On 18 October 2024, the Director of the Economic Relations and Development Cooperation Policy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egita Lase, met with the Ukrainian civil society organisations, Eleos-Ukraine and The Chernihiv Network, as well as representatives from the Chernihiv City Council and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine. Those specialists work with war-affected women and children in Ukraine. Their nine-day training visit takes place as part of the Latvian-funded reconstruction project, “Chernihiv: Empowering and Supporting War-affected Women”, implemented by the MARTA Centre association.
During the meeting, Egita Lase expressed her gratitude to the MARTA Centre and experts from the Ukrainian organisations, who are working selflessly to help women and children affected by the war. She underlined that “the emotional strengthening of Ukrainians and the strengthening of the overall resilience of Ukrainian society – an important precondition for Ukraine’s victory – is one of the priorities of Latvia’s development cooperation in Ukraine”.
Egita Lase highlighted Latvia’s additional support to Ukraine at 1.7 million euros approved this week, which also covers support for the establishment of a Ukrainian Ombudsman’s Human Rights Protection Centre in Chernihiv. The project will be carried out by the MARTA Centre and administered by the Central Finance and Contracts Agency of Latvia. The aim of the centre is to promote support for strengthening human rights protections in the Chernihiv region.
At the meeting, the Ukrainian organizations presented the work of the rehabilitation and support centre as they continue providing psychological support to women, children and their families affected by the war, contributing to the resilience of Ukrainian society as Russia’s war of aggression rages on, and highlighted further needs in the development of social services. Sharing experience is an important part of the Ukrainian partners’ visit to raise awareness of the war situation in Ukraine and exchange views on how to expand Latvia’s support to civilian population in Ukraine. At the same time, the project participants underlined the importance of the present visit to Latvia in order to learn from Latvia’s examples and best practice in combatting violence.
Background information
In 2023, the MARTA Centre association with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia and in cooperation with the Eleos-Ukraine non-governmental organisation established a rehabilitation centre for women in the Chernihiv region, and with the organisation named The Chernihiv Network – a support centre for women in the city of Chernihiv. A general overhaul of the premises was carried out, equipment was purchased and specialist teams were set up.
In 2024, Latvia continues to support the MARTA Centre and its project “Chernihiv: Empowering and Supporting War-affected Women”. The project aims to provide further psychological assistance in the Chernihiv region in association with Ukrainian civil society organisations through developing sustainable services for women and children who have suffered from various war crimes, including sexual violence, have been forced to flee and are in vulnerable situations.
During the visit organised as part of the project, specialists from Ukraine had meetings with representatives of the central and local governments and the private sector to become acquainted with Latvia’s experience and that of the MARTA Centre in combating violence and working with vulnerable groups of society.
