During the meeting, the network coordinator Yuriy Stepants presented the project "Support for Public Initiatives in Ukraine," which launched this month. This project is aimed at supporting local initiatives in small towns and district centers from 12 regions of Ukraine and promoting their long-term effective work with local communities for the further development of the institution of local initiatives. The project covers: Vinnytsia, Sumy, Chernihiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Ternopil, Kherson, Kharkiv, Rivne, Volyn oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
During the meeting, the issue of the state and prospects for activating public initiatives in Ukraine at the local level was discussed. A number of events were also planned that will be implemented by the network during the year, namely, a series of seminars that will take place in the oblasts that have just joined the network — Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia; an internship on the basis of Ukrainian non-governmental organizations, which will be held during September – October 2009; a mini-grant competition for local organizations; holding an all-Ukrainian fair of local public initiatives with the involvement of representatives of the third sector of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Poland.
The result of the meeting was the development of a joint work plan for the network in the regions of Ukraine this year. The first event within the framework of the project will be a mini-grant competition, which starts on June 1, 2009 and will last until August 1. Public organizations from 12 regions of Ukraine involved in the project will be able to take part in the competition.
The project is carried out thanks to the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the support of partners: the East European Democratic Center, the Leva Society NGO, the All-Ukrainian Union SUM in Ukraine.
reference: a participant of the "Public Initiatives of Ukraine" Network since April 2009 is the VOMGO "Association of Young Reformers (AMoRe)"