“People Must Be at the Center of Recovery”: Enrique Menendez on New Approaches to Supporting Communities

The Director of Projects and Programs of the NGO Responsible Citizens, Enrique Menendez, took part in the event “United for Recovery: A Resilient Civil Society — a Strong Ukraine” held in Lviv and organized by our partners from Mercy Corps.

The event brought together representatives of civil society, responsible businesses, government institutions, and international partners. This meeting became a powerful incentive to seek joint solutions for further coordinated actions.

The Responsible Citizens team has been building a strong partnership with Mercy Corps for several years. Together, we have implemented comprehensive projects that helped support people during the most difficult months — when families had to leave their completely destroyed cities in the Donetsk region.

As a result of our cooperation with Mercy Corps, 22,000 households in eastern Ukraine received assistance, and more than 6,300 people obtained targeted cash support to cover their urgent needs. Currently, our teams are working in transit centers in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions, where they meet people forced to leave their homes and provide them with essential support.

“Today’s situation demands that we act swiftly, as thousands of people fleeing the war find themselves in extremely vulnerable conditions. At the same time, our duty is to build a multi-level system of assistance that takes into account future community recovery, a return to peaceful life, and new opportunities to overcome emerging challenges. People must be at the center of this process. Because it is through caring for people that we rebuild not only communities but also trust — the foundation for lasting peace,”
— emphasized Enrique Menendez, Director of Projects and Programs of Responsible Citizens.

The meeting organized by Mercy Corps became an important step toward a substantive dialogue on developing such comprehensive approaches to community recovery. A resilient civil society, which has been growing throughout the years of war, will be the driving force behind the rebuilding of the country.