On 29 March 2016, in Yampil city, Vinnytsia region, a joint UNDP/EU Project "Community Based Approach to Local Development" (CBA) officially opened a reconstructed ‘Dnister’ Hotel for accommodation of IDPs. The building will shelter around 40 persons.

Present at the opening ceremony were Valeriy Koroviy, Head of Vinnytsia oblast state administration, Anatoliy Oliynyk, Head of Vinnytsia oblast council, Svitlana Slabinska, CBA Monitoring and Communication Specialist, CBA Project coordinators in Vinnytska oblast, officials from rayon state administrations and councils, officials from the local authorities, and internally displaced persons.

In ‘Dnister’ Hotel in Yampil city, major repair of the premises has been completed, including installation of new windows and doors, renovation of heating system, internal water supply and sewerage, and finishing works.

At the opening ceremony, Anatoliy Oliynyk, Head of Vinnytska Oblast Council, remembered how the first IDPs from Crimea arrived to the region two years ago. “Today Vinnytsia region hosts 42 families of Crimean Tartars. We also actively support relocated Donetsk National University. The lessons that we received thanks to cooperation with EU/UNDP will be useful for the future activities to be implemented in the framework of Ukraine’s association with EU.”

Andriy Gyzhko, Deputy Head of Vinnytska Oblast State Administration, told about longtime cooperation with the CBA Project in peaceful period and during the current crisis: “Andriy Gyzhko, Deputy Head of Vinnytska Oblast State Administration, told about longtime cooperation with the CBA Project in peaceful period and during the current crisis: “When we were signing our first cooperation agreement seven years ago, we were dealing with purely development activities: constructing water pipelines,  procurement of school buses, street lightning. However, two years ago everything has drastically changed. The country faces the war. We need to understand that each IDP arriving to Vinnytsia region is a citizen of Ukraine like any other. These people need to feel our care and empathy. We are grateful for the project in Yampil”.

Svitlana Slabinska who represented the CBA Project at the opening ceremony, noted that “this event exemplifies the core idea of the Project, that is improving people’s lives by joint efforts of authorities and communities. Supporting IDPs and recovery of social infrastructure is our priority task. We are glad that we managed to unite the efforts to support the most vulnerable. In total, there are 34 community initiatives on renovation of the buildings for the IDPs being implemented in Ukraine. 26 residential objects have been already refurbished and opened. Finally we are opening such object in Vinnytsia region.”