On 15 August 2025, a roundtable “Communications in Local Labour Markets of Kharkiv Oblast” was held in Kharkiv. Is There a Problem?” organised by the Ukrainian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and IER in partnership with Centre for Social Security and Regional Initiatives NGO (members of UNP WG5).
The roundtable topic was defined by understanding the communication deficit between actors representing the interests of main labour market participants.
The roundtable aimed to discuss communication problems in organising local labour markets and identify directions for systematic activities to overcome this problem at the institutional level.
Speakers:
- Ihor Dubrovskyi (Centre for Social Security and Regional Initiatives NGO),
- Valerii Repin (Kharkiv Regional Organisation of the Entrepreneurs’ Trade Union),
- Svitlana Levchenko (District 2223 for Community Work),
- Valeriia Hontar (Coordination Humanitarian Centre CF).
Ihor Dubrovskyi noted the problem of lacking systematic communications among actors involved in organising local labour markets as a key factor in community viability. Particularly noted was the role of employers and their organisations as key players in regional and local labour markets, as well as civil society organisations involved in this area but often limited by specific temporary projects that do not provide for sustainable communications with other organisations.
Valerii Repin drew attention to the problem of actor representation, particularly employers’ organisations that should consolidate and represent their interests in dialogue with authorities. He noted the need to orient towards relevant EU standards.
Svitlana Levchenko outlined the positions of small and medium business representatives and their lack of awareness about legally established recommendatory communication mechanisms.
Valeriia Hontar spoke about creating and operating working groups on public safety, social cohesion, recovery, and integration. She noted that local labour markets are one of the key areas. However, the problem of communication with potential partners beyond specific projects is quite significant.
The speakers’ presentations stimulated an exchange of views on the roundtable topic.
For example, Dmytro Kostin, lawyer for the Kharkiv Regional Organisation of the Entrepreneurs’ Trade Union, drew attention to the need to distinguish between the concepts of “entrepreneur” and “employer” when discussing the representation system.
Ihor Sukhanov and Andrii Kubrak, representing the Public Council at the State Tax Service in Kharkiv Oblast, drew attention to the thematically limited feedback system, while noting cooperation with the Kharkiv Regional Employment Centre.
Inna Prokhorenko, Head of the Employment Policy Implementation Department at the Kharkiv Regional Employment Centre, noted that various projects implemented by the Centre require a review of information policy, specifically in terms of reaching potential participants. She drew attention to the specifics of communities for which preserving and reproducing human capital, now concentrated in local labour markets, is an urgent task.
The communication problem was confirmed by Ivan Romanyk, representative of the Employment Centre’s Communications Department.
Olha Biletska, Secretary of “sZSU” NGO, spoke on technical communication issues, noting the need to bring digital services up to communication network quality.
Hennadii Afenchenko from Kharkiv State Academy of Culture formulated a particular problem. He drew attention to potential opportunities in overcoming the education system’s communication deficit. At the same time, he shared experience researching labour markets that is not used in practical activities precisely due to lack of communication.
During interaction, participants shared each organisation’s experience and concluded that parallel activities exist, revealed by each party’s regulations. Participants believe the problem lies not in unwillingness to communicate or inability to do so, but in internal regulations that often do not provide for partnership participation across different sectors. They noted similar understanding of how this problem could be overcome.
Roundtable participants identified several thematic areas requiring joint work, namely:
- Working on preserving and reproducing communities’ human capital (local labour markets were considered the arena where this should occur),
- Communication among employers to form groups representing their interests in dialogue with authorities,
- Opportunities for employer communication with authorities within legally established models (social dialogue system),
- Coordination of different sectors in delivering potentially useful information to citizens,
- Formulating proposals for optimising digital services that promote local labour market development,
- Formulating proposals for education system flexibility and information dissemination about it.
The roundtable participants’ joint decision was to identify priority areas for further activities involving actors who could be useful in developing specific areas.
Information provided by Ihor Dubrovskyi, Centre for Social Security and Regional Initiatives NGO
Kharkiv is under massive shelling by the Russian army. We thank our Kharkiv colleagues who prepared the event. We thank everyone who joined the discussion.
Invited participants: representatives of Kharkiv Regional Employment Centre, Public Council at the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Kharkiv Oblast, civil society organisations, education system, trade unions, Rotary Club “Kharkiv Hope” and Coordination Humanitarian Centre CF (Photo documentation was limited by the need for participants’ consent, regulated by: Article 302 of the Civil Code of Ukraine; Part 2, Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine “On Information”; the right to privacy enshrined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights).
Thanks for technical support to Rotary Club “Kharkiv Hope” (Kharkiv)
The event is held within the project “Supporting the Activities of the Ukrainian National Platform of the EaP CSF in 2025–2026,” implemented by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting with financial support from the European Union. Individual opinions expressed at the event are the sole responsibility of Centre for Social Security and Regional Initiatives NGO and the discussion participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting.
