WYG International led the “Action Donbass” consortium, based in Lugansk, for three years, supporting the regional authorities, municipalities and development agencies in dealing with the social consequences of restructuring the Ukrainian coal industry. The project’s Ukrainian partners were Lugansk Oblast State Administration, Ministry of Labour and UDKR, the state agency established to deal with the physical, social and job creation issues of coal restructuring. The project worked very closely with the Ministry of Coal, Employment Services, city authorities, National Entrepreneurial Support Agency, training institutions, and a wide range of community support organisations.

The key achievements of the project included:

• Establishment of very effective network of five regional social adaptation centres (SACs);
• Creation of over 1700 new job placements by demonstrator pilot actions;
• Sustained institutional capacity now run by local staff;
• The creation of a Work Employment Placement team to apply a World Bank scheme in Western Ukraine;
• The establishment of a National Partnership Committee in Kiev to provide policy advice, strategy guidance and consensual partnership;
• The setting up of a Regional Partnership Committee for community focused consensual partnership.