The future of Hirska community: how to plan for recovery even under full occupation

The Ro3kvit team, together with the Hirska City Military Administration, has developed a strategic document that will help community members form a vision of recovery after de-occupation. These recommendations are based on an in-depth study of the community's experience, historical context, memory, and potential ways of development after the war. ‘At first, we hesitated whether we should take on this request from the Hirska community - to create a vision for a community under occupation. Does it make sense to dream about the future in such conditions? But in the end, we accepted this challenge. And I am glad we dared to explore opportunities even in challenging circumstances. Together with the community, we have developed a methodology that can be useful for many other occupied communities,’ said Fulco Treffers, one of the project participants and co-founder of Ro3kvit. 
In July 2022, the Hirska City Military Administration asked the Ro3kvit urban coalition to develop a strategic vision for the community's recovery. Its territory had suffered significant destruction as a result of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the town itself was under occupation. At the same time, many residents want to return home and rebuild the community. The main challenges are the lack of spatial data, limited resources, inability to access the territory and uncertainty about the future.
What is in the document?
The strategic recommendations for the Hirska community are based on three key components:   ● Surveys and workshops - exploring the experiences and needs of residents through direct interaction with them.   ● Community memory - an analysis of the values and memories that shape the community's identity and form the basis for strategic decisions.   ● Three future scenarios:               1. The community remains under occupation.               2. The community returns to Ukrainian control, but the war continues.               3. Ukraine is completely de-occupied and the war is over.
Despite the difficult conditions, the community continues to develop humanitarian initiatives and unite people. The document demonstrates that even under occupation, it is important to plan for the future so that the community can quickly recover after liberation.
How did the work go?
In July 2024, Ro3kvit, together with the Hirska Cityhow Military Administration, held a series of online and offline workshops. Despite the dispersion of participants across the country, the team managed to collect unique data and develop realistic development scenarios.Working with the Ro3kvit team has given us the opportunity to plan, to bring the residents together and to show them how important the steps we are taking now are, and how important it is not to give up hope of returning home. I hope that together we can make small changes and build a great future', - Oleksii Babchenko, Head of the Hirska Military Administration.
Call for partners and donors
We are convinced that the developed methodology can be applied to support displaced communities not only in Ukraine but also globally. To scale this approach, we are looking for partners and donors who are ready to support us:● Pilot projects in displaced communities in Ukraine;● Educational programs for professionals and communities;● Promotion of the initiative through training events and publications.
You can view the recommendations here: https://ro3kvit.com/ua/projects/hirska-community
The project was implemented without grant support by the Ro3kvit team in cooperation with the Hirska City Military Administration.
Hirska City Military Administration: Oleksii Babchenko, Iryna Bielitska, Maryna Kravtsova, Yuliia Bila, Yevgeniia Shevchenko, Vitalii Kovalenko.
Team Ro3kvit: Fulco Treffers, Jolanta Zarzycka, Tetyana Samiliv, Sofiia Bondar, Alisa Aleksandrova.