Local Self-Government Transformations in Ukraine and Reforms of Social Services: Expectations and Challenges

On January 1, 2020, the Law “On Social Services” comes into force in Ukraine. The new legislation sets up the responsibilities for the executive bodies of city councils, councils of cities of regional significance, councils of united territorial communities, it also introduces the new model of community-based social services provision. The paper analyses this new legislation in the context of the Ukrainian municipal reforms and outlines the challenges that territorial communities may face while ensuring the implementation of legislation.The new legal regulation focuses on improving the management of the social services system in the context of decentralization and optimizing expenditures, ensuring uniform approaches in the organization of the system. The benefits of the new legislation include the fact that, in order to optimize and integrate social services, complex social service institutions / institutions can be created. According to the legislation, all local communities are obliged to provide a range of basic social services of voluntary and mandatory nature.The conducted analysis highlights the gaps in the legislation regarding social services provision, including an extensive and not always clear classification of social services to be provided on the local community level; absence of the by-laws necessary to implement the particular norms of the framework Law; unclear financial issues of social services provision; lack of social work professionals able to introduce the full-scale model

Tracking Global HIV/AIDS Initiatives and their Impact on the Health System in Ukraine

The research aims to strengthen and support the Ukrainian government and the public sector to overcome the HIV/AIDS epidemic, by providing reliable research findings on the effects of global HIV/AIDS initiatives in Ukraine at national and sub-national levels including the effects on scale-up of HIV/AIDS services, health systems capacity and equitable access to HIV/AIDS services. As PEPFAR is not present in Ukraine, and the World Bank loan was delayed, the study focused largely on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.Open Society Institute; London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine;Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; GlobalHIV/AIDS Initiatives Networ

Effects of the Global Fund on the health system

Ukraine has one of the most rapidly growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in Europe, with estimated numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) reaching 400,000 in 2008. Since 2003, the Global Fund has committed to providing US$ 243 million towards the control of HIV/AIDS in Ukraine. This study examines the impact of Global Fund financing on HIV/AIDS services and the health system in Ukraine. Research was conducted in Kyiv, Odessa and L’viv. The research finds that Global Fund resources have supported a dramatic scale-up of services for PLWHA and at-risk populations. There has been a substantial increase in the number of PLWHA receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). New laboratory, diagnosis, prevention and support services have been developed. The Global Fund grant has strengthened service delivery by training health workers and supporting the development of HIV/AIDS surveillance systems. Whilst the Global Fund has had a positive impact on governance and leadership, for instance by promoting transparency among government health service providers and improved management practices, cooperation between government and nongovernmental service providers is limited, and coordination structures are weak. Many services financed by the Global Fund are provided by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) heavily dependent on continued Global Fund support, highlighting issues of sustainability

HIV-activism in a Post-socialist State: The Case of Ukraine

Drawing on archival materials, in-depth qualitative interviews with current and former HIVactivists, and participant observation at HIV prevention organizations in Ukraine, I sketch the history and recent activities of HIV-activists organizations. The research allowed me to identify the role of civil society organizations in health policy processes, practices and types of HIV-activism, and challenges for this activism’s development. The paper shows that major transformations have occurred in both service provision and policy practices, including the introduction of the national and regional coordination councils. These councils enforce the horizontal level of public policy, as well as changing the public’s opinion regarding HIV-positive people and the measures to combat HIV. The international organizations and their beneficiaries in Ukraine are the main challengers to existing practices and the driving forces for changes in public health policy and the strengthening of participatory approaches

Armed Conflict in Ukraine and Social Work Response to It

Literature on social work demonstrates that relations between conflicts and social work constitute two paradigms – therapeutic and empowering. Each of them provides social workers with a different set of strategies and interventions.Focusing on social support to IDPs in Ukraine this paper explores the social work interventions in the aftermath of violence available for displaced people and gaps therein. It also discusses the implications for the social work profession caused by the on-going conflict in the country. Paper takes into account that modern social work comes from the fact that the displacement violates social ecology of human, causes deprivation, social exclusion, increases the risk of violence and the emergence of psychological ‘catch of dependency’ and so on. Specific consideration is given to social work strategies in different phases of displacement. The paper is based on a review of documents, semi-structured interviews with the social workers providing services for IDPs, and focus-groups with communities’ representatives.According to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, by the August 2015 more than 1.4 million IDPs were officially registered. In brief, services providing social support to the IDPs in Ukraine can be grouped into three categories: government agencies, NGOs and volunteers (organized or chaotic). In working with IDPs, social workers can use short-term (crisis intervention, outreach work, task-oriented model of social work) and long-term intervention strategies focused on system-ecological model of social work and community development. The necessity for implication for IDPs the empowering strategies and changing public perceptions towards IDPs is evident. Issues of social work education might be reconsidered, as well as the value and perception of social work as a profession in Ukraine

Social work education in the post-socialist and post-modern era: the case of Ukraine

During the last decade there have been significant changes in social work observed in many post-socialist and post-Soviet countries (Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, Georgia etc.). The aim of this chapter is to introduce the international social work community to the context of social work developments in transition countries. The specific focus will be on Ukraine as a post-socialist country where social work as a professional project as well as social work education have been established quite recently. Specific consideration is given to the existing post-socialist society’s body of social work knowledge as the key feature of the social work professional project (Weiss-Gal & Welbourne 2008) and social work education. The interplay between political context, public values, social work teacher professionalism and professional practice development is considered

Atskleidžiant su lytimi susijusius stereotipus būsimų globėjų šeimose

One of the acute social work issues in Ukraine is the deinstitutionalization of care for orphans and children left without parental care and the introduction of family care models. It is known that the success of such models largely depends on the motivations and values that inspire parents to place children, the socio-psychological characteristics of family members, gender aspects such as the distribution of household workload, the involvement of men in performing housework and care for children and so on. Building on social role theory, we examine gender stereotypes of prospective foster parents in Kyiv, Ukraine. The exploration of femininity and masculinity stereotypes was carried out using the Sex-Role Inventory (Bem, 1974), while the assessment of ambivalent sexism in the attitudes toward women and men was done through using a short version of the methodology of Glick and Fiske (1996). 83 paricipants of the mandatory trainings for prospective foster parents were questioned. Our study reveals that the prospective foster parents hold a biased set of beliefs. Almost a third of respondents’ responses concerning women show high indicators on the femininity scale and concerning men – on the masculinity scale. Also, respondents demonstrate a greater extent of benevolent rather than hostile sexism and describe a generalized image of women and men as androgynous individuals. High levels of hostility to feminism, especially among women, have been reported. Ukraine has all legal grounds for gender equality. Thus, from the intersectional point of view, the study results highlight the impact of culture and social norms on perceptions of gender and gender stereotyping. The paper ends with suggestions on training programs for both prospective foster parents and social workers, enchancing egalitarian family patterns and agency of women.Viena iš aktualių socialinio darbo problemų Ukrainoje – našlaičių ir be tėvų globos likusių vaikų globos deinstitucionalizavimas ir globos šeimoje modelių diegimas. Žinoma, kad tokių modelių sėkmė labai priklauso nuo motyvacijos ir vertybių, skatinančių tėvus globoti vaikus, šeimos narių socialinių ir psichologinių savybių, lyčių aspektų, kaip antai namų ūkio darbo krūvio paskirstymo, vyrų įsitraukimo į namų ruošos darbus ir rūpinimąsi vaikais ir kt. Remdamiesi socialinio vaidmens teorija, nagrinėjame būsimų globėjų lyčių stereotipus Kijeve, Ukrainoje. Moteriškumo ir vyriškumo stereotipai buvo tiriami naudojant Sex-Role Inventory (Bem, 1974), o ambivalentiško seksizmo požiūryje į moteris ir vyrus vertinimas atliktas naudojant trumpą Glicko ir Fiske (1996) metodikos versiją. Apklausti 83 būsimiems globėjams skirtų privalomųjų mokymų dalyviai. Mūsų tyrimas atskleidė, kad būsimi globėjai turi šališkų įsitikinimų. Beveik trečdalis respondentų atsakymų apie moteris rodo aukštus rodiklius moteriškumo skalėje, o apie vyrus – vyriškumo skalėje. Be to, respondentai labiau demonstruoja geranorišką, o ne priešišką seksizmą ir pateikia apibendrintą moterų ir vyrų kaip androgeniškų asmenų įvaizdį. Buvo išsakytas didelis priešiškumas feminizmui, ypač tarp moterų. Ukraina turi visus teisinius pagrindus lyčių lygybei. Taigi, intersekciniu požiūriu, tyrimo rezultatai išryškina kultūros ir socialinių normų įtaką lyties suvokimui ir lyčių stereotipams. Darbo pabaigoje pateikiama pasiūlymų dėl mokymo programų, skirtų būsimiems globėjams ir socialiniams darbuotojams, gerinančių egalitarinius šeimos modelius ir moterų savarankiškumą

Особливості формування координаційних механізмів у політиці охорони громадського здоров’я: [препринт]

Здавалося б, звичним є те, що за всі питання, пов’язані зі здоров’ям, у державі відповідає профільне міністерство. Проте в світі медики втратили монополію у цій сфері. Сучасну політику охорони здоров’я, яку дедалі частіше називають політикою охорони громадського здоров’я, розглядають як комплекс запланованих і незапланованих дій державних, приватних і громадських організацій