Donetsk Oblast receives mobile ASCs thanks to EU and UN

March 30, 2020

Photo: Maksym Kytsiuk/ UNDP Ukraine

Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, 30 March 2020 – Today, Ocheretyne Village Council and Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast received two brand-new Mobile Administrative Service Centres (ASCs), allowing local people to obtain vital administrative services quickly and on time.

The official transfer ceremony was organized by UNDP under the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, with financial support from the European Union.

The new mobile ASCs will provide local people from Toretsk and Ocheretyne with practically the same range of administrative and social services available at stationary centres. The key aim of the mobile ASC service is to bring services closer to people who live in areas located far from the stationary ASCs, and to vulnerable populations, such as women, people with disabilities, the elderly and people living along the “contact line” in eastern Ukraine.

And with the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 disease in the country, the mobile ASCs will help locals avoid crowds of people and obtain much-needed services near to home, reducing risks to their own health and the health of their loved ones.

“These two brand-new mobile ASCs for Donetsk Oblast represent a step forward to bringing quality administrative services closer to the people in eastern Ukraine,” said Victor Munteanu, the manager of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme.

“In times of crises happening in the world and in Ukraine due to the spread of the COVID-19 disease, providing help to the local population, namely in the area of administrative services, is of utmost importance, and meets the demands of the present time.”

“We recently delivered two mobile ASCs to Luhansk Oblast, and these are already successfully operating in Kreminna and Bilovodsk ATCs,” Munteanu added. “And this year, we will be transferring 10 more mobile offices providing administrative and social services that will serve Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, as well as remote settlements.”

Each mobile ASC has two working spaces for administrators, both equipped with computers, modern software, portable server and internet access; and two mobile cases – one for providing administrative services and another for carrying out energy audits. The vehicles also have security cameras, GPS-navigation, two types of the autonomous heating systems, ventilation, air conditioning, the ability to connect to external energy sources, a bathroom with its own hot and cold water supply, a mobile elevator ramp for people with disabilities and low mobility groups, and a waiting area. The mobile ASCs are also equipped with remote working spaces for specialists from the pension fund, lawyers, social security, SES, Department of social protection of the population, and other services.

The overall cost, including all of the equipment and training for the specialists, is US $115,000.

“The high-quality and timely provision of administrative and social services is at the core of decentralisation reform,” said Programme Coordinator of the Local Governance and Decentralisation Reform Component of the UN RPP Olena Ruditch.

“The UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme fully supports the reform, and is steadily working on widening the territories covered by service provision, so that more citizens can access them without wasting time and resources.”

“I would like to thank our UNDP partners, who systematically assist our residents, as well as the residents of Toretsk, for the provision of the new mobile ASCs, and the training and methodological assistance to our specialists, who are already providing the most necessary services to our citizens on the ground,” said the Head of Ocheretyne Regional State Administration Mykola Kovalenko.

The new mobile ASCs will not only cover a wider territory and provide even more services for the people of Toretsk and Ocheretyne— they will also create an integrated system for rendering administrative services in eastern Ukraine.

Media enquiries

Maksym Kytsiuk, Communications Associate, UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, maksym.kytsiuk@undp.org, +380 63 576 1839

Background

The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Twelve international partners support the Programme: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland & the UK.