On 1 October, Ukraine launches a unified information system of social services to enable prompt response to the needs of internally displaced persons. Every IDP will be able to receive services at the place of their actual stay.

This was reported by Svitlana Seldina, Adviser on Municipal Finances and Management of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in Zaporizhzhia, during the info session “Peculiarities of the Provision of Municipal Services by Local Self-Government Bodies under Martial Law” for representatives of municipalities of the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv regions.

"This system creates proper conditions for the provision and receipt of social services, enabling the centralisation of appointment, accrual and payments for IDPs, which will significantly speed up the receipt of assistance and the resolution of problematic issues for internally displaced persons,” the expert said.

Wartime brings constant changes in the procedures of municipal services. U-LEAD experts clarified key changes in educational, healthcare, cultural, administrative and social services to municipal professionals.

When discussing administrative services, the participants noted that the number of services in the Administrative Service Centres has barely changed, while the number of appeals from citizens has increased. The reason for this is the fact that the municipalities host internally displaced people and, accordingly, people turn to them for information and services.

Svitlana Seldina noted that, in addition to receiving administrative services directly from the Administrative Service Centres, people can receive them using the Diia electronic service, which systematically expands the range of services.

“For example, during wartime, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine created an eDocument that contains passport data and taxpayer cards. People do not always have the necessary documents with them when evacuating, so this digital document is automatically downloaded to the Diia application and can be shown to the police and members of Territorial Defence at checkpoints to confirm identity,” Ms Seldina said.

She explained Diia’s services introduced after 24 February to the participants of the info session, including the possibility of obtaining a pension certificate, residence permit, documents in English, car sharing, the eMaliatko service, unemployment benefits and unemployment status, services on the eDopomoga platform and other services in the Diia application.

“The team of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, despite the full-scale invasion, continues to create new services in the Diia application, which is already used by more than 18 million Ukrainians,” Svitlana Seldina said.

“The information session was aimed to provide participants with answers to the most common questions related to municipal services. Our residents, our people and our internally displaced persons need administrative services, so we cannot ignore these issues. After all, the morale of the people we work with depends on the calm, high-quality provision of services. That is, every interaction should be clear, calm, balanced and reassure people that everything will be fine,” emphasized Tetiana Bordiuh, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Zaporizhzhia region.