The Community Recovery Academy will train municipal specialists for the recovery period in cooperation with Metinvest Polytechnic

The most extensive educational project aimed at training managers for the recovery period, the Community Recovery Academy, and Metinvest Polytechnic have signed a memorandum of cooperation. With this, the Academy acquired another important educational partner that will help train specialists to rebuild the country.

The initiative to establish the Community Recovery Academy originated from the NGO “Mariupol.Reborn”, the Association of Ukrainian Cities and the Mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko. This idea arose from Mariupol's experience in recovery and adaptation of international practices, as well as in response to requests from other communities that are planning or have already started to rebuild

The key challenge for them was the lack of professional staff and expertise. While Mariupol remains under occupation, the Academy is working for other communities by helping them plan their recovery and provide high-quality training to specialists.

Lecturers of Metinvest Polytechnic are developing training modules on data analysis, project management, preparation of grant applications and work with post-traumatic experience of the population. Thanks to modern educational approaches, participants receive practical tools for implementing large-scale recovery projects.

“The team of the Mariupol municipality launched the Community Recovery Academy as a strategically important project that gives Ukrainian managers a chance to gain unique knowledge from top foreign and international trainers. We are happy to scale up – Metinvest Polytechnic is a valuable educational partner, enabling us to expand our capabilities in training teams to rebuild war-affected communities. Ukraine really needs qualified, interested and motivated managers who are ready to roll up their sleeves and work hard to build economically strong and comfortable communities,” said Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boichenko.

The educational process combines online lectures, offline meetings, forums, workshops and study tours. Trainers pay special attention to exchanging experience between communities and implementing the world's best practices in sustainable development. The training will result in the development by each team of a “Recovery Community Profile” – a roadmap for rebuilding infrastructure, economy and social life. On completion of the programme, participants will receive certificates, and the most successful trainees will be able to continue their studies at leading Ukrainian universities.

“Metinvest Polytechnic is actively engaged in training specialists who will be able to rebuild communities after the war using modern knowledge and techniques. We already have experience in developing educational programmes for recovery. In particular, our MSc students are in their second year of studying under the “Management of Metallurgy Modernisation” programme, which will be in demand during the reconstruction of Ukraine. The integration of academic education with real-world challenges makes it possible to train competent managers capable of making effective decisions and introducing innovative approaches to recovery. Our partnership with the Community Recovery Academy and the NGO “Mariupol. Reborn” is another step in promoting practice-oriented education that directly affects the future of the country”, said Rector of Metinvest Polytechnic Oleksandr Povazhnyi.

The Community Recovery Academy project is an opportunity to gain up-to-date knowledge, clear action algorithms and support from the expert community. It is an important step towards fostering a new generation of leaders capable to ensure sustainable development and prosperity of their communities.

“Businesses have several effective approaches to finding the best employees. You can immediately “headhunt” valuable self-made staff, or you can create a whole system of valuable staff. This requires investing in education, training and retraining. Here's a universal approach we are using at the Community Recovery Academy: to become the best, you need to teach the best and learn from the best. That is why Metinvest Polytechnic has joined our project. This is a unique experience of a completely new education that we need to train qualified recovery managers,” highlighted Natalya Yemchenko, SCM Communications Director and Member of the Supervisory Board of the NGO “Mariupol.Reborn”.   

“The Community Recovery Academy, founded by the Association of Ukrainian Cities and the NGO “Mariupol.Reborn”, aims at training municipal managers for the recovery period. The project is implemented with the support of the UK Government under the UK International Development program and the International Republican Institute (IRI Ukraine) in partnership with Metinvest and SCM. The academic partners of the project are Metinvest Polytechnic and the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.”