Kent With Ukraine works to support local authorities, municipal leaders and civic institutions across the United Kingdom and Ukraine in developing meaningful and practical international partnerships.

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We are proud to assist councils across Kent and beyond in establishing twinning and cooperation arrangements with municipalities in Chernihiv Region and across northern Ukraine. These partnerships are designed not simply as symbolic gestures of solidarity, but as long-term civic relationships capable of delivering practical outcomes in areas including education, youth engagement, cultural exchange, local governance, community resilience and economic cooperation.

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At a time when local government leaders across Ukraine are operating under immense pressure, often while responding to wartime disruption, infrastructure damage and humanitarian challenges, we believe that sustained international partnerships can provide meaningful support, visibility and encouragement. Kent With Ukraine is proud to stand alongside municipal leaders, elected representatives and local communities across Ukraine as they continue the vital work of maintaining services, supporting residents and leading local recovery efforts in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

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Through our partnership framework, UK local authorities are able to demonstrate solidarity with Ukraine while also building enduring people-to-people and institution-to-institution relationships. These partnerships create opportunities to share knowledge, exchange experience and foster cooperation between communities facing very different circumstances but united by shared civic values.

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Kent With Ukraine has developed a structured twinning and partnership model in collaboration with the Chernihiv Regional State Administration. Our framework is designed to ensure that partnerships are practical, deliverable and accessible, including models capable of being implemented at minimal or zero direct cost to participating municipalities.

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We are able to support councils throughout the entire process, including:

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• Identifying suitable municipal partners in Ukraine.

• Facilitating introductions and initial discussions.

• Supporting formal twinning and partnership agreements.

• Assisting with project planning and implementation.

• Developing educational, cultural and civic exchange programmes.

• Supporting long-term cooperation between institutions and communities.

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We work with parish, town, district, borough, city and county councils, as well as regional authorities, schools, community organisations and civic institutions. Examples of our recent partnerships can be found below. If you are part of a town, parish, city, or district council and would like our support in developing a twinning relationship, please do get in touch — we would be delighted to help.

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Paradiplomacy 

At the heart of our work is paradiplomacy. As proven through the Kent-Chernihiv Regional Agreement, we have developed the framework needed to support regional and municipal leaders to develop international partnerships that have the practical ability to deliver projects on the ground.

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In Ukraine’s path to decentralisation, these partnerships are essential, and Kent With Ukraine is on a mission to show how localism, rooted in international partnership, can truly transform communities and rebuild lives. 

We are proud to have delivered a growing network of:

 

• Twinning arrangements between Kent’s many municipal authorities such as Parish and Town Councils with local councils in Chernihiv.

• Friendship links between Kent schools and Ukrainian schools, giving young people the chance to exchange letters, art, stories, and messages of hope.

• Cultural events and community support for displaced Ukrainians living here in Kent.

• Supporting opportunities for businesses in both regions to develop and grow, through the twinning of the local chambers of commerce and Rotary International Clubs. 

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This framework that we have developed in complete partnership with the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, has the real potential to be implemented across the entirety of Ukraine.