Successful, resilient communities usually exhert an air of confidence. This confidence is often derived from a community's ability to identify problems, harness its resources and implement solutions - it has the capacity to respond to circumstances and act in the best interests of its people. However, in closed societies it was the state that provided everything. People looked to the government to provide for all their needs - but they did not expect to engage proactively or influence what was provided. Community involvement in service provision was neither offered nor expected.
Following the collapse of the Soviet system in 1991, this situation changed completely. The state was no longer in a position to provide for the all the identified needs of all its people, so many of the least fortunate and most vulnerable people were unable to participate fully in the changing society.
Developing capacity within community groups - either geographic communities, or communities of interest - is a necessary pre-requisite for that communitiy to evolve to the point where it can diagnose and respond to the changing environmnet in which it finds itself. However, this is an area of activity which is not often supported by international NGO's. Their focus is more usually on project delivery, leaving a legacy of tangible outcomes - usually in the form of capital projects.
This particular area is being tackled in Kiev by a project funded by the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID) called 'Democratising Ukraine'. The focus of activity is on bringing groups of vulnerable people together and supporting them to develop a coherent voice on the issues that affect their lives. By establishing these self-help groups and working on developing the leadership skills within them the project will leave behind a legacy that will mean the groups can continue to operate and deal with new problems and issues as they arise, without the need for outside help.
There is clearly considerable demand for this type of activity, and this one project, based in the capital is really just scratching the surface of an area which will need considerable investment over a long period of time. The current key client groups are orphans, disabled and vulnerable people. However, housing, social care, women (unemployment and domestic violence), young people (dealing with a lack of opportunity) are all areas where more activity is needed.
The establishment of these co-operatives to serve the people, independent of the state, will help make communities resilient to change and ensure they can have a voice to influence the decisions that affect their lives. Empowering people to participate and lead projects of this type should also help unearth talent that would otherwise go unnoticed, and identify individuals with the potential to make a positive and worthwhile contribution to local or national politics. This newfound capacity will help grow confident, resilient communities, far better placed to deal with the undoubted challenges and changes that they will face in the years ahead.
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