Source: Zaporizhia City Council
Today, Zaporizhia City Council has hosted an official signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation between Zaporizhia city authorities, deputy corps, and public sector with the international technical assistance project PLEDDG Project within PLEDDG SME Development Support Fund.
The backstory of the event is as follows. At the end of November 2017, the international project “Partnership for Local Economic Development” (PLEDDG) presented the SME Development Support Fund and announced the start of the call for projects winners of which would receive from 20 000 to 40 000 CAD for their implementation. The deadline for project proposals was December 18, 2017.
Prior to the signing of the Memorandum, Valeriy Edeliev, Zaporizhia Deputy City Mayor, noted that not all PLEDDG partner cities had managed to draw attention to their applications.
Oleksandr Kucherenko, Director of PLEDDG Project, noted that only Zaporizhia had a project on professional retraining of ATO veterans, though the topic is relevant for the entire Ukraine.
The implementation period for the project “Creating Conditions for Professional Retraining of ATO Veterans in Zaporizhia” is 10 months. The total budget of the project is 540 000 UAH. PLEDDG funds for the project amount to 20 000 CAD (424 000 UAH). In future, the project is expected to turn into a financially viable one due to the creation of specific operating units.
The authors of the project set the following goals: psychological and legal assistance to ATO veterans; creating a database of current vacancies at industrial enterprises of Zaporizhia region, specifically SME representatives; retraining and further employment of ATO veterans and job position search.
Oleg Kolomoyets, City Council Deputy, Head of ATO Veterans Society, and the co-author of the project, stressed that due to productive collaboration of Zaporizhia city authorities, deputy corps, and ATO veterans, Zaporizhia would see a social entrepreneurship project implemented. The first 40 ATO veterans will soon receive training to become III category gas welding operators within the framework of the project.
Oleksandr Kucherenko, Director of PLEDDG Project, and Oleg Kolomoyets, Head of ATO Veterans Society, signed the Memorandum and expressed their hopes for further fruitful cooperation.