Support for civic initiatives in Ukraine – a new project from the East European Democratic Centre launched

The project will expand its activities nine regions of Ukraine, from West to East, South and North of the country.  It is an extension of activities carried out by the East European Democratic Centre [EEDC] for the last 6 years.

This year the focus of the project will be on the South and East of Ukraine, however support will also be maintained for initiatives elsewhere.

Support will be given for the development of local youth nongovernmental organizations specifically in creating local coalitions and strengthening their motivation in developing cooperation, both between members of the project and with other sectors of society – the authorities, business, NGOs and the media.

Objective for 2007

- to support regional youth organizations in order to create a national network of youth organizations which will work on developing cooperation between different parts of society and local territorial communities.

The project in 2007 is mainly aimed at members of youth organizations and those working with young people, representatives of the local authorities and journalists from regional media outlets.  We are convinced that these three parts of society by uniting can considerably improve the state of civic society in small towns, district centres, settlements and villages in Ukraine. They can also become a powerful driving force for improving relations between different groups in society.

The project will cover the following regions: Vinnytsa, Sumy, Chernihiv, Odessa, Zaporizhya, Poltava, Ternopil, Kherson and Kharkiv.

Throughout 2007, together with its Ukrainian partners, EEDC will be running a series of seminars for members of civic organizations, the media and local authorities, a competition for coordination groups in the regions, a competition inviting applications for mini-grants from civic organizations in 9 regions, running secondment training for civic activists (in the best Ukrainian nongovernmental organizations, as well as in similar organizations in Poland).

Background

The East European Democratic Centre (EEDC) has been registered since 2001. It grew out of the Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe Foundation’s (IDEE) Belarusian Programme which began in 1994.  The organisation’s main aims are: promoting the idea of democracy, supporting civil initiatives and non-governmental programmes, education on human rights, contributing to the building of an open society, working to promote social and political transformation in post-communist countries. 
The EEDC activities are possible thanks to the generous support of our regular partners: the National Endowment for Democracy, The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and Freedom House