In late 2020, United World Cultures Foundation, Ukrainian Coordination Centre for Raising Legal Awareness, Ukrainian Youth Law Assembly, and Youth and Sports Department of the Kyiv City State Administration (Kyiv City Council’s executive body) organized two online national contests among volunteers to mark International Volunteer Day and Charity Day: all-Ukrainian contest of project initiatives “Volunteering: from Awareness to Action” and all-Ukrainian essay contest “Ukrainian Volunteering: Unique Phenomenon of Our Time”.
The primary objective of these contests is to provide comprehensive support to the Ukrainian volunteer movement and facilitate recognition of Ukrainian volunteering as a unique phenomenon of our modern time, implementation of volunteer initiatives, and development of philanthropy as a national tradition.
These contests have been supported by: Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Children's Rights, Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Volunteer Affairs, Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, Ministry for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, State Enterprise Centre for the Protection of Ukraine’s Information Space, Association of Philanthropists of Ukraine, and regional state administrations.
“We have received 217 initiatives for the all-Ukrainian contest of project initiatives “Volunteering: from Awareness to Action”. Think it is noteworthy that these projects have a huge geographic coverage representing all regions of Ukraine, big cities and small villages. We have received the highest number of projects from Kyiv and Kyiv Region, Zhytomyr Region, Poltava Region, Kherson Region, Kharkiv Region, Kirovohrad Region, Dnipropetrovsk Region. The nomination leaders are school, student and environmental initiatives”, says Anton Soshnykov, Executive Director of Ukrainian Coordination Centre for Raising Legal Awareness and Chairman of the Contest’s All-Ukrainian Selection Committee.
We have involved a number of people in the assessment of the submitted projects, including ATO/JFO volunteers, militants, and public officials.
We are happy to announce the following projects as winners of the all-Ukrainian contest for project initiatives “Volunteering: from Awareness to Action”:
- “Save Our Planet from Garbage” (Olha Kaluhina, Odesa Region);
- “Introduction of Separate Waste Collection” (Tomyna Balka General Secondary Education Institution of Bilozerka Settlement Council, Kherson Region);
- “What Is Law?” (Charity Committee of the Student Self-Government Council of Poltava Law Institute under Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University);
- “Socially Conscious Children Are a Step into the Future” (Comprehensive Primary and Secondary School No. 1 named after Hero of Ukraine Andrii Snitko, Manevychi urban-type settlement, Volyn Region);
- “FRIENDS”, volunteer assistance to the inmates of Udaitsi Educational and Rehabilitation Centre (Kyiv Cooperative Institute of Business and Law, Kyiv);
- Historical games room “Strength” (NGO Youth Integration Centre, Dmytro Tkachuk, Zhytomyr Region);
- “Daily Journal for Parents and Children” (Liudmyla Zolotiuk, Nadiia Pavlyk, Snizhana Herasymchuk, Iryna Kovalchuk, and Svitlana Yevchenko, Zhytomyr Region);
- “Boundless Possibilities” (NGO Nation of Talents, Rivne Region);
- “Learning and Teaching” (NGO Blahovist 2013, Kharkiv Region);
- Inclusivity project “Give Me Your Hand, Friend” (Olimpiia Children and Youth Club of the Shchaslyve Dytynstvo Centralized System of Children and Youth Clubs, Kyiv);
- “I Dream! I Want! I Will” (NGO Shchaslyva Rodyna Union of Multi-Child Families, Lviv Region);
- “Help to People on Probation” (Roman Kerimov, Kharkiv Region).
Our all-Ukrainian essay contest “Ukrainian Volunteering: Unique Phenomenon of Our Time” has received 531 submissions from people of all ages and all regions of Ukraine. The highest number of those submissions have been sent from Kyiv and Kyiv Region, Kharkiv Region, Kherson Region, Donetsk Region, Poltava Region, Kirovohrad Region, Zhytomyr Region, and Mykolaiv Region.
The following essays have been selected as winners:
1 place – no award;
2 place – Essay “Volunteering Poetics” (Andrii Myroshnychenko, Kyiv);
3 place – Essay “Who Exactly Are Volunteers?” (Anastasiia Malimon, Kherson) and essay “What Is It Like to Be a Volunteer?” (Anna Bohatova, Mykolaiv).
The award ceremony took place in the remote mode, by mail.
