Name of the organization/initiative and year of foundation

Ukrainian Center of Common Ground (UCCG) was established in 2001 in Kyiv as a sister organization of the US NGO Search for Common Ground. In 2012, UCCG was reorganized into the Institute for Peace and Common Ground (IPCG).

Mission

The work of the Institute for Peace and Common Ground is aimed at building dialogue for the development of groups, organizations, and communities; and the achievement of positive sustainable change.

Actions and projects in the context of armed conflict

The main focus of IPCG is restorative justice, mediation in criminal cases, and school mediation. Within the framework of restorative justice projects, the strategy of the UCCG was aimed at bringing together governmental agencies, pre-trial investigation agencies, courts, mediators, victims, and offenders in order to mediate cases and establish effective interaction between all these actors. This multilevel mechanism has already been introduced in 17 regions of Ukraine. IPCG organized and conducted dozens of seminars and presentations in the media; published over thirty original and translated books and periodicals; created an educational film about restorative justice; developed a university course on mediation and social work taught at the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”. IPCG set up 22 self-sustainable school services of understanding (SSU) in different regions of Ukraine; trained over 5,000 students and teachers on conflict resolution and mediation; compiled training materials and guidelines; developed an algorithm for SSU implementation; and translated books that help to make SSU operation more effective.

Current activities of the IPCG are aimed at overcoming the consequences of the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine. To this end, IPCG has created a national network of 17 partner civil society organizations which, among other things, organize and facilitate dialogues with engaging civil society. In 2018, IPCG mapped conflict potential and communities needs of 20 local communities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, helped 11 communities to develop individual development plans and to build capacity to implement security initiatives and to resist polarization.

Other activities of the IPCG include establishing school mediation centers in Mariupol and other regions of Ukraine; producing an educational film about dialogue in Ukraine; conducting trainings and security marathons^[7]. In 2016, 2017, and 2019, IPCG trained specialists and supported the work of pilot programs for the reintegration of veterans in Chugyiv, Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk and conducted a study about the reintegration of war veterans in these communities within the framework of the Folke Bernadotte Academy project “Local self-government and the rule of law in Ukraine”.