Ukraine: New initiative to help female senior officials better adapt to daily challenges

This autumn, U-LEAD with Europe has launched a special initiative aimed at helping female senior municipal officials find inner resources and balance their daily challenges with self-care.

“Since the outset of the full-scale invasion, women leaders, especially those from frontline and border municipalities, have been working and living under unprecedented pressure,” U-LEAD with Europe says in a press release. “Without proper mental health resources, women leaders can become emotionally vulnerable or isolated, which directly affects the quality of governance, community cohesion and trust in authority.”

The initiative draws on the latest evidence-based approaches to preventing burnout, including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), art therapy, facilitation, support groups, coaching, psychoeducation and interactive learning. A big emphasis is placed on self-awareness and emotional regulation skills.

The programme’s first step was the training session, which brought together 29 female municipal officials representing the eastern, northern and southern regions — Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava Oblasts, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Rivne, Volyn, and Zhytomyr Oblasts.

The Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme, in short U-LEAD with Europe, is a partnership of the Ukrainian government, the European Union, Germany, Poland, Denmark, France and Slovenia to support the establishment of a multi-level governance that is transparent, accountable and responsive to the needs of the population of Ukraine.

Find out more

Press release