Projects Archives - Page 10 of 16 - Fellows eapcivilsociety.eu

enWAR_mental: Information Campaign of the War Impact on the Ecosystems in Ukraine

Fellowship Summary: Enhance the awareness of the war impact on the environment among Ukrainian students by implementing the information campaign “enWAR_mental”.

Nataliia Yaroshenko has been active in civil society since 2015. Her early years of activism were mostly focused on supporting cultural events, such as the Sumy Rock Fest, but then she experienced the ‘Active Citizen’ programme of the British Council in Ukraine and turned her attention to mobilizing youngsters to collaborate on community development projects.

As a result of this activism Nataliia became the Coordinator of the ‘School of City Ambassadors’ in her home city of Sumy in Ukraine. But this isn’t her only ambassadorial connection as in 2021 she also joined the ranks of the Young European Ambassadors programme.

“As I’m a biologist the next obvious step for me was to unite my civic activism with my passion for the environment. So, with a team of like-minded colleagues, I ran a campaign to promote the concept of the Green Office. This was a great way to help people in Sumy to make the connection between taking local actions and the global movement to protect the environment”

In being awarded a 2021 Civil Society Fellowship, Nataliia was ready to further her journey of finding creative methods for having young people engage in environmental issue, when the Russians invaded Ukraine and her world turned upside down. But Nataliia was not perturbed. She recognized the need to stimulate a dialogue about the impact of war on the environment and her Fellowship shifted its emphasis to become the ‘enWAR_mental’ initiative.

“‘enWAR_mental is all about helping the younger generation understand that the damage to our environment by war will not only have long-lasting effects but that the damage is wide-reaching. Bombs falling on fields and forests in Ukraine will eventually also impact on ecosystems outside of Ukraine. We need to help students and youth understand the issues and the long term consequences, and to build their capacities to advocate for this understanding within their communities.”

Nataliia’s Fellowship has had a strong focus on combining creative talents with scientific evidence and documentation. She has mobilized a team to research, design, and create comic strips that raise awareness to the environmental damage of war. “Such graphics are not only a great way to engage with young people, but they also help to make the difficult topic more digestible”.

She also produced short videos featuring young activists from other countries previously impacted by war, such as Kosovo and Georgia, and other posts on the enWAR_mental Instagram pages. A competition for younger students across Ukraine resulted in more than 50 posters being created and submitted to enWAR_mental, demonstrating a range of perspectives of how young people see the war impacting on their local environment. All the visuals on Instagram have helped to grow enWAR_mental’s followers. “Just last week we saw that we attracted views from about 1,500 new visitors and we see the rise in searches around #environment#war.”

Nataliia also reflected on the personal impact of her Fellowship: “it has helped me through a very traumatic time and the volunteers who have helped me have grown in confidence. Together we are going to continue the work of enWAR_mental”

Download the Comic Book in UKRAINIAN

Download the Comic Book in ENGLISH

Country	Ukraine
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Team

Research on Best Practices and Effective Methods of Developing Social Entrepreneurship and Advocacy Campaign

The project activities were aimed to analyze local and international legislation and strategies in Social Entrepreneurship (SE) and develop a lobby and advocacy campaigns to introduce the best practices for local legislation. To achieve the project’s objectives, Zinaida analyzed the effective methods of developing social entrepreneurship in EU countries (Romania in particular), researched the local legislation, and introduced amendments accordingly. Hence, to develop the organizational capacity of the local social enterprises and NGOs, the project team created the Social Entrepreneurship Platform working mostly in Transnistria and conducted a number of online events. Within the frame of the action, the Zinaida held over 20 offline/online working sessions to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the engaged stakeholders, drafted legislative initiatives, and a 2-year strategy/action plan for the SE Platform. Finally, she organized an international online conference tailored to social entrepreneurship and a better synergy among the executive branch, business communities, and the social initiative groups.

The project accelerated the development of the social entrepreneurship (SE) sector in Transnistria through research, lobby, and advocacy campaigns in this area. Therefore, the action delivered the research document analyzing the current landscape of the local social enterprises and the collaborative platform facilitating the cooperation among the 21 stakeholders. As a result of the active contribution of the local and national NGOs, lawyers, independent experts, etc, the project team developed a legislative initiative submitted to the Parliament. The changes will allow social enterprises to pay less taxes, and to have less bureaucratic procedures.

Country	Moldova
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Elephant in the Room: Improving Campaigning Skills for LGBT Groups and Organizations in Georgia

The project: Elephant in the Room aimed to enhance the campaign planning capacity of the LGBTIQ groups and organizations in Georgia. The fellowship action comprised the international study trip, awareness-raising training and creative campaign. In the first stage of the project, Beka organized a study trip/internship at the ILGA World – International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association in Brussels, Belgium. Then, having learned new perspectives and approaches to the community outreach and anti-discrimination initiatives, he launched a series of training for the local LGBTIQ groups. On top of that, to raise the visibility of the basic problems faced by the Queer community, Beka started the social campaign – For the Equal Opportunities. Through the creative posters tailored to the various concerns affecting the universal rights of freedom of expression/education and access to healthcare, he enhanced the visibility of the Queer issues to the larger audiences.

The action increased awareness of the 24 beneficiaries from the Georgian LGTIQ communities in terms of planning and managing large-scale campaigns on the local level. Also, the project delivered 20 creative electronic and printed posters raising the understanding of the everyday challenges (tailored to the universal human rights) faced by the LGBTIQ communities. The above campaign served as a creative tool to empower the Queer community and tackle gender-based discrimination in Georgia. Finally, the action increased the capacity for the Beka himself, since he had an opportunity of traveling to the ILGA World Office and upgrading his skills in social and legal issues.

Project in media:

ქვიარ საფოსტო ბარათები – თანასწორობის იდეისთვის

საფოსტო ბარათები ქვიარ ადამიანების პრობლემებზე

საფოსტო ბარათები, რომლებზეც ილუსტრირებულია უმცირესობების უფლებები:

Country	Georgia
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Paint Their Life

The Art Project: Paint Their Life aimed to inspire children and youth from the Ukrainian orphanages, rehabilitation centers, children’s homes through their engagement with the local artists. To transform the interior of the above public facilities and bring joy to its inhabitants, Stefaniia and her friends painted 7 rehabilitation centers in Kyiv. The art project was followed by the development of the PTL official website to showcase project impact and raise visibility/financial resources for their future interventions. At the final stage of the action, Stefaniia organized a Project Exhibition at the Main Hall of the National Academy of Arts and Architecture engaging the project beneficiaries, volunteers, the Union of Artists of Ukraine and other stakeholders.

The action delivered the official website fundptl.com.ua ensuring the project sustainability and active involvement of the respective donors/private contributors to the social initiative. During the fellowship, #PaintTheirLife artists visited 7 buildings, painted more than 10 walls, created the scenery for the Children’s Charity Festival, and inspired hundreds of young people. Also, the excursion to Kyiv and exhibition at the National Academy of Arts and Architecture engaged 20 teenagers from Rehabilitation Centers of Kyiv interested in art and creativity; they had the opportunity to watch how future artists study, work and what they should do to become a professional artist. As a result, young people raised their awareness on the study opportunities at the Academy through the direct networking with the university lecturers and students.

Country	Ukraine
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Team

Increasing the Digital Capacity of Civil Society

The action aimed to increase the digital capacity and work efficiency of CSO managers through online education, such as webinars and workshops. To achieve the above objective, Maksym engaged a professional mentor and designed a training module. Following this, he organized webinars covering the areas of Cybersecurity, Cloud services, Office 365, Data Visualization and IT tools, Social Media Management, etc. Apart from online interactive training, the professional speakers suggested a list of recommendations for the CSO managers on digital literacy. At the final stage, Maksym organized two workshops on the topic of Digital Transformation. To increase the project visibility and awareness of the ICT solutions for the CSO managers, the project disseminated information through the different channels of the GURT Resource Center (web-portal gurt.org.ua, Facebook and YouTube)

The project engaged more than 1,800 CSO managers and delivered 8 interactive webinars offering innovative approaches to increase their work efficiency and service quality. Also, the CSO managers built their competencies in cybersecurity, team collaboration, and project management tools, data visualization, cloud services, etc. To showcase the project impact, 88% of the attendees confirmed that they actively apply the acquired knowledge to their everyday life. Besides, the offline workshops on Digital Transformation raised the awareness of 20 CSO managers and taught them how to identify organizations’ ICT needs and software solutions. As a part of the media outreach, Maksym published 8 announcements and 9 publications about the webinars and workshop deliverables. The project materials disseminated via different communication channels saw a huge interest from the target audience; more precisely, 6 318 unique views on the GURT Web-portal, almost 2 000 on YouTube (disseminated via six newsletters on digital transformation reaching up to 60 000 subscribers) and 164, 909 on Facebook.

A series of webinars developed and delivered within the action (in Ukrainian):

Webinar «How CSOs can mitigate the cyber-security risks»
During the webinar, participants learned how to create reliable passwords; how to reduce cyber-security risks, how to install basic settings for computer and smartphone accounts.

Webinar «How not to lose important data. Do back ups properly»
Do you not know how to do a backup? Watch and learn why and how to do backups

Webinar «Office 365 for NGOs: Who needs it and which problems it solves»
Watch and learn how NGOs can use Office 365 for project management needs.

Webinar «Working together in Office 365: how to collaborate effectively»
Watch a webinar session that covers Office 365 collaboration tools. Learn how to work effectively in a team.

Webinar «Tools for data visualization: how NGOs can present project results qualitatively»
The webinar covered the following issues: what software is used to create infographics, the most common mistakes, and tricks for avoiding them.

Webinar «IT tools for project management»
The webinar covers using a variety of IT-tools for successful project management

Webinar «Facebook as a tool for effective communication for CSOs»
Learn how CSOs can use Facebook for promoting their activity and engaging more supporters.

Country	Ukraine
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Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine in Times of COVID-19 Crisis through Gender Lenses

The action aimed to deliver recommendations for policy-makers on social entrepreneurship in Ukraine taking into account challenges accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis and assess the process from the gender perspective. To achieve the above objective, Liliia conducted research, awareness-raising and community outreach activities.

First and foremost, she researched the factors hindering the development of social entrepreneurship in Ukraine in general, analyzed the impact of COVID-19 on the industry, and applied a gender perspective on the results achieved. Then, Liliia conducted online awareness-raising and information campaigns on social entrepreneurship covering large audiences throughout Ukraine. Following this, she organized an online public discussion on social entrepreneurship engaging the activists and the stakeholders from the governmental and non-governmental sectors. As a result of the research and interactive discussions, the fellow developed a list of recommendations for the policy-makers and presented the policy paper to the public officials and the Members of the Parliament of Ukraine.

The project delivered the bilingual research paper ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine in Times of COVID-19 Crisis through Gender Lenses’ presenting the most up-to-date information regarding the challenges of social entrepreneurship in Ukraine; the document was published on the official website of the NGO ‘Women’s League’ and reached more than 10,000 readers online. The online discussion carried out as a part of the project brought experts in social entrepreneurship and gender studies, including the social entrepreneurs themselves, to analyze the issue in-depth; the event involved more than 100 stakeholders. The recommendations based on the research and the online discussion raised the visibility and sensitivity of the social entrepreneurship and its gender specifics.

The policy document has been presented to the high-profile MPs and decision-makers of Ukraine; the research document, recommendations and infographics were sent to all 422 members of the Parliament and the Advisor of the Mayor of Kyiv City Hall in Gender Policy Development. On top of that, the national information campaigns reached 327,553 people and raised awareness about the challenges that social entrepreneurs face in Ukraine of the larger audience.

Online discussion ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine in Times of COVID-19 Crisis through Gender Lenses’ (in Ukrainian):

Research paper ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine in Times of COVID-19 Crisis through Gender Lenses’ (in Ukrainian):

Research paper ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine in Times of COVID-19 Crisis through Gender Lenses’ (in English):

Infographics ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine in Times of COVID-19 Crisis through Gender Lenses’ (in Ukrainian):

Country	Ukraine
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Strengthening Position of the Ukrainian Academy of Pediatrics Specialties (UAPS) in Overcoming Vaccination Crisis

The action: Strengthening Position of the Ukrainian Academy of Pediatrics Specialties (UAPS) in Overcoming Vaccination Crisis aimed to research the current status of the public immunization control and raise awareness of healthcare workers/general public about the vaccination. To achieve the above objectives, Yevgenii assessed the country’s strategy and action plan on the national (Involving 10 state institutions, including the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Public Health Center of Ukraine, Ministry of Internal Affair, National Health Service, State Expert Center, etc.) and regional (researching 25 Regional Departments of Healthcare and Public Health Centers of Ukraine) levels; the study also included the survey of 1,000 healthcare professionals who delivers immunization services in Ukraine. The research findings were presented at the National Roundtable: Results of the First Year of Implementation of the Immunoprophylaxis Strategy. The event engaged the leading governmental and health authorities, including Dr. Victor Lyashko – Chief Sanitary Doctor and the Deputy Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine, Mr. Mykhailo Radutsky – Chairman of the Committee of Healthcare in Ukraine, Dr. Fedir Lapii – Chairman of NITAG, Dr. Yevgenii Grechukha – EaP Fellow and the representative of UAPS. In addition, the project team designed the online course (9 lectures), practical recommendations and distributed textbooks for the pediatricians and general practitioners to enhance their professional qualifications.

The project delivered a research document on the national Immunoprophylaxis strategy studied from the local, regional and national levels. Accordingly, the roundtable served as a platform for the local medical and state authorities to discuss the study results and assess the annual activities of the strategy. Therefore, the online course raised awareness of the professional community on various topics, such as Vaccination during COVID-19 Outbreak, Vaccine Hesitation: General and Critical Aspects, Successful Interventions of Civil Society in Ukraine: How to Look for Reliable Information about Vaccines, etc. The course is available on the YouTube and courses.phc.org.ua platforms. As of today, approximately 2,000 healthcare workers successfully passed the final test and received certificates. Finally, as a part of the project, nearly 25,000 brochures were prepared for printing and will be distributed to the medical servants for free.

Country	Ukraine
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Using Data in Politics: Awareness-raising Campaign among the Voters and CSOs prior to the Georgian Parliamentary Election 2020

The action: Using Data in Politics: Awareness-raising Campaign among the Voters and CSOs prior to the Georgian Parliamentary Election 2020 aimed to research the use of data in Georgian politics, identify the main trends of political manipulations while targeting the voters and educate the large audience about the importance of data protection/privacy. To identify the local trends, Nino observed the pre and post-election period in Georgia and followed Tactical Tech’s methodologies and close guidance by the Fellowship Supervisor – Varoon Bashyakarla. As a part of the research, Nino interviewed the field experts from the CSOs, media, think tanks, digital marketing agencies and personal data protection company representatives. Following this, she disseminated the research findings among the large professional networks at the DataFest Tbilisi 2020 and Open Data public events. On top of that, Nino launched the media/social media campaign and applied creative materials (animated videos, posters, publications, quizzes) to reach a wide audience and engage the general public in discourse.

The project delivered an analytical document – Data in the Georgian Politics researching the data-driven methodologies to influence the voters’ decisions in the country. As the study reveals, out of 12 globally-acknowledged methodologies, including advanced TV targeting, only the Robocalls and Mobile Texting methods have been used by almost all politicians in Georgia. Hence, the project developed educational animated videos and a quiz tailored to data use in Georgian Politics. As a result of the community outreach campaigns, approximately 100,000 Georgians were reached and became more aware of the possibilities of their personal information being used in political processes; it’s expected that some of them will change their behavior and become more cautious with their data in digital space. Finally, the project created a network of 150 activists trained about the use of personal data in political processes and expected to further contribute to research and advocating the issue.

Video ‘The business of using your data in elections’ (in English):

Video ‘The business of using your data in elections’ (in Georgian):

Video ‘How data is being used in politics?’ (in English):

Video ‘How data is being used in politics?’ (in Georgian):

Infographics ‘Methods of influencing voters using data’ (in English):

Infographics ‘Methods of influencing voters using data’ (in Georgian):

Data in the Georgian Politics Research Paper

Country	Georgia
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Promoting Civic Capacity for Democratic Oversight

The action was a communication campaign aimed at disseminating COVID-19 related information to the ethnic Azeri and Armenian communities of Georgia. To achieve the above objective, Tamar targeted two specific regions – Samtskhe-Javakheti (Armenian minority settlements) and Kvemo Kartli (Azeri minority settlements) and contracted two local media outlets – TV9 to reach the Armenian-speaking audience and Kvemo Kartli TV to reach the Azerbaijani speaking communities. For the duration of June-October 2020, both media outlets disseminated the fact-checked information (creative posters, Q&A section, quiz, short educational video) about COVID-19; and worked to increase awareness about then upcoming Parliamentary Election of Georgia in October 2020 and increase skills in curbing the political misinformation and propaganda related to the elections.

The project raised awareness of the local Azerbaijani and Armenian-speaking communities of Georgia and reached hundreds of local people through online portals. Also, the action delivered 6 creative infographics about the COVID-19, disinformation in media and the Parliamentary elections in the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani languages. Through a wide range of informative materials, including the articles, Q&A sections, quiz and educational videos on the TV9 and Kvemo Kartli TV platforms, the project raised the epidemic and political awareness of the local communities. On top of that, the local organizations built capacity in establishing a direct and engaging conversation with their audiences, since they reached hundreds of unique visitors. Also, the training held for the TV9 journalists increased the knowledge of the 12 local media representatives in the Parliamentary Governmental System and the related implications.

Educational Video with the Armenian subtitles:

Educational Video with the Azerbaijani subtitles:

Infographics:

Quiz about COVID-19 (in Georgian)

Project in media:

COVID-19-თან დაკავშირებული რეკომენდაციები

Հաճախ տրվող հարցեր Covid-19-ի վերաբերյալ

COVID-19 და დეზინფორმაცია/COVID-19 və yanlış məlumat

ხშირად დასმული კითხვები კორონავირუსის შესახებ

Country	Georgia
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Transparent Budget Is Not A Lux

The action: Transparent Budget is not a Lux aimed to engage the citizens of Nikopol (a city in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast of Ukraine) in monitoring the municipal budget and increase their participation on the local level. The action was implemented in three phases. First, Maria researched the municipal budget from the perspectives of education, healthcare, public expenditures and infrastructure (construction of roads and bridges). Following this, the project team organized awareness-raising campaigns and discussions; through the social media posts, publications and creative infographics, young people actively engaged in the discourse. At the last stage of the project, Maria organized awareness-raising training for the young leaders to advocate transparent budgeting tools and held a roundtable discussion engaging the project participants, local authorities, and representatives from the business & non-governmental sectors. The latter event served as a platform to collaborate with the decision-makers and share recommendations.

The project delivered the budget monitoring research document with a creative infographic on the municipal budget priorities of Nikopol City. Also, the action engaged 40 active young leaders and raised their awareness in participatory budgeting. As an outcome of the training, the participants developed 7 seed project initiatives on the topics of sports and rehabilitation centers, shelter for victims of domestic violence, workshops and education, etc. Also, through the visibility campaign, action reached nearly 161,452 people via social media channels; 60,000 local citizens via the outdoor advertisements, and 8,020 readers via the newspaper publications and informed them about the Nikopol budget expenditures. On top of that, the roundtable meeting facilitated dialogue among the stakeholders from the public, private and non-governmental sectors. All in all, the action contributed to increasing the transparency of the local government and the budget of Nikopol City due to the high public control.

Project leaflet:

Project infographics:

Country	Ukraine
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