Safety Through Open Dialogue – EUAM Gives Platform to Local Voices
December 29, 2025
Strengthening community safety and fostering trust between citizens and civilian security actors is essential for building resilient and inclusive communities.
Against this backdrop, EUAM Ukraine recently supported Community Safety Dialogues in the Tsarychanka and Novooleksandrivka hromadas of Dnipropetrovsk oblast.
The dialogues brought together local authorities, law enforcement representatives, civil society, veterans and residents for open and honest conversations on community safety and everyday challenges in the liberated and frontline-adjacent areas.
Throughout both sessions, participants openly discussed issues such as community safety issues, communication gaps between citizens and police, traffic safety and infrastructure challenges, youth vulnerability, and the emotional strain faced by community members and veterans, and their families.
“A Community Safety Dialogue is a platform that helps people to speak openly about safety concerns and rebuild cooperation step by step,” said Marija Kazanović, EUAM Adviser on Public Outreach. “It allows local voices to shape future discussions and joint responses.”
Crucially, the dialogues gave space to voices from within the communities themselves. Oleksandr Vizir, the Head of the Novooleksandrivska hromada, emphasised the importance of dialogue in today’s context, noting that trust cannot be imposed from above but must be built locally, through direct communication and shared responsibility.
Denys Skaleuch, Adviser on veterans’ issues to the head of police in Dnipropetrovsk oblast, highlighted the human dimension of the discussions: “I believe in dialogue. In meeting each other. In the chance to truly hear one another. That is why I support formats of dialogue between communities, police and veterans, such as the Community Safety Dialogues supported by the EU Advisory Mission. Trust does not appear overnight, but it grows when people sit side by side and speak honestly.”
During the workshops, EUAM advisers shared the knowledge of non-violent communication, conflict-sensitive and constructive dialogue tools. The workshops resulted in efficient identification of each community’s main safety concerns. Those identified priorities will serve as the basis for developing concrete, shared solutions during the next rounds of CSDs scheduled for January 2026 and beyond.
The December dialogues demonstrated that CSDs are a practical and effective tool for strengthening resilience, improving communication and rebuilding trust between authorities and communities in the war-affected places. EUAM will continue working closely with local partners as the process moves further into the problem-solving phase.
