Considering the history of recent years, it is the community safety in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that is of greatest concern. How many people in the region feel safe depends on everything from rebuilding infrastructure to creating services. That is why the United Nations Development Program in Ukraine (UNDP) provides considerable support to the region in creating leverage on the security situation with the participation of community representatives.

The materials that offered to your attention are the result of the work of experts of the Kharkiv Institute for Social Research in the framework of the UNDP project “Improving coordination between citizens, police and local authorities to enhance public safety” and aimed at assessing the state of interaction between communities and police. After discussions in the communities, they helped to develop specific components of the partnership enhancement concept. The uniqueness of such an integrated approach is that, in contrast to the traditional attempt to copy popular methods of a police and community-oriented approach, sociological research and safety audits have become a kind of “preparatory stage” for dealing with stakeholders. The assessment was made taking into account the specificities of the districts (different communities in rural areas; compact housing of a large number of people and increased police presence in urban areas). The data were then used in planning the work of the Security and Social Cohision Councils, which relied solely on community needs.

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