The forum became the final stage of the project of the Volyn Youth Rights Protection Association "Development of Cooperation between Business and Public Organizations in the Volyn Region," which is being implemented within the framework of the project "Community Will – Mighty Power!" (ISAR "Yednannia," funded by the United States Agency for International Development).
Forum participants discussed: existing forms of cooperation between business and public organizations based on the experience of Lutsk, Kovel, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, and Novovolynsk; problems and prospects for the development of social partnership, charity, and philanthropy in the Volyn region.
Deputy Head of the Regional State Administration Vasyl Baitsym emphasized that the project "Development of Cooperation between Business and Public Organizations in the Volyn Region" is already successful, primarily because its implementers raised the issue of social responsibility of business in Volyn. The city authorities also acted as a partner of the project. Deputy Mayor Serhii Tarasiuk compared demonstrating the advantages of social consciousness by business to riding a bicycle: "as long as you pedal the wheels, you move. Stop – and you fall..."
Representatives of business and public organizations presented their success stories of cooperation: Oksana Kviatkovska, deputy head of the marketing department of JSC "Lutsk Foods," Serhii Kosharuk, entrepreneur, public figure (Kovel), Anzhela Karpinska, deputy head of the Novovolynsk branch of the Ukrainian Social Service, Petro Verzun, head of the project "Legal Assistance to Graduates in Employment," Olha Slatova, public relations manager of the TM "Group 'LAD'."
Business representatives agreed that they see real benefits from cooperation with public organizations, including obtaining assistance from specialists who work in public associations, training, new ideas, possible trips, and, finally, satisfaction from work, from helping people who need it.
Olha Slatova, public relations manager of the TM "Group 'LAD'," added to all the mentioned advantages of cooperation between business and public organizations that citizens' associations carry out monitoring of public opinion, which can be useful for business in planning marketing strategy.
Effective resolution of community social problems is possible only under the condition of cooperation among three sectors, uniting the efforts of representatives of business, government, and public structures. Therefore, maximum effect for the community can be achieved only under the condition of constructive dialogue with the involvement of all sectors.
The task of the project "Development of Cooperation between Business and Public Organizations in the Volyn Region," within the framework of which the forum was held, is to establish equal relations between business and non-governmental organizations. According to the project manager Mykola Ivaniuk, a series of informational and educational events have already been conducted (round tables, training seminars, presentations of "success stories" of cooperation between business and NGOs). The result of constructive dialogue was the development of concrete forms of initiating intersectoral cooperation, one of which is the establishment of a Community Development Fund (CDF).
Until 2005, no similar intersectoral structures existed in the Volyn region. In Lutsk, Kovel, and Novovolynsk, the creation of community development funds was initiated, where the main initiators were specifically public organizations. Further implementation of projects and programs aimed at developing intersectoral cooperation is necessary, which will make it possible to overcome the information vacuum and convey to the community and its three sectors the advantages of the activity of the CDF or other similar institutions.
Within the framework of the forum, the brochure "Socially Responsible Business – the Path to Civil Society: The Experience of Volyn" was presented and the Declaration of Social Responsibility was adopted, by which business structures and public organizations will be guided in their work.
Project partners: Lutsk City Council, Volyn Regional Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists, Foundation named after the Princes Ostrozky Benefactors, Volyn Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Association for the Protection of the Rights of Small and Medium Business "Business-Lutsk," Volyn Regional Association of Employers' Organizations, Volyn Regional Business Incubator, Volyn Regional Center for Entrepreneurship Support, Information and Advertising Magazine "PRO BUSINESS."