From Field to Policy Action: East SOS Takes Part in Meeting with Minister for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons

In late September, East SOS took part in a meeting with Vitalii Bezhin, Ukraine’s Minister for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons. The Minister met with representatives of humanitarian organizations from across Ukraine, including those involved in evacuating civilians from frontline areas and working in the most heavily affected locations. East SOS was represented by Advocacy Officer Yaroslav Taranets, who presented the Foundation’s key areas of work and joined an expert discussion on pressing issues related to evacuation and accommodation.

Vitalii Bezhin emphasized that, drawing on the experience of humanitarian organizations, the Ministry aims to preserve, strengthen, and scale up mechanisms that have already proven effective.

Meeting participants discussed the challenges and gaps in the full evacuation cycle, the operation of transit centers, onward travel post-evacuation, housing, and the integration of people forced to relocate to other regions because of the war. They also highlighted cases where announced solutions fail to address people’s actual needs, the reasons why transit centers become overcrowded, and the groups requiring particular attention.

The first outcome of the dialogue is expected to be a change in the structure of the Coordination Headquarters for Evacuation to ensure that professionals with hands-on experience are involved in its work.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to have an open dialogue between humanitarian organizations and the Ministry directly responsible for making key decisions. We are genuinely committed to building productive cooperation in which we, as frontline organizations with an in-depth understanding of the challenges, can turn our practical experience into effective policy solutions,” said Yaroslav Taranets.

Later, in his capacity as a member of the Council on Internally Displaced Persons under the Kyiv City Military Administration, the advocacy officer also joined an online meeting between Vitalii Bezhin and IDP Councils. The event brought together more than 160 representatives of hromadas and regions who work on the ground every day to address the challenges faced by internally displaced people. Discussions covered evacuation, housing, employment, support for vulnerable groups, access to social services, and integration into host hromadas. Such meetings are expected to become regular, creating opportunities to respond promptly to emerging issues, work together on pressing matters, and develop policy changes in a good manner.

The advocacy activities are carried out as part of the project “Protection and Psychosocial Services for People with Limited Mobility and Persons with Disabilities Affected by the War”, implemented with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).