On June 19, USAID Economic resilience Activity (ERA) and the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding. The memorandum envisages that USAID ERA will support the creation of a training program for veterans and their family members to help demobilized defenders obtain a new profession or grants, and quickly integrate into civilian life after returning from the front.
The Minister of Veterans Affairs Yuliia Laputina talked about the initiatives that the ministry is already implementing and emphasized the important support of international stakeholders to continue this work:
“Partnership with USAID ERA is very important to further our work. We understand that many people will need our support after returning from the front, so we are already working today to help veterans and their families integrate into society. Last week, we opened a Center for the Development of Veterans in Dnipro, and we plan to create such centers in Lviv, Vinnytsia and other cities of Ukraine. In these centers, we will create conditions for the reintegration of veterans – they will be able to undergo retraining, and the centers will also train veterans’ assistants who will facilitate the return of defenders to civilian life.”
Chief of Party (CoP) of USAID ERA, Timothy Madigan, during the signing meeting, spoke about the initiatives that USAID ERA is already implementing in partnership with the State Employment Service, and the Ministry of Social Policy.
“USAID ERA will contribute to the creation of an ecosystem to support veterans and their family members in the short, medium and long term. In particular, it plans to support the creation of a toolkit for veterans’ development centers at educational institutions, to implement a program of expanding opportunities for professional development of veterans, and to support other relevant initiatives in the process of building partnerships. This will provide an opportunity to train specialists who will help veterans get training, get a new profession, apply for a grant and start their own business, and create an effective ecosystem of support and professional development for veterans and their family members,” said Timothy Madigan.