PSYCHOSOCIAL RESILIENCE OF A TERRITORIAL COMMUNITY IN TIMES OF CRISIS: COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES THROUGH STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Abstract

The article examines the psychosocial resilience of a territorial community in crisis conditions and substantiates it as an important prerequisite for preserving social integrity, trust, mutual support, and the capacity for recovery. It is demonstrated that, in crisis conditions, the community functions as a space of everyday support for people, coordination of resources, and interaction among various actors of local life. The article argues that psychosocial resilience cannot be ensured solely through administrative decisions or the provision of separate services, since it is formed through a combination of quality communication, trust in local institutions, accessibility of support, social cohesion, and the ability of stakeholders to act in a coordinated manner. Attention is focused on the role of local self-government representatives as practical coordinators of local support. It is shown that they are often the first to encounter the human consequences of crisis, identify the needs of vulnerable groups, risks of social isolation, problems of access to services, and tensions between different population groups. It is determined that, for effective work in such conditions, local self-government representatives need communicative, coordination, analytical, ethical, and facilitation competencies. The article proposes an author’s model for strengthening the psychosocial resilience of a territorial community through the development of competencies of local self-government representatives in interaction with stakeholders. To operationalize this model, a conditional integral index of community psychosocial resilience is presented, covering the quality of communication, the level of coordination between services and partners, the ethical and human-centered nature of interaction, the ability to analyze needs and risks, the level of stakeholder involvement, trust, dialogue, and social cohesion. It is concluded that the psychosocial resilience of a territorial community is formed where local self-government combines managerial capacity with humanity, and stakeholder interaction becomes not a formal procedure but a way to identify people’s real needs, coordinate resources, and ensure support in conditions of prolonged crisis.