On December 16, Berlin hosted the conference “Voices, Visions, Alliances: Co-Creating Ukraine’s Recovery” of the German Platform for the Reconstruction of Ukraine that brought together representatives of the German and Ukrainian governments, businesses, international financial institutions, public sector, and partner organizations.

The conference attendees discussed matters of fostering international support to Ukraine’s recovery, implementation of joint projects, developing partnership between communities from both countries, attracting investment, and participation of German businesses in rebuilding the housing and infrastructure.

It was highlighted that Ukraine’s reconstruction needs equality cooperation of partners, joint decision-making, and responsible project management. This very approach, focused on result, transparency, and joint responsibility, is viewed as a foundation for a sustainable development of Ukrainian communities.

Special attention was drawn to the scale of reconstruction. Estimated 10% of the Ukrainian housing stock has been destroyed or damaged, and the recovery needs in the next 10 years are expected to exceed USD 500 billion. In this context, an important role is played by efficient project management, introduction of international standards, and professional coordination of recovery processes.

During the conference, they presented the outputs of Ukraine’s collaboration with German partners, including realization of housing programs supported by the KfW, developing mechanisms of affordable mortgage for IDPs, and also new housing support instruments within the eRecovery facility. They also noted effective activities of the Ukrainian Social Investment Fund (USIF) and readiness to spread its approaches to social and energy-efficient reconstruction projects.

On the sidelines of the conference, business meetings were held, aimed at further broadening the cooperation in the fields of housing policy and social and critical infrastructure, particularly water supply, sewerage, and energy efficiency.

Representatives of the Interstate Consultants Engineers Guild emphasize that the scale and complexity of Ukraine recovery require a comprehensive and professional approach based on European standards of project management. Involving the consulting engineers as independent professional stakeholders allows raising the decisions’ quality, mitigating risks for clients, and ensuring transparent and effective recovery of communities.

It is this very model, with a clear distribution of roles, professional coordination, and responsibility, that is a basis for successful reconstruction which Ukraine is beginning to implement in practice together with European partners.