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On 16 June 2026 the Tsyrkuny Rural Military Administration approved the community's Development Strategy to 2030. It is the first document in which this community, having lived through occupation, set out not only how to rebuild houses and networks, but what to do with the forests, the river and the wetlands that suffered alongside its people.
Our foundation has worked with this community since September 2024. Below is what the document says about the environment, and an honest account of our role in it — and of what was not our role.
Key facts
- Whose document this is. The Strategy was drafted by a working group of the Tsyrkuny Rural Military Administration, with methodological support from researchers of the Institute of Public Administration at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University.
- Legal basis. The working group was established by order No. 01-04/106 of 30 July 2025; the Strategy was approved by order No. 01-04/82 of 16 June 2026.
- The environmental part. Operational objective 4.1, "Ecosystem recovery through state and international programmes", with nine measurable indicators to 2030.
- The foundation's role. That of a partner, unpaid: years of support to the community, participation of our academic lead in the working group as an expert from the Institute, and pro bono involvement of our specialists in consultations.
- What the foundation did not do. It did not author the Strategy, received no payment for this work and did not fund its development.
What "Tsyrkuny 2030" is
It is a territorial community development strategy to 2030 — a document required by law which, under wartime conditions, has turned from a formality into a survival instrument. The community north of Kharkiv was occupied in the first weeks of the full-scale war and liberated in September 2022. Of almost 12,500 pre-war residents, about 3,150 remain — a quarter.
Work on the document ran from July 2025 to June 2026 and covered damage assessment, an evaluation of resource potential, a SWOT analysis weighted towards security threats, development scenarios depending on how long the war lasts, and a Medium-Term Public Investment Plan for 2026–2028. The Strategy is published on the community's website and can be opened and read in full.
What the community lost
The environmental part of the Strategy starts from an inventory of losses. According to the document:
- around 40% of the community's forest stands have been destroyed;
- 240 hectares of old-growth oak forest more than 150 years old are damaged; this is the community's most valuable natural complex;
- before the war more than 40 bird species nested in these forests, including species listed in the Red Book of Ukraine; a significant share of the population has been lost;
- the floodplain meadows of the Kharkiv river and the wetlands around the Vyalivske reservoir were damaged;
- part of the floodplain is potentially mined, which delays recovery by years.
What the community plans to do by 2030
Operational objective 4.1 of the Strategy is "Ecosystem recovery through state and international programmes". The logic is straightforward: the community has no funds of its own for ecosystem recovery, so it is betting on state programmes with minimal co-financing and on drawing in volunteers and international organisations. The indicators to 2030:
| Indicator | Target by 2030 |
|---|---|
| Area of restored forest | 100 ha (of 240 ha damaged) |
| Trees planted | 10,000 – 11,000 saplings |
| Kharkiv river cleared | 1 km of channel + 2 km of banks |
| Community eco-monitoring points | 6 |
| Community clean-up events | 5–7 per year |
| Volunteers in environmental actions | 250+ people per year |
| Seasonal jobs in forestry | 15–20 |
| Applications to state programmes | 4–6 |
| Grants raised for ecosystem recovery | UAH 12–17 million |
The community's own co-financing under this objective is capped at UAH 0.8 million, less than 2% of its budget. In other words, the whole plan rests on whether external money and external partners arrive.
The foundation's role in this
We are precise here, because this page will be read by people who verify.
First — years of support to the community. Since September 2024 the foundation has delivered assistance to the Tsyrkuny community seven times, each delivery documented by a handover certificate. This is not a one-off campaign but 22 months of work alongside the community; the full list is in the public register of assistance provided and in the programme description.
Second — participation in the working group through our academic lead. Professor Ihor Dunaiev, the programme's academic lead and methodologist, is a member of the working group established by order No. 01-04/106, as an invited expert — a professor of the Institute of Public Administration at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. That is the capacity in which he is listed in the group.
Third — pro bono involvement of the foundation's specialists. Our people took part in consultations and discussions free of charge. The Strategy notes this category of participants separately: "An important role — with their consent — was played by volunteers and representatives of humanitarian organisations, who maintained contact with vulnerable groups of the population." At the time we did not formalise this cooperation in documents, because we did not yet see that a separate programme of the foundation would grow out of it. We are formalising it now: we have approached the Tsyrkuny Rural Military Administration for official confirmation of the scope of our involvement.
What the foundation did not do
This paragraph matters as much as the previous one.
- The foundation is not the author of the "Tsyrkuny 2030" Strategy and was not its developer. The developer is the community's working group, with methodological support from Karazin University.
- The foundation did not fund the drafting. The Strategy states explicitly: "Funding for most of the work on drafting the Strategy came from the community budget, without external state or foreign co-financing."
- The foundation did not conduct the household survey on which the document is based, and carried out no laboratory measurements.
- All figures on this page are data from the Strategy, not results of the foundation's own research.
How the community asked its people
The Strategy is built on a household survey conducted in July–August 2025. For security reasons the questionnaires were completed remotely only; 134 responses were received, covering all nine settlements of the community. The document itself describes this survey as not representative and puts its coverage at 10.2% of current households.
Its value lies elsewhere. Families filled in the 50-question form together, discussing the answers — so the document captured not isolated opinions but agreed family positions. Temporarily displaced homeowners, who do not physically live in the community but decide the fate of their houses, were included in the survey as well.
What follows from this
The community has a plan and no money to deliver it. The 4.1 indicators are written for external funding — state programmes, EU grants, international partners. Without them, 100 hectares of oak forest will remain a figure in a document.
Our task within this programme is to help the community turn the plan into actual projects: prepare the data, put the paperwork in order, find the funding. That is what the programme's two other materials are about — an assessment of the community's water systems, and a network of six communities for replicating the approach.
Sources
- Development Strategy of Tsyrkuny Rural Territorial Community to 2030 — approved by order No. 01-04/82 of the head of the Tsyrkuny Rural Military Administration, dated 16.06.2026. Environmental indicators — operational objective 4.1.
- Order No. 01-04/106 of the head of the Tsyrkuny Rural Military Administration, dated 30.07.2025 — on the composition of the working group for drafting the Strategy (the composition is given in Annex 1 to the Strategy).
- The foundation's register of assistance provided — handover certificates.
This material is for information purposes. All quantitative indicators are given from the Development Strategy of Tsyrkuny Rural Territorial Community to 2030, with the source stated; the foundation carried out no measurements of its own and is not the developer of the Strategy.
FAQ
Did the foundation draft the "Tsyrkuny 2030" Strategy?
Who exactly took part on the foundation's side?
Where do the figures on this page come from?
Is the survey of 134 households representative?
What is needed for plan 4.1 to be delivered?
Поточні відкриті збори
Внесок на будь-який відкритий збір фонду спрямовується на конкретну потребу — зі звітом після передачі.
Joint collectionПідтримати підрозділи через фонд - БО БФ «Міжнародний Рух Єдності», ЄДРПОУ 44797809. Документи для податкової знижки надаємо за запитом.
One hundred hectares of oak forest is not a slogan but a line in a document the community has approved. Turning that line into trees takes data, paperwork and money.
You can join us with a contribution or as a partner: [email protected].
