Convenors: OEI (Katharina Bluhm, Mihai Varga), VUIAS (Viktoriya Sereda), Viadrina (Susann Worschech)  

Ukraine is experiencing its most difficult year since the start of the war. At the same time, the debate on Ukraine's reconstruction is gaining momentum. The second Ukraine Recovery Conference will take place in Berlin from June 11 to 16, 2024 (https://www.ukraine-wiederaufbauen.de/ukraine/aktuelles). 

In this context, we would like to focus on the social and socio-political issues surrounding the efforts to rebuild Ukraine through a one-day kick-off workshop at Freie Universität Berlin. Ukraine is faced with the challenge not only of securing the means to restore and reconstruct areas such as infrastructure, energy, housing, etc., but also of organizing regular, equitable and inclusive access for its citizens to social security, medical care, and welfare services. While much of the pre-war policy literature on Ukraine emphasized the problems of Ukrainian state institutions in terms of corruption, state "weakness," state "capture," and "vested interests," the wartime mobilization reveals the resilient functioning of many state services, from health care to public transportation and education. Nevertheless, problems of access to and coverage of state services abound. Furthermore, war changes the course of social policy and access to social services in ways we do not yet fully understand, but that are important: from state authorities reorganizing funding priorities and categories of entitled recipients and beneficiaries to the consequences of migration flows within Ukraine and to its neighboring countries. We, therefore, call for papers that discuss the reconstruction of Ukraine beyond the immediate war damage and provide insights into the wartime social policy approaches and dilemmas and the social and social policy challenges that are likely to have longer-term consequences for Ukrainian society and welfare arrangements. 

Keynote lecture 12 June 2024, 18:00 - 20:00 at Hörsaal B, Henry-Ford-Bau

"Ukraine’s recovery in times of war", Jaco Cilliers (UNDP Ukraine)

Join the lecture per Webex: https://fu-berlin.webex.com/fu-berlin-en/j.php?MTID=mf28c75cc5583c5ff590b5525113df08d

There will be a reception in the foyer after the lecture.

Workshop 13 June 2024, 10:00 - 17:00 at Room 209A, Vant-Hoff-Str. 6

Join the workshop per Webex: https://fu-berlin.webex.com/fu-berlin-en/j.php?MTID=mde738ebec09682e8f4023ce1c663064b

10:00 - Registration 

10:15 - Organizers’ Introduction

Session 1 - Chair: Viktoriya Sereda

 10:30 - 12:00

• Social services provision during war: the role of local authorities and social workers in combating the crisis, Nataliia Lomonosova (CEDOS Kyiv); discussant: Katharina Bluhm 
• Reforming Ukraine's Social System in Times of War, Oksana Chorna (Bremen University); discussant: Susann Worschech

 

Session 2 - Chair: Katharina Bluhm

12:15 - 13:45

• Where to go: Accommodation of IDPs and Housing and Social Policy in Ukraine after the Full-Scale Invasion, Galyna Sukhomud (TU Berlin); discussant: Viktoriya Sereda 
• Social Repercussions of Ukrainians' war-induced Displacement, Viktoriya Sereda (Virtual Ukraine Institute for Advanced Study, VUIAS) and Oksana Mikheieva (Ukrainian Catholic University, L’viv); discussant: Mihai Varga

 

Session 3 - Chair: Susann Worschech

14:45-16:15

• Gender policy and gender aspects of reforms and recovery of Ukraine, Tamara Martsenyuk (University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy) and Maria Zvyagintseva, (All-Ukrainian Human Rights Organization "Legal Hundred"); discussant: Katharina Bluhm
• Agricultural Land Markets in Ukraine: the political economy of farm land, past, present & future, Susanne Wengle (Uppsala University); discussant: Mihai Varga

 

16:30 Concluding remarks

To register, please write a short email to Mihai Varga: mvarga@zedat.fu-berlin.de.