Sharing the border with Crimea, as well as with Zaporizhia – one of the oblasts affected by the violence in Eastern Ukraine – Kherson, an oblast in southern Ukraine has faced multiple security challenges. These include high numbers of internally displaced persons, and the need to provide adequate services for veterans returning from the frontline, and their families. Women have been disproportionately affected by the impacts of conflict in Kherson. On February 14-15, 2019, the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) together with its local partner, Democracy Development Center, held a writing workshop (“writeshop”) on the implementation of the United Nations Security Council (UNSCR) 1325 and Ukraine’s National Action Plan (NAP) in Kherson.

 

The workshop gathered over 30 participants from different rayons and cities in the Kherson oblast. Participants included representatives of the Oblast State Administration, local (rayon) administrations and councils, city councils and the civil society. The “writeshop” built on the outcomes of GNWP’s Localization workshop in Kherson, held in June 2018.

 

An Oblast Action Plan was adopted in Kherson in January 2019, shortly before the “writeshop” was held. Therefore, building on the outcomes of the 2018 activities, during which key priorities for WPS implementation in the oblast were identified, the “writeshop” focused on reviewing the Oblast Action Plan to ensure that it is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART). The participants, with support from GNWP and DDC experts, worked to revise objectives of the plan, making them more “SMART”, and to define concrete indicators. Three objectives were strengthened in this way during the “writeshop”. The State Oblast Administration committed to integrating the changes into the Oblast Action Plan, as well as reviewing the other objectives in a similar manner.

 

In a short interview, Mr. Ihor Pohorily, Head of Family, Gender and Children Rehabilitation section at the Department of Social Protection in the Kherson Oblast Administration, talks about why UNSCR 1325 is important to Kherson, and how the Oblast Administration plans to ensure its effective implementation.