On September 25, a training in the "world cafe" format was held at the Ko_Laba youth space on the topic: "How to improve social services for low-income families in difficult life circumstances during the war?".
The meeting was organized within the framework of the project UNICEF «Strengthening alternative care through support for better care reform in Kharkiv region.».
Representatives of the Chuhuiv and Shevchenkivsk communities took part in the event. Over 40 participants — social workers, children's service workers, educators, doctors, law enforcement officers, lawyers, and parents — exchanged experiences and jointly sought solutions for more accessible, fast, and flexible support for families with children.
Discussed:
- what is already working well in the community and what needs improvement
- What difficulties do families encounter?
- how to improve access to services and with whom to join forces
Parents shared their experiences of receiving social support and talked about what kind of help they think is most needed for families in the community. Children showed their vision of the future and relationships with their parents through drawings.
Working together helped identify how to make support for families more useful and relevant to their needs.
«Such meetings are particularly valuable, as they bring together representatives of different services who look at problems from different perspectives and offer their own ways of solving them. This helps to look at the situation differently and notice what was previously overlooked. The exchange of experiences during the discussions gave new ideas on how to improve service provision to help people overcome difficult situations and become more independent and confident. Thanks to UNICEF support, we have gained a fresh perspective, new knowledge and inspiration that really improve the work of the entire service,» said Oksana Sapelkina, a social work specialist at the Center for Social Services of the Chuguiv City Council, a participant in the training. The UNICEF project «Strengthening Alternative Care through Support for the Reform of Better Care in the Kharkiv Region», which is implemented by the Volunteers: Adults for Children Foundation together with the Children’s Service of the Kharkiv OVA and the Kharkiv Regional Center for Social Services with financial support from the Government of Ireland Irish Aid and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ) through the state development bank KfW