The Army of Recovery project has engaged 14,500 unemployed people in 16 regions to perform community service, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Tetyana Berezhna has announced.
“The Recovery Army project is already operating in 16 regions, with Kherson and Ternopil regions joining it recently. It involves 14,500 unemployed people, including almost 11,000 since the beginning of this year. Poltava region remains the leader among the regions in this project, with 3,600 unemployed people doing such works. In total, the state has already paid UAH 85 million to the project participants for the restoration activities,” said Tetyana Berezhna.
She reminded that the types of community service work depended on the needs of a particular region. In fact, unemployed people are most often involved in:
– Debris removal, clearing railway tracks and motorways, restoration of residential buildings damaged as a result of hostilities and their aftermath;
– Construction of civil defence structures, fortification of dams;
– Arranging and fortifying checkpoints and basements for shelters;
– Firewood harvesting for the military and the public;
– Unloading, packaging and delivery of humanitarian aid, work in reception centres for internally displaced persons.
Regional authorities determine what work is required in the region and notify the Employment Centre, which offers unemployed people registered with the centre to take up such work. These people sign fixed-term employment contracts for the period of work.
The payment for the work performed is at least UAH 6,700 and is higher than the average amount of unemployment benefit received by the unemployed while registered.
The largest number of unemployed people were engaged in public works in Poltava region – 3,600 people, Donetsk region – 1,900 people, Kyiv region – 1,800 people, Kharkiv – 1,700 people and Chernihiv – 1,500 people.
The Recovery Army project was launched by the Government in autumn of 2022 to engage people who had temporarily lost their jobs in rebuilding the country through community service. (Government portal/Business World Magazine)
