As part of a fruitful collaboration with UNAIDS, the ALLIANCE.GLOBAL team conducted a two-day working visit to Kharkiv on 19-20 August 2024.

This mission was made possible thanks to UNAIDS support and demonstrated the importance of partnership between international organisations and local NGOs in protecting the rights and meeting the needs of LGBTIQ+ communities, especially in a frontline city.

 

Day One: From Shelter to Community Centre

ALLIANCE.GLOBAL’s shelter project coordinator, Anastasiia Hrushetska, began the visit by touring the organisation’s shelter in Kharkiv. Here, she had the opportunity to speak with residents and the shelter administrator, Mykola. This meeting allowed for a direct assessment of the effectiveness of UNAIDS support:

 

1. Thanks to UNAIDS assistance, shelter residents are provided with vouchers for “Silpo” and “Eva” retail chains, significantly improving their living conditions. Over 500 such certificates were distributed throughout 2024.
2. A need for improved technical equipment in the shelter was identified, particularly clocks, a refrigerator, and a television.
3. The conscientiousness of some residents was particularly noted, as they declined services they didn’t need (such as vouchers for food and hygiene items) in favour of those who needed them more.

Anastasiia thoroughly discussed the current needs of the residents, which will help in future planning and optimisation of assistance.

 

Concurrently with Anastasiia’s visit, ALLIANCE.GLOBAL’s communications specialist, Vladyslav, arrived in Kharkiv. At the ALLIANCE community centre in Kharkiv, Vladyslav conducted a communications training, providing staff with valuable advice on working principles for social networks and media. Special attention was paid to the challenges of finding target audiences on social networks for LGBTIQ+ communities and ways to address this issue.

 

The day concluded with a group viewing and discussion of the British series “It’s a Sin”, which became a powerful tool for discussing important topics related to health, discrimination, and solidarity in LGBTIQ+ communities.

 

Day Two: Expanding Horizons of Cooperation

The second day of the visit was packed with important meetings and events. Anastasiia Hrushetska met with Olena Kovashova, a facilitator of the PSS (psychosocial support) direction from one of the international organisations. This meeting opened new perspectives for cooperation, with Olena expressing readiness to join collaborative work as early as this year.

ALLIANCE’s communications specialist, Vladyslav, interviewed Vasyl Malikov, head of SPEKTR KHARKIV and ALLIANCE.GLOBAL representative in Kharkiv. The interview revealed key challenges of working in a frontline city:

1. Lack of qualified personnel and opportunities for their development due to insufficient project funding.
2. Working in high-risk frontline conditions.
3. Staff time constraints and lack of opportunities for recovery.

The visit culminated in the Kyiv team’s participation in a group psychological support event led by psychologist Zhvania. This meeting, held on 20 August, is a regular Tuesday occurrence and was dedicated to the theme “Finding Resources in Oneself and Others”.

The topic proved to be extremely relevant in current conditions, where most people live in a state of chronic fatigue, exhaustion, emotional and physical burnout, and disillusionment. The formulation of the meeting’s theme aimed to emphasise that the primary source of one’s resources is the person themselves, but on the path to realising this, one can turn to significant others for resource support.

This event once again underscored the importance of psychological support for LGBTIQ+ communities, especially in conditions of living close to the front line, and provided participants with practical tools for finding inner resources.

Visit Summary and Future Plans

This two-day visit, supported by UNAIDS, demonstrated the effectiveness of cooperation between international and local organisations. It allowed:

1. Direct assessment of the effectiveness of UNAIDS support at the local level, particularly through the voucher programme.
2. Strengthening the local team’s capacity in communications and work with beneficiaries.
3. Expanding horizons of cooperation with other organisations, particularly in the field of psychosocial assistance.
4. Gathering valuable information about the realities of working in a frontline city and identifying key challenges.
5. Emphasising the importance of a comprehensive approach to supporting LGBTIQ+ communities, including both material assistance and psychosocial support.

Based on the visit results, ALLIANCE.GLOBAL plans to:

1. Conduct a similar visit to Chernivtsi in the near future.
2. Improve service delivery based on collected information about beneficiaries’ needs in the regions.
3. Prepare for the autumn-winter period, particularly by ensuring technical equipment for the heating season in the region in case of power outages.

The National LGBTI Consortium expresses sincere gratitude to UNAIDS for the support that makes such important visits possible. This collaboration is a vivid example of how international support transforms into concrete actions at the local level, improving the lives of LGBTIQ+ people in Ukraine.

It’s worth noting separately the programme of advanced training and/or retraining courses for LGBTIQ+ people, implemented by PO “ALLIANCE.GLOBAL” with UNAIDS support. This programme has already helped many community members find new jobs and adapt to the challenging conditions of wartime.

This visit once again confirmed that through joint efforts, we can achieve significant results in supporting LGBTIQ+ communities, even in the most challenging conditions. Particularly important is the focus on psychological support and finding inner resources, which helps community members not only survive but also develop in conditions of constant stress and uncertainty.