Switzerland delivers seven cars to Ukraine for mobile administration centers in war-battered Kherson region
Switzerland has handed over seven off-road vehicles to communities in the Kherson region to support the remote work of administrative service centers, Rubryka reports.
What's the problem?
After the Kherson region returned under the control of the Ukrainian government after nine months of Russian occupation, local communities needed help with restoring the administrative service center operations. Some of the premises housing the centers were either destroyed or looted. The region's road infrastructure suffered significant damage during military actions and the flood caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant.
What's the solution?
Switzerland has provided seven off-road vehicles to communities in the Kherson region to facilitate the remote work of the public service centers.
These vehicles will serve the needs of seven communities in the Kherson region, providing services to local residents and internally displaced persons, including the elderly, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups. The vehicles will enable administrators to reach hard-to-access or remote settlements and deliver essential administrative and social services to citizens throughout the year in comfortable conditions.
How does it work?
During the handover of the vehicles, Vice Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science, and Technology Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov thanked Switzerland for its quick response to the urgent request from the communities of Kherson and stressed the importance of maintaining an inclusive and accessible digital state even during times of war.
"It is extremely important for the digital state to remain as inclusive and accessible as possible even during the war. It is the state's task to take care of its citizens, and thanks to the assistance of our partners in the communities of the Kherson region, we now have this opportunity," said Fedorov.
In addition to the vehicles provided by the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Department, the centers in the Kherson region have already received necessary equipment, such as laptops, uninterruptible power sources, multifunctional devices, etc., through the Swiss-Ukrainian EGAP Program implemented by the East Europe Foundation.
Swiss Ambassador to Ukraine Felix Baumann emphasized that enhancing transparency and efficiency in providing public services at the community level and assisting the most vulnerable population groups are crucial priorities for Switzerland's support of Ukraine.
"We understand the acute needs of people in the regions that have suffered the most from the Russian military aggression, and we are trying to help them. In the Kherson region, not only critical infrastructure but also buildings providing administrative and social services to the population have been destroyed or looted. Thus, many citizens cannot receive these services in their communities," said Baumann.
Ihor Dudar, the head of the Chornobaivk territorial community, commented, "The center of our territorial community, Chornobaivka residents, will host an administrative center's office, and this vehicle and equipment will travel to ten towns that are part of our community. The distance from the center to the farthest settlement in the community is 25 km, and we simply don't have roads; it's difficult to move around. This is the first mobile center that our community has received."
Background
Since 2015, Switzerland has been providing systematic support to Ukraine's digitalization process under the EGAP Program. This collaboration, supported by Switzerland, has led to the launch of applications such as Diia, the Diia.Digital Education platform, COVID certificates, the eMalyatko service, the State Statistics Service portal, and more.
I55 de-occupied and affected communities in the Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions will receive equipment to restore services and administrative services centers from the Swedish-Ukrainian PROSTO project, "Support for Service Accessibility in Ukraine."
