The Kyiv City Council website has published the Integrated Development Concept for the Podil District of Kyiv until 2030. The document was adopted by the City Council on November 10, 2022 (Decision 5581/5622). It was developed back in 2018–2019 with support from the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) as a part of the Integrated Development of Cities in Ukraine project.

The concept was worked on by a multidisciplinary team which included Cedos experts Maria Hryshchenko, Daryna Pyrohova, Ivan Verbytskyi, Maria Kudelia, and Iryna Kohut. In particular, they were responsible for preparing the sections on Education and Social Development, participated in the development of the housing policy concept (particularly in terms of social housing), and worked on the general principles of the document; they were also involved in facilitating the public discussions.

In order to implement the vision of the district, the Concept sets 7 goals, one of which is titled Social Justice:

It is necessary to expand the infrastructure of social service and social aid provision (expand the aid programs and the network of institutions, remove barriers), organize programmes and public spaces for social integration of various social groups, and create municipal social housing for concessionary renting.

The Housing Policy Concept defines the development of social and affordable housing as one of the key measures. In particular, the following steps are suggested among others: a) forming a social housing stock by public and non-profit organizations; b) obligating the providers of housing on public/communal lands to create up to 25% of social housing; c) organizing an agency to distribute and control social housing; d) even spatial distribution of social housing to preserve social diversity in residential areas and avoid ghettoisation.

In terms of development of the education sphere, the Concept suggests:

  • to improve the interaction with developers in order to provide newly built housing with preschool and secondary school facilities;
  • to improve the infrastructure of secondary education facilities in order to implement the principles of the New Ukrainian School;
  • to improve the system of data collection on the number of children in the district in order to distribute secondary school services more effectively;
  • to make a development plan for the network of education facilities in the district for the medium term, taking into account the demographic predictions and housing development plans;
  • to expand the supply of education opportunities for adults from professional and higher education institutions;
  • to introduce support for secondary education institutions which demonstrate worse educational outcomes (especially those teaching students with lower socioeconomic status);
  • to ensure the equality of education opportunities by adhering to new school acceptance rules so that children from diverse households can have equal opportunities to study at the same secondary education facility.

In the sphere of social development, the Concept proposes to:

  • introduce the principles of gender equality in the implementation of policies at all levels;
  • update the social service system and social service centers;
  • create a center for homeless people and socially vulnerable population groups;
  • provide equal access to various means to meat the needs in the fields of culture, sports, tourism, recreation for various age groups and various budgets;
  • create a unified accessible system for informing the population about opportunities to meet their needs, and about the measures and programmes implemented in the district;
  • create a network of multifunctional public centers;
  • create a (re)integration program for elderly people to participate in the life of the district and the community;
  • ensure that the public spaces of new residential complexes are open to integrate the residents of various social statuses;
  • encourage the harmonious coexistence between different religious, ethnic and cultural identities;
  • implement the policy of integrating residents in social and political life, with special focus on the needs of people belonging to socially vulnerable categories.

You can read the full text of the Concept on the website of the Kyiv City Council. The section on educational development is on pages 70-80 (file 2.1); the section on social development is on pages 130-152 (file 2.2).