All-Ukrainian NGO Democracy Development Centre (DDC) was founded in 2003.

Mission

The organization works in many different areas including human rights, leadership, flexible democracy, practical law, etc., but focuses on gender equality.

Actions and projects in the context of armed conflict

Main activities include the development of methodological guidelines and publications on social education and women’s rights; preparation of alternative reports on women’s rights; research studies on the topic “Women. Peace. Security “; education of local government and NGOs on implementing gender equality and the goals “Women/Youth. Peace. Security”; organization of seminars and conferences. A separate dimension of the work includes the engagement of children, youth, and teachers on public speaking skills, and “Youth. Peace. Security” issues.

Implemented projects include the following:

The Workshop “The Role of Women and Gender Policy in the Resolution of Armed Conflict in Ukraine”(2015) in collaboration with the Institute of International Relations in Rome, funded by the NATO “Science for Peace and Security” Program.

• The International conference “Gender in revolution, war, peacebuilding” (2017)  in collaboration with Women in War (Paris) and the Odesa Ushinsky Institute with focus on the role of “women and sexual minorities in hyper-masculine military structures such as the regular army, and armed or terrorist organizations.”
• “Mapping of Peacebuilding Initiatives in Ukraine” (2017). The mapping provides an insight into the challenges that Ukraine must overcome in the area of peacebuilding. It provides an analysis and assessment of the current initiatives under the 1325 National Action Plan and the broader social issues that slow down the peacebuilding processes.
• “Local Communities Build and Sustain Peace: Strengthening the Participation of Women and Youth in Building Sustainable Peace in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kenya, Moldova, South Sudan, Uganda, and Ukraine” – educational and informational activities aimed at engagement of girls and young women in the decision-making process and leadership.

Ukrainian Center of Concordance (UCC) was founded in 2014.

Mission

The organization’s mission is the protection of the social interests of citizens, assistance in building mutual understanding between communities and people in all regions of Ukraine and increasing their competence in the peaceful settlement of conflicts, as well as the introduction of a culture of alternative dispute resolution in Ukraine at the level of the best international practices.

Actions and projects in the context of armed conflict

Since its foundation, the UCC, among others, has implemented the following projects:

• Discussions and student forums implemented with the support of American Councils – “United Ukraine: In Search of Concordance” in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa (2014); annual adaptation seminars for FLEX alumni (US Department of State-funded program for schoolchildren); screening and discussion of “The Reunion: 10 Years After The War”, a documentary about the Balkans conflict; training of instructors at CACTUS (international forum and English-language program for youth).
• With support from the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UCC has developed and implemented a free mass online course on conflict resolution, held annually since 2015.
• In cooperation with CRISP, in 2016 – 2017, the UCC worked on the preparation and implementation of simulation games on international negotiations of conflicts.
• With the support of the Swiss Confederation, UCC implemented “Dialogue on Dialogue”, the project for Kyiv youth on planning dialogue initiatives (2015 – 2016).

The UCC actively contributes to the youth training on conflict transformation skills and understanding the role of art in peacebuilding. From July 2019 to February 2020, the Center implemented the project “So, what do you see?” on visual comprehension of oneself and the “other” in the conflict in Ukraine. During the 11 project sessions in different Ukrainian cities, including temporary occupied territories, UCC collected about 400 drawings that artistically represented regional trends in the perception of war and the image of the future.

Ukrainian Women’s Fund (UWF) was founded in 2000.

Mission

The Fund’s mission is to provide support including expert advice, capacity building, finance, advocacy, communications, etc., and encourage women’s NGOs and other CSOs to develop a vibrant and populated women’s movement that aims at ensuring gender equality and empowering women in all sectors of life.

Actions and projects in the context of armed conflict

The research project “Invisible Battalion” (2015 – 2016) aimed to amend laws and regulations that discriminate against women and hinder gender equality in the armed forces, study the best practices of women integration in the armed forces, raise public awareness, and improve the treatment of women in the armed forces. Conducted with the support of OAK Foundation and UN Women.

In 2016 – 2017 within the framework of the program by the UNDP and UN Women on “Restoration of Governance and Reconciliation in Crisis-affected Communities of Ukraine”, UWF was responsible for the project “Community Mobilization to Empower IDPs and Conflict-affected Women in Donetsk and Luhansk Regions” to build the capacity of those who suffer from the conflict on the east of Ukraine.

In 2016 – 2018 UWF implemented the project “Economic Opportunities for People Affected by Conflict (EOPAC)” under the USAID support. The Project aims to provide assistance to people affected by the conflict in Eastern Ukraine to get jobs or gain new skills that will be useful to provide for themselves and their families, to establish or to move their business. With the help of this project, the Center for Microbusiness and Self-Employment Support was established in the Kharkiv region.

There are also other UMF projects that are currently being implemented – “Equality for Security” (aimed to promote women’s contribution to peace-related and conflict prevention processes by supporting local stakeholders in developing, implementing, and monitoring local action plans on UNSCR 1325 and “Economic Opportunities for Women from Eastern Ukraine” (the goal is to support women from eastern Ukraine through business development, the establishment of jobs, etc.).

Ukrainian Peacebuilding School (UPS) was founded in September 2014.

Mission

The initiative’s mission is the prevention and transformation of violent conflicts in Ukraine.

Actions and projects in the context of armed conflict

Since 2014, UPS has been establishing and institutionalizing the profession of a social mediator – an expert in the preparation and organization of inclusive multi-stakeholder social dialogues in communities where there are actual or potential violent conflicts.

From 2015 to 2020, UPS has held five Schools for Social Mediators for representatives of non-governmental organizations, volunteer initiatives, education institutions, and local governments from eight regions of Ukraine (a total of 220 people, including residents of the controlled territories of Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as residents of the temporarily occupied territories).

In September – October 2020, the first online school of tutors was held for IDP students and students from the occupied territories. Twenty-four alumni represent the professional community of teachers and IDP representatives working for the resolution of conflicts between IDPs and the host communities.

In 2016, UPS developed six framework strategies for transformation and prevention of conflicts in Ukraine by the joint efforts of local activists and local authorities:

• Strategy for building common visions of local self-government models for specific communities;
• Framework strategy for information and communication security of Ukraine;
• Framework strategy for peacebuilding education in Ukraine;
• Strategy for overcoming a divided and traumatic past;
• Strategy for the integration of national minorities into a multicultural society;
• Strategic proposals for integrating war victims into local communities.

Since 2017, UPS has developed and implemented a new method for organizing dialogues and express-diagnostics of conflicts – social modeling games.

Since 2018, UPS has been monitoring security in certain locations according to its methodology based on its own innovations as well as adaptation of European and world methodologies of conflict analysis, project evaluation (Do no harm), project management, public dialogue, and joint decision-making. Jointly with the Supreme Audit Office of Poland, UPS developed and convened integration dialogues for civil servants, law enforcement officials, and public figures.

The “Theatre for Dialogue” initiative was established in 2014. In 2015, it was registered as an NGO.

Mission

The Theater’s mission is to contribute to social and economic equity and combat discrimination in our society, build a culture of dialogue, and contribute to reconciliation and overcome the negative effects of the military conflict in Ukraine. All of this contributes to the achievement of the Theater’s primary goal – humanizing Humanity.

Actions and projects in the context of armed conflict

One of the primary forms of activity is participatory theater, based on the “Theater of the Oppressed” – a system of exercises, games, and techniques that work with the body, feelings, and personal experiences of participants to create opportunities for dialogue, critical reflection on social reality and active search for solutions to social problems. While working with communities, different formats of the theater are used – forum-theater (work on inequality and dialogue in the community), legislative theater (work on analysis and amendments to legislation), theater of images (creative understanding of community problems), a rainbow of desires (work on internal oppression and internalized conflicts). In addition, other creative methods such as collages, storytelling, and the method of nonviolent communication and elements of feminist pedagogy were utilized during the group work.

From 2015 to 2020, the Theater for Dialogue was actively working on peacebuilding and public involvement in social processes to overcome the consequences of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. A separate organization’s vector is dedicated to building an inclusive society by strengthening the voices of less represented groups (people with disabilities, the LGBT community, internally displaced persons, youth) and ensuring gender equality. Among the projects which were implemented during this period are the following: “We Live Together. Community Dialogue on the Issues of Internally Displaced Persons in Kyiv” (2015); “Trust and Dialogue as a Pledge of Community Development” (Kyiv Region, 2015); “Through Dialogue to Equality in Suffrage”; “Promoting Peace through Dialogue in the Language of Theater (Eastern and Central Regions of Ukraine, 2016); the advocacy initiative “One of Us” designed to strengthen the voice of women in promoting the agenda “Women, Peace, Security” (2018-2019); “Strengthening the Capacity of Civil Society for Nonviolent Transformation of Conflicts in Local Communities” aimed at working with young people in eastern Ukraine (2018-2019).

The Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism” was founded in 2015.

Mission

Contribute to the formation and implementation of an effective foreign policy of Ukraine through an expert analysis of international relations, foreign policy, and security; the development of recommendations and consultations; the creation and application of tools of expert diplomacy based on professionalism, transparency, and non-partisanship.

Actions and projects in the context of armed conflict

The Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism” implements several projects to increase the level of foreign policy expertise in Ukraine, consolidate international support for Ukraine and raise awareness of foreign experts, politicians, and journalists about the events in Ukraine. In particular:

• Foreign policy portal. “Ukrainian Prism” has created a database of Ukrainian think tanks and experts in foreign policy. This portal and the related projects are the entry points for stakeholders and experts that provide expert support to almost all government agencies in foreign policy and security (Verkhovna Rada, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, etc.).
• Annual assessments of the foreign policy of Ukraine (since 2015). The ‘Ukrainian Prism’ experts analyze 50 directions of Ukraine’s foreign policy (geographical and thematic, particularly related to the conflict) to develop recommendations for the Ukrainian authorities.
• Rethinking the de-occupation policy of Ukraine. ‘Ukrainian Prism’ developed a Report, which sets out the stakeholders’ vision regarding the de-occupation process taking into account the motives and interests of Ukraine, Russia, and international actors. The report analyzes relevant case studies and examples of de-occupation and reintegration processes in other countries and makes recommendations for the new de-occupation strategy.
• EaP Think Bridge Platform. The project brings together expert communities of the Eastern Partnership countries to fill the gaps in the preparation of analytical products on the situation in the region each month.
• Disinformation Resistance Index. In 2018, in partnership with the leading regional think tanks, Ukrainian Prism assessed the situation in fourteen countries and proposed common solutions to the propaganda issues. In 2020, the index was tested in seven countries on pandemic-related disinformation.

Finally, “Ukrainian Prism” is one of the leaders in the implementation of innovative practices of expert diplomacy. In particular, jointly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Public Council under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it implements the concept of bilateral expert forums with neighboring states to discuss potential problematic issues. To fill in the information gaps, “Ukrainian Prism” organizes the visits of journalists from neighboring countries to Kyiv and Donbas.

Sviatohirsk Group is a dialogue initiative of people, who live on both sides of the contact line and have been affected by the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. The group members started their work in 2018. The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (Switzerland) assisted the group’s efforts and activities aimed at preparing the ground for transitional justice and reconciliation in Ukraine.

Mission

Through joint activities, the Group aims to make the voice of those affected by conflict heard in order to draw attention to essential peacebuilding questions.

Actions and projects in the context of armed conflict

From December 2018 to February 2019, within the project “Five years of war: 1,825 days and how many more?” members of the Sviatohirsk Group conducted 84 in-depth interviews: 59 with residents from government-controlled areas and 25 with those residing in the non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. In interviews, respondents were asked about their fears, vision of the future, views on ways to end the conflict, and justice in the aftermath of conflict.

Also, between December 2018 and February 2019 in the framework of the “We are alive, but they…” project, the team collected 39 life stories of people from government-controlled (8) and non-government-controlled territories (31) of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. These stories testify to the general tragedy of losses for the residents of Ukraine.

Both projects resulted in publications.

“Dignity Space” Ukrainian Centre for Nonviolent Communication and Reconciliation (short name — “Dignity Space”) emerged from a volunteer initiative in 2015 following the Maidan events in Ukraine with the participation of Ukrainian crisis and peacebuilding experts to help de-escalate social tensions, restore damaged and broken social connections, and prevent outbreaks of violence between antagonistic groups in society. The main office of the organization is located in Kyiv.

Mission

The mission of the Center is to raise awareness and abilities of the citizens at various social levels of the country to resolve conflicts and disputes peacefully through a dialogue based on respect for human dignity and mutual understanding.

Actions and projects in the context of armed conflict

In 2020, the Center implements two projects. The first project – “Culture of dialogue and constructive engagement in Ukraine” operates as a training platform for peacebuilders – the “School of Peace Engineers”. The second project – “Peace Engineers Direct Action” allows trained experts to work as facilitators of dialogue processes, mediators, and negotiators between various antagonistic groups in different regions of Ukraine at the community level in order to resolve conflicts peacefully, promote mutual understanding and development of further cooperation.

As of September 2020, 45 people took a year-long course (training and internship program) at the School of Peace Engineers, 27 of whom received the status of Peace Engineers and a certificate from the project recommending to take part in the work with destructive conflicts. Another 30 participants are currently in the process of training. As a part of the projects implemented by the Center, over the past two years, the project organized more than 120 training sessions – workshops – on the Peace Engineers methods based on the principles of Nonviolent Communication on the request of various non-profit organizations and communities from different regions of Ukraine. Within the “Peace Engineers Direct Action” project, more than 80 dialogue processes were facilitated to support local communities and non-profit organizations from different regions of Ukraine in the transformation of destructive conflicts using the Peace Engineering toolkit.

The project “Past/Future/Art” started its work in November 2019 in Odesa.

Mission

To create a space for social dialogue aimed at transforming knowledge about the past from a conflict factor into a tool for building a common future.

Actions and projects in the context of armed conflict

Based on the fact that knowledge about the past is actively used in Ukraine for social conflicts, the project team sees the need for an asymmetric response to the use of history as a weapon. Odesa and Odesa region’s regional features contribute to the conflict of collective memories, making it one of the most conflict-ridden regions in Ukraine. Given the region’s strategic position, it is difficult to overestimate the danger of such a situation. The “Past/Future/Art” project was created to work with the conflict past in the Odessa region. Given that a breakthrough in these issues was made in recent years in the field of art, the project team has chosen a strategy of public discussions on artistic memory practices.

The project works in three dimensions – public discussions, research, and education. The first dimension involves the organization of art projects and discussions of art practices working with the past – art exhibitions, art practices in public spaces, workshops for museum workers on representing a complicated past in the museums, and public discussions on the project’s topics. It aims to involve people with different educational backgrounds and fields of interest including representatives of the professional community as well as people who have not previously thought about the problems of the past. Therefore, the project focuses on public discussions, allowing expanding public dialogue experience, which is a crucial tool for building social peace. When convening dialogues the project cooperates with the Odesa Regional Mediation Group. Furthermore, the project’s curator Oksana Dovgopolova has got the experience of taking part in the dialogue practices in Odessa since 2014.

Development of the tools for social reconciliation with the past requires effective tools for monitoring the collective memory ‘painful points’. The project develops and manages a research component – a map of conflicts of memory in Odesa and Odesa region. Based on the study of conflict points, experts develop ways to overcome the war of memories and introduce conflict-related topics in dialogue and discussion.  The Past / Future / Art team also works with CityFace project (Kharkiv) to conduct a study of multicultural cities in Ukraine.

The perspective for dealing with memory conflicts chosen by the project has become the basis for developing partnerships with other organizations working with a difficult past. In October 2020, “Past/Future/Art” became a partner of the #bruederschaft for unity project initiated by the German Embassy in Ukraine. Cooperation with the Austrian Peace Service is planned for 2021. The development of tools for online events (including dialogue practices) allows the project to go beyond the boundaries of the Odesa region and recruit participants from other regions and countries.

Donbas Dialogue Platform was founded in 2014.

Mission

Setting up and maintenance of a productive process of interaction and recovery in local communities of the [Donbas] region by offering a platform for a dialogue between the residents of the liberated areas and cities, people who reside in the territories in war conditions, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and all other residents of Ukraine.

Actions and projects in the context of armed conflict

The Platform’s primary activity is convening the dialogue marathons two times per year. Donbas Dialogue uses crowdsourcing technologies to identify problems and issues from as many positions as possible. The ability to connect anonymously to the online dialogue provides inclusiveness to persons who would be have been otherwise excluded from the process. Experts, dialogue facilitators, and civil society representatives from the controlled and non-controlled territories of Ukraine, and foreign experts take part in the marathons.

Since 2014, the Donbas Dialogue Platform has held eight dialogue marathons on the following topics: ‘Emergence from the military conflict and work with its consequences’, ‘Ways and means of emergence from an armed conflict’, ‘Narrative and conflict’, ‘How the Donbas Dialogue Platform is seen from outside’, ‘In the aftermath of war’, ‘The role of civil society in overcoming the consequences of the armed conflict in Ukraine,’ ‘The future Donbas image.’ Reports on the results of the marathons are published on the organization’s website. In 2018-2020, dialogue and related activities were supported by the United Nations Development Program.

Connected to the dialogue is the activity on the professional training of facilitators for a specific task – facilitation of the online dialogues. In 2018-2019, a trainer from Balkans Goran Lojancic joined the project by conducting a series of training, with support from the British organization “Initiatives for Change” and the British government.