During registration, you can choose from the following training areas: Python, Project Management, Quality Control, HR, and Artificial Intelligence. We are implementing this program thanks to a partnership with the Ivano-Frankivsk IT-Cluster Academy and Brave IT Education.

- English languagea. Anyone can register for it, however, the course will focus on its use in IT and business fields and is aimed at those for whom insufficient knowledge of English is an obstacle to trying themselves in these industries. Unlike IT courses, the training will take place offline in Kolomyia, specifically in the "Hart" space, so it is important to be able to attend classes in person.

- Grant writing and business training. In the future, in-depth training courses on writing grant applications and starting your own business are planned for those who want to start a business but are hesitant or lack sufficient knowledge.

– Are there any examples of success stories among participants – employment or starting their own business after training?

– It's too early to talk about large-scale results and a large number of success stories, however, we are already seeing the first results. An important result for us is that three people were able to find work as a result of the knowledge and consultations they received. And it's also worth mentioning a veteran who we helped write a grant application for his own business, thanks to which he was able to attract initial funding for the development of his own venture.

Another important achievement was the creation of an administrator position at the "Hart" space for the duration of the project, thanks to funding from ISAR Unity. And a significant success is that we managed to invite a veteran for this role, who, in addition to organizing the space's activities, has already become its face.

Oleksiy, our administrator, organizes various events, attracts new people, and initiates new initiatives. This is exactly about the "peer-to-peer" approach that we have strived to adhere to since the first day of opening the space. And thanks to this, we are already seeing that new communities of interest are beginning to form around the space, made up of veterans and their families.

– What activities and services does "Gart" offer, and how do they help veterans integrate into society and support their families?

– In addition to the opportunities we offer in this project, there are many other activities and services available in the space:

- support and consultingFive specialists in veteran support provide services daily at the "Hart" space. In addition to them, specialists from our organization and other organizations also provide services on certain days – case managers, lawyers, and advocates.

- psychological supportIn the space, you can receive both individual psychological consultations by appointment, as well as regularly held support group meetings, group therapies for children from families of veterans and servicemen, various types of art therapy and master classes.

- leisure and relaxationThanks to the involvement of many organizations and active individuals, various events are constantly taking place in the space – trainings, thematic meetings, board games, sports events. In the summer, "Gart" organizes outdoor activities – fishing, sports games, charity runs, horseback riding, etc. The space itself always has table football and table tennis, a game console, chess, backgammon, and board games available for anyone to use.

- co-working space. We recently created it in the "Hart" space,which can be used for remote work free of charge.

Challenges, effectiveness, and future plans

– How do you assess the effectiveness of the project and its impact on the lives of veterans and their family members?

– For us, this project is more of a pilot program in the area of training and retraining, so we will be able to confidently speak about its effectiveness after its completion. However, the number of grateful reviews from participants in various activities gives us hope that the project is truly useful for its participants and can positively impact their lives.

– What difficulties did the team encounter during the project implementation, and how are you overcoming them?

"The biggest challenge for us, perhaps, is currently engaging the target groups, as we objectively understand that neither our information resources nor the resources of our partners cover all representatives of the target groups in the project region."

We are constantly concerned that information about the project's opportunities reaches people who are not subscribed to us and are not regular visitors to "Gart", but have a corresponding need.

Here, our partnership with local authorities is very helpful, as they disseminate information about the project, and also the specialists who support veterans, who are in contact with a large number of beneficiaries and also help with recruitment.

Another unforeseen challenge was a request from veterans with serious injuries and amputations who wanted to study at a driving school. The nearest specialized schools are more than 150 km away from us, so we cannot currently provide them with training. However, we very much want to respond to this need and are seeking resources to cover the cost of training, travel, and accommodation in cities with specialized driving schools for these veterans.

– Are there any plans to expand the project or create new directions in the future?

"We and our project partners have ideas for expanding this area of work, but they are not yet in the development stage, so it is too early to talk about them."

During this project, we noticed that the demand for various trainings and courses varies greatly depending on the region. Courses that are popular in some communities may be irrelevant in others. Therefore, after the project is completed, we plan to conduct additional sociological research in our region, and possibly throughout the province.

– What is most important to you personally in this project, and what do you consider to be its greatest achievements?

– As a project manager, I don't often interact directly with people and usually perceive projects through numbers and indicators. However, personally for me, the most successful element of the project so far seems to be the course on the basics of digital professions, because there has probably never been such a number of enthusiastic reviews, mentions on social networks, stories and reels from project participants in such a short period in any of our previous projects. This is the moment when I saw not dry feedback in Google forms, but real reactions of people for whom the opportunity provided to them was valuable.