Cities4Cities: launch of a new matchmaking platform to support Ukrainian local and regional authorities
A new online matchmaking platform, Cities4Cities, developed to help Ukrainian cities was launched today in Strasbourg. The platform is a free online exchange tool; it allows local authorities in Ukraine and the rest of Europe to share their local infrastructure needs and offers and to get in direct contact to receive practical help.
The platform was launched on the initiative of Bernd Vöhringer (Germany, EPP/CCE), President of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and Mayor of the town of Sindelfingen, with the support of the Congress of Local Authorities and Council of Europe Regional Authorities.
Bernd Vöhringer explained that the need for coordination of support actions from the local level became very clear to him after the visit at the end of March to the Polish twin town of Sindelfingen, Chełm, located near the Ukrainian border where he saw for the first time – on the other hand the “urgent need for support in material, financial and human resources”. “The platform will be a place to match the demands/needs of Ukrainian cities with the capacity, know-how and offer of other European cities,” he noted, “it will enable more support faster and more efficiently to our Ukrainian friends and partners”.
The Secretary General of the Congress, Andreas Kiefer, declared that the Congress “welcomes the efforts of the local and regional authorities of the member states of the Council of Europe and their associations in favor of their counterparts and Ukrainian citizens”, and that the Cities4Cities initiative is an example of such results-oriented solidarity action at the local level. “In the recently passed law Declaration the Congress stressed that democracy, multilevel governance and human rights are stronger than war, and reiterated its firm stand alongside Ukraine and its people,” concluded Kiefer.
Ambassador Borys Tarasyuk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe, underlined that the initiative will serve well the purpose of providing practical assistance to the most vulnerable, in the midst of the immense human tragedy and the challenges, and will complement the political support and solidarity expressed by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the Council of Europe as a whole.
The Cities4Cities platform was developed and is maintained by the IT company STAR Cooperation.
See more :
Cities4cities – A matchmaking platform for Ukrainian and European cities, sponsored by the Congress
help.gov.ua – Ukrainian website for humanitarian aid
Speech by Bernd Vöhringer