Kovel Territorial Community

Volyn`

Population:

The Kovel territorial community is located on the territory of Kovel district, Volyn region.

The total area: 316.7 square kilometers.
Population: 72.82 thousand people
Internally displaced persons: over 4,000 people

The community includes 15 population centers and has its administrative center in the city of Kovel.

History

Kovel is one of Volyn’s oldest cities. Archaeological excavations have confirmed the existence of a Copper-Stone Age settlement there (middle of the 3rd millennium BC). There are various testimonies about the rich and ancient history of Kovel, in particular, flint axes, spears, sickles that were found in the Kovel area.

According to an ancient legend, the first settler in this area was a skilled craftsman – a blacksmith (Ukrainian “koval”), therefore the village where he lived was called Kovle. Over time, this word was transformed into the modern name – Kovel.

In 1518, the city was granted Magdeburg rights. According to the same document, it was allowed to hold fairs and auctions in the city, in addition, the inhabitants of the city were exempted from the court of the voivode, castellan or elders.

The Roman Catholic Church of St. Anna, Kovel’s oldest wooden church (1771) Source

The tallest bronze monument to Taras Shevchenko Source

Economy and Welfare

The community’s economy mainly specializes in wholesale and retail trade, transport activities (international cargo transportation), industry (food, woodworking, light), agriculture.

One of the enterprises on the territory of the Kovel community

SAVA-UA production facilities operate on the territory of the community, whose products are quite literally worn by all of Europe. Volyn socks are on the shelves of shops and boutiques of dozens of world brands. “SAVA-UA” not only did not stop work with the beginning of the invasion, but even increased its capacity. Currently, they are planning to launch another factory, thus creating 300 new jobs. They are among the five largest taxpayers to the local budget.

There are 18 preschool educational institutions, 11 lyceums, 7 schools, 2 gymnasiums and 3 primary schools operating in the Kovel territorial community. Out-of-school education is represented by 130 groups.

The Kovel City and District Territorial Medical Association is a modern multi-functional health care facility equipped with the latest medical equipment and advanced treatment and diagnostic technologies, one of Ukraine’s leaders in transplantology.

he first heart transplant in Ukraine in the last 15 years was performed in Kovel (2019) Source

The Medical Association is accredited the highest qualification category and certified by the International Certification Body of Management Systems “Global Certificate” ISO 9001:2015. It is a laureate of the nationwide project “Flagships of Modern Medicine”.

The Kovel Medical Association includes the Central District Hospital, a Maternity Hospital with a women’s consultation, and the Center, which includes 18 outpatient clinics of general practice of family medicine.

In addition, the city has the Volyn Regional Hospital, the Hospice, the Kovel Department of Emergency Medical Care of the Volyn Regional Center of Emergency Medical Care and Disaster Medicine, and the state-owned experimental limb prosthetic enterprise of the Lviv Prosthetic Plant.

In the Kovel territorial community, there are nine club-type establishments, on the basis of which 41 collectives of folk art are engaged.

People's amateur experimental theater-studio "aisle 10 seat 10"

Exemplary amateur folk dance ensemble “Dzvinochok”

The community also has an art school, a children’s art school, a historical museum and a library.

Fridrikson's Pharmacy, the late 19th century (now the city's cultural and educational center)

The Kovel territorial community has one of the best sports infrastructures in the region. The city can confidently claim the title of “sports capital of the region” as it constantly hosts various sports competitions of regional and international levels.

International motocross competition Source

Patriotic race “The Will to Victory” Source

All-Ukrainian kayaking and canoeing competition Source

The first petanque tournament for veterans and their families held in Kovel Source

Community and War

The full-scale invasion made adjustments to the usual life of the Kovel community. The priority in the work today is the support of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. The Kovel City Council was able to provide material and technical assistance to 38 military units on behalf of and at the expense of the community. This includes quadcopters of various types, charging stations, radio stations, fuel, a specialized car with a refrigerator and other necessary things.

Vampire drone from the City Council team for the Kovel battalion "Steel Hundred" Source

Since the first days of the full-scale russian invasion, foreign cities and communities has begun to provide various humanitarian aid to their sister and partner cities.

The partner town of Walsrode handed over a fire engine to the Kovel rescuers Source

Aid from the Kovel partner cities from Germany and Poland Source

To support internally displaced persons in the community, an investment project was implemented, which provided for the reconstruction of a two-story administrative building and an educational and residential building to create multi-apartment residential buildings within the framework of the NEFCO program “EU support to cater for the urgent housing needs of internally displaced persons in Ukraine”. Two buildings with 24 apartments were reconstructed for housing purposes. Housing was provided to 76 internally displaced persons.

Multi-apartment residential building which was financed by the European Union under the management of NEFCO Source

The implementation of the investment project “Support of the EU in the provision of housing for internally displaced persons in Kovel” within the framework of the European Union Support Program “Housing for Internally Displaced Persons and Reconstruction of Liberated Cities in Ukraine” is ongoing (the construction of an energy-efficient 5-story residential building with 70 apartments accommodating about 210 people is envisaged).

Despite the war, the city is alive, a lot has been done to make it cozier and more comfortable: roads are repaired, drainage systems are reconstructed, new water mains are laid, and other urban improvements are made.

People of the Community

The community is led by Mayor Ihor Chaika.

With the initiative and support of the community leadership, a large number of international and national projects were implemented.

In 2023, they signed memorandums of cooperation with the city of Saarbrücken (Germany), which has supported Kovel and Ukraine since the first days of the war. As part of the cooperation, the community received from Saarbrücken three fire trucks, a minibus, as well as a package of free aid from the German International Aid Society GIZ, financed by the German Federal Government (a minibus and an excavator).

Also, on the initiative of the Mayor, a memorandum was signed with the city of Chamblee. As part of cooperation, the American partners undertook to help fill one of the libraries with English-language books. The Eurofuture English language school is working on this initiative and the first thousand books have already arrived from overseas.

Partners from the American city of Chamblee presented Kovel a thousand English-language books Source

On the initiative of Mayor Ihor Chaika, with the support of Ivan Omelianiuk’s charitable foundation “Future Volyn – Ukraine”, the charitable socio-psychological project “Wings” was created for women who are experiencing the loss of a loved one due to war.

The event organized within the framework of the "Wings" project Source

In 2022, trees were planted on the bank of Turia near the Lokomotyv stadium as part of the indefinite campaign “Three trees instead of one” introduced by the Mayor. To continue the tradition, the employees of the City Council who worked near the village of Zelena and near the village of Skulyn (in 2023) joined the environmental initiative.

“The three new trees instead of one cut down” initiative Source

Almost 7,000 trees were planted by the employees of the City Council and local enterprises Source

Development strategy

The development strategy of the Kovel territorial community has been formed and is at the stage of coordination and preparation for approval. To develop a strategy, a working group headed by Mayor Ihor Chaika was created.

The main strategic goals of the Kovel territorial community are as follows:

competitive innovative economy;
development of human potential and improvement of living standards of the population;
development of sports, tourism and preservation of historical and cultural heritage.

The community is actively working on implementing the activities of the Sustainable Energy Development Action Plan until 2030.

We established partnership relations with 11 cities in 4 countries of the world (Republic of Poland, Federal Republic of Germany, Republic of Lithuania, United States of America). The community actively cooperates with international financial organizations (the European Union, the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Swedish Agency for International Development and Cooperation (SIDA)) and has a successful experience in attracting grants.

Cross-border center for the dialogue of cultures within the framework of the EU "Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2014-2020"cross-border cooperation program

List of Sources

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