ICMA Belgium Global Exchange Series: Ukrainian Veterans Reintegration Workshop

Laura Hagg, ICMA director of capacity development and governance, presenting with the Ukrainian delegation to the ICMA Global Engagement Committee in Bruges.

In May of 2024, a group of ICMA members, many from ICMA's Global Engagement Committee, joined members of the ICMA Executive Board, ICMA staff, and other local government professionals, to travel to Belgium for an immersive global exchange in the cities of Bruges and Hasselt. The entire exchange covered an array of topics such as mobility, water management, cultural preservation, veteran reintegration, AI in local government, and more. The hands-on and diverse experiences provided by the exchange gave participants a whole new perspective on these topics and how they can be integrated into their own communities.

The following piece covers the veterans reintegration workshop hosted by ICMA in Bruges, Belgium, for Ukrainian municipal staff.

ICMA held a workshop for six Ukrainian municipal staff and one member of the Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities (AATC), an ICMA affiliate organization, on reintegrating veterans back into their communities. This workshop was made possible with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) DOBRE program (Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency) which is currently working with Ukrainian municipalities. Laura Hagg, ICMA director of capacity development and governance, and ICMA member, Lance O'Bryan, president and CEO of the Knox Regional Development Alliance, retired garrison commander of Ft. Knox and an alumnus of ICMA's Veterans Local Government Management Fellowship (VLGMF) program, organized and delivered the two-and-a-half-day workshop that centered on three principles of veteran reintegration:

1. Accessing care.
2. Creating a safe space.
3. Supporting veterans to find purpose.

These three principles are veteran-centered, and the discussions focused on applying these principles to the Ukrainian local government context and environment. The group developed recommendations for AATC to lobby their national government to support veterans as well as short-, medium-, and long-term action items for municipalities.

During ICMA's Global Engagement Committee meeting held in Bruges, the Ukrainian participants presented to members of the Global Engagement Committee, the ICMA Executive Board, ICMA staff, and other participants. Marc Ott, ICMA's CEO/ED commented, "hearing from the Ukrainian delegation was a very powerful experience for me and the members of the ICMA delegation. Their strength and resilience as local leaders in the face of war and its consequences on their communities is truly inspirational. All of them have undergone personal trauma yet their focus is on how to help their residents, including those who have been displaced and are now residing in their respective municipalities."

Member of the Ukrainian delegation presenting to the ICMA Global Engagement Committee in Bruges.

Hagg continued, "I think the workshop gave the Ukrainians time to decompress a bit and create space to think about solutions-before they need to return to the very difficult place many of their communities are in: missile attacks, helping community members who have lost loved ones, all while simultaneously trying to do their job delivering municipal services." She added, "They engaged in thoughtful discussions, answered some hard questions, and shared their fears and concerns with one another. They knew at the end of the workshop what they needed to do, and they developed the next steps they needed to take."

O'Bryan echoed Hagg's lessons learned and shared his hope for the Ukrainian participants after engaging in this workshop. "The principles and basic planning framework we provided will help these communities to refine their needs at each unique municipal level. They can tailor services as needed and work with others to develop interlocal agreements for sharing the resource burden."

As a result of lessons learned from hosting this workshop, Hagg considered how ICMA can reframe future workshops to better serve veterans. "I think we can be most effective by not presenting one model that communities should adopt for veteran reintegration but facilitating these important discussions to bring out unique solutions for communities. It is important to take time to discuss, listen to each other and ask questions so we can come up with the best possible solutions. It is hard in our fast-paced world and the demands on local government sometimes don't seem to allow us to slow down and listen to each other and find the best outcomes." To this, O'Bryan added "I think the best support that can be provided is to continue these interactions with a growing audience, as solutions will present themselves through discussion that can be actioned and carried forward."

Following the success and impact of this workshop, Hagg traveled to Lviv and Kyiv, Ukraine, for meetings with Ukraine Ministry of Veteran Affairs, USAID, and other organizations implementing programs in October 2024. She was also able to reconnect with a participant from the workshop, Volodymyr Mitsuk, mayor of a small community in Cherkasy Oblast. He shared with her that he was so inspired by the workshop that immediately upon his return he started meeting with municipal staff, business leaders, and citizens to brainstorm how they could create a safe space for returning veterans. He even secured some small funds from the government and with the support of others, they renovated a building that has a dedicated room for veterans to access services, childcare, and other amenities. Businesses donated furniture and nonprofits also jumped in to help. It is a powerful reminder that one motivated individual can inspire others to create positive change in their community.

Veteran reintegration is only a small piece of the puzzle for Ukrainian local government professionals who are facing unimaginable challenges on top of their basic responsibilities to serve their residents. ICMA's ongoing support of Ukraine was echoed in this workshop and will continue. Learn more about Ukraine's journey of resilience and ICMA's ongoing history with Ukraine.

To help better reintegrate veterans into your community, refer to ICMA's Veteran Reintegration presentation that was shared during the Ukraine veterans workshop. For all other tools and support for veterans in your community, refer to ICMA's Veterans resource hub.

For more from ICMA's Belgium exchange, visit:

Bruges Study Tour

Bruges, Belgium, and Kopychyntsi, Ukraine Partnership

Exello.net Conference: Our World Is Changing Faster Than We Are

9th ICMA Europe Summit: AI in Local Government