Almost a year ago, in September 2025, the Ladyzhyn community took an important step – it officially began developing the Just Transition Plan. Since then, more than 200 representatives of civil society, business, local authorities and the expert community have taken part in thematic discussions and focus groups. This month, the Working Group agreed the Plan’s goals and objectives and began collecting proposals from Ladyzhyn residents, local businesses and civil society organisations. For this key stage of engagement with the community to succeed, it is worth understanding why the Plan is needed at all.
Just transition is an approach in which changes in the economy do not happen abruptly or at the expense of ordinary people. It is not a case where one day a power plant closes, people are left without work and are told: “You’ll figure it out somehow.” Rather, the community knows in advance what is going to happen, prepares for the changes, looks for new opportunities and receives support – from the state, international partners and business. That is exactly what the Just Transition Plan is being developed for.
But it is important to understand that this is not just another strategic document to gather dust on a shelf. It is a roadmap for the community’s development, created by its residents themselves.
The Plan reflects the real interests of the people who live and work here: which areas of development are key, which projects are a priority, and where there are opportunities that remain untapped. That is why the development process included focus groups with entrepreneurs and discussions with power plant employees, and why ideas are now being collected from everyone who wants to influence the town’s future.
Why is this document so important?
First, it helps the community form a shared vision of the future. Second, it allows resources to be focused on the most important projects rather than spent chaotically. Third, it significantly increases the chances of attracting state and international funding.
Communities with an approved Plan have far better opportunities to attract international grants, state support programmes and investment. The state has already adopted the State Targeted Programme for the Just Transition of Coal Regions until 2030, with funding of almost UAH 30.5 billion. Communities with ready plans will be in a much better position to access these funds.
Donors are far more willing to support communities that have a clear development strategy and a list of well-prepared projects. The logic is simple: first the community defines a shared vision for development and produces a high-quality Plan – and only then attracts investment and implements specific projects.
Without such a document, it is much harder to apply for major support programmes. A community with a clear plan, by contrast, becomes an understandable partner for the state, international organisations and investors.
In addition, in Ukrainian realities the Plan offers one more important advantage – it helps the community take its place on the map of the country’s future recovery. After the war ends, the state will attract large-scale international investment. Communities with a developed transformation strategy will have far better chances of becoming priorities for this funding.
The aim of the Plan is to diversify the economy: to attract new entrepreneurs, develop small business, and support the retraining of people whose employment conditions will change. Not to push people out of their familiar fields of employment, but to create new opportunities for them.
Renewable energy, thermal modernisation of buildings, local backup power systems – all of this reduces the community’s dependence on one large power plant and makes it more resilient during outages. Transformation also includes social support for vulnerable groups, employment programmes, and the development of education and retraining.
For Ladyzhyn, the prospects for developing medical and rehabilitation, education and technology, and energy clusters are already being discussed, along with support for entrepreneurship, modernisation of housing infrastructure and development of the community’s recreational potential.
The experience of other communities
Ladyzhyn is not the first community on this path. There are already examples whose results can be assessed.
The Sheptytskyi community, centred on the former Chervonohrad, became Ukraine’s pilot coal region. In October 2024, the Lviv region became the first in Ukraine to develop and approve a Just Transition Action Plan for the coal micro-region until 2030. Around a thousand people – representatives of the authorities, miners, entrepreneurs and civil society organisations – worked on the document for more than a year. The result was 47 projects worth more than UAH 10 billion.
The example of Volyn is also telling. Last year, the Volyn region approved an Action Plan for the Novovolynsk, Poromiv and Lytovezh communities. There is already a concrete vision here for the future of the mines that are closing: instead of leaving the buildings to their fate, investment proposals have been developed for their further use – for new production and the creation of new jobs.
Thanks to the activity of the communities, the state is gradually meeting them halfway. Whereas previously the talk was of liquidating mines and reclaiming the land, projects are now being planned to transform mines with no prospects. In particular, PrJSC “Nadiia Mine” and Mine No. 9 Novovolynska are to be transferred into community ownership.
Your idea is part of the Plan
This is where the most important part begins. Right now, the Ladyzhyn community is collecting project ideas that will go into the Plan. If you have a thought about what should be done in the community – in the economy, energy, education, infrastructure, ecology, business support or any other area – this is exactly the moment to speak up.
The ideas will be reviewed by the Working Group. The best of them will be included in the official document and will be able to apply for funding from state, international and donor sources.
Ladyzhyn is a town with great potential and strengths for further development. It has a reservoir, a well-developed education network, powerful agro-industrial enterprises nearby and a convenient location. Transformation is not a sentence but a tool. And now is the particular moment when every resident can influence what the town will be like in ten years’ time.