The U.S. Department of State and the German Marshall Fund USA (GMF) have announced the creation of a new project, the Ukraine Cities Partnership for Sustainable Urban Recovery (UCP), a new public–private partnership program that should help Ukrainians redesign and rebuild sustainable, inclusive and strong cities.

According to the release, the U.S. State Department and GMF will work together to involve key stakeholders, technical experts and financial partners in the UCP efforts, using the energy and ingenuity of business and the private sector, universities, non-governmental organizations and foundations.

“Serving as the UCP Secretariat, GMF will forge new transatlantic partnerships, programs, and alliances between European and American entities in order to aid the recovery and redevelopment of up to three Ukrainian cities. In the process, UCP will help empower a new generation of Ukrainian city officials, urban planners, architects, engineers, and construction teams to build back better using sustainable methods,” the release reads.

It is noted that the UCP will engage and coordinate with the Government of Ukraine, the European Union (EU) and its member states, multilateral development banks, and bilateral donors to help the beneficiary cities find the resources they need to rebuild.

Conceived as a three-year initiative, UCP will be formally launched at June’s Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin and will sunset when the cities are ready to break ground.