Fellowship Summary: Development and launch of a ‘City Dream’ digital platform that facilitates more participatory local planning in the Cherkasy region of Ukraine.
Denys Andrushchenko’s City Dream Platform is a crowdsourcing initiative in Ukraine, serving as an effective communication tool between businesses, local government, and community residents. Launched in April 2023, the platform empowers active residents to highlight critical community issues through social projects, fostering collaboration among stakeholders to address these challenges by inviting them to join the project and contribute their resources. This approach has already yielded tangible results, with success stories inspiring greater civic engagement and citizenship.
The City Dream Platform has not only initiated impactful campaigns but has also received acclaim from volunteers and activists in Cherkasy. The platform’s success lies in its ability to bridge gaps and stimulate solidarity among diverse groups.
Through the City Dream Platform, Denys has sparked a seed of change, inspiring active citizens to persist in working with public servants and holding them accountable. Despite challenges, including the impact of war on Ukraine and its people, Denys remains committed to promoting the City Dream platform and the crowdsourcing approach.
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.
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):
Uliana’s action aimed to encourage gender mainstreaming in public security services in Ivano-Frankivsk city through monitoring and evaluation of public spaces in the city. To achieve the above objective, Uliana conducted a wide range of activities, including research, awareness-raising training, development of the online platform and community outreach. First, she developed the monitoring methodology to evaluate the safety of the public spaces. Then, Uliana researched the public places of Ivano-Frankivsk and prepared recommendations for the local authorities. Following this, she launched the development of a new web-section for the online map – Safe Cityto detect dangerous spaces/zones in Ivano-Frankivsk. To reach a larger audience of the city and educate them, the project team organized two online trainings on public safety. Finally, to disseminate the research findings broadly and creatively, they created a short animated video attracting the attention of hundreds of viewers on social media.
The project delivered the monitoring methodology and evaluation report on safety of Ivano-Frankivsk public spaces from a gender perspective; the research applied a participatory approach and informed the decision-makers about the issue through the list of recommendations. Also, the online map – Safe City developed within the action increased visibility of dangerous/safe public places, since any visitor is able to mark any place of the city. Therefore, two training reached 102 applicants and engaged 39 participants; the trainers – Natalia Tarasenko and Olena Ostapchuk discussed gender-sensitive urban planning and shared the case studies of the successful and unsuccessful solutions for public spaces, schools, kindergartens, youth clubs, parking lots, etc; they also covered the topic of safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of that, the public presentation and animated video summarizing the research deliverables raised awareness of the 8k stakeholders through Facebook, YouTube and other social media channels.
Monitoring Methodology to Evaluate the Safety of the Public Spaces (in Ukrainian):
The action is aimed to resolve two issues faced by the Lusashogh rural community: A lack of public transportation and poor medical services. To address the above challenges, Narine conducted public surveys among the locals and organized meetings with the authorities of the Ararat Regional Municipality and the Vedi BUAT road serving company. Following this, she held additional two meetings at the Ministry of Territorial Administration of Armenia and engaged relevant high-level officials, including the Prime Minister of Armenia, the Minister of Territorial Administration, the Head of Ararat Regional Municipality, the Head of Lusashogh Municipality. Then, Narine renovated the old medical clinic and recruited specialists to deliver training on positive parenting, first medical assistance and teeth cleaning for the local people; the training raised the interest among young parents, their children and even the grandparents who actively attended the workshops.
The action facilitated dialogue among the Ararat municipality authorities, the private company and the local residents resulting in the extension of the bus line from the city to the Lusashogh village. The latter eased communication and mobility of the people from 3 local villages to the regional city. Thus, the project delivered the renovated local medical center providing access to the emergency and other medical services for the Lusashogh and other neighboring settlements. On top of that, the courses on positive parenting, emergency assistance and teeth cleaning enhanced awareness of the young parents and saw a high participation from the local community.
The action aimed to increase the capacity of the local non-governmental organization Moldova Lavender Association and enhance their opportunities to enter the EU market. To achieve the above objective, Alexandru conducted analytical, educational and community outreach actions. First, he pursued field research on an Essential Oils Industry. Then, the fellow had a 6-day field visit to the Head Office of the European Federation of Essential Oils (EFEO) in Hamburg, Germany, where he learned about the European Sectoral Regulations and EFEO’s activity. Following this, Alexandru held training for the Moldova Lavender Association members and shared the experience acquired from the visit to EFEO. Finally, to foster cooperation among the field professionals, he organized the First National Conference on Aromatic and Medicinal Plants in Chisinau, Moldova.
The action built capacity for the staff members of the Moldova Lavender Association and raised their awareness of the Global and European industry. As a tangible result of the project, the local organization started a long-term partnership with the European Federation of Essential Oils (EFEO). Therefore, the number of members of the Moldova Lavender Association increased from 12 to 23 and attracted other donors to finance the further projects. Hence, the first National Conference fostered collaboration among the farmers, public officials and donors and engaged more than 55 stakeholders from the sector. The project encouraged the Ministry of Agriculture of Moldova to initiate the development of the National Strategy on Aromatic and Medicinal Plants in Moldova.
The project aimed to develop a culture of waste management in Armenia through training and environmental campaigns. To achieve the latter objectives, Vahan organized a number of educational, community outreach and dialogue-building activities. First, he held intensive one-day training in four Armenian regions of Shirak, Tavush, Gegharkunik, and Kotayk. Then, to promote zero waste principles, Vahan engaged partner organizations from Gyumri (Youth Initiative Center), Dilijan (Youth Cooperation Center), Gegharkunik (Ajdahak Environmental Center), and Yerevan (Armenian Progressive Youth) and installed zero-waste stations in their offices under the guaranteed control. Following this, the project team organized a massive cleanup and recycling campaign in Yerevan and other municipalities. Last but not least, to highlight the project deliverables, Vahan held the final conference in Yerevan involving local and international experts, local youth, civil society and municipality representatives to discuss the ecological challenges and their mitigation measures.
The project enhanced the mindset of 150 young people from the Armenian regions and up to 100 youngsters in Yerevan on waste management and engaged the local NGOs. Also, through installing four waste sorting bins, the action encouraged the local communities to separate waste and recycle it on a regular basis. As a result of the cleanup campaigns, 5 tons of sorted waste were accumulated from landfills and sent to recycling within 3 months. Besides, the project served as a bridge for the civil society organizations, local municipalities and small recycling enterprises and urged them to collaborate in terms of waste management.
The project aimed to detect the obstacles in the major gender-specific areas for women-own enterprises and track the positive and negative trends. To achieve the above objective, Diana developed open-ended and structured questionnaires and conducted interviews with 100 women entrepreneurs. The respondents were either executives or business owners during the summer-autumn period of 2018, either from Yerevan (53,7%) or the other six regions (46,3%) of Armenia. The interviews were conducted in a face-to-face format. Diana collected the personal remarks, recommendations, and critics from the women entrepreneurs and finalized them in the assessment report.
The action explored the impediments for women-owned businesses in Armenia and defined further strategic activities to fill the gaps in the legislation and the business environment. The survey researched the business and sectoral diversification of the male-owned but female-managed and fully female-owned enterprises and revealed the trends; for example, businesswomen tend to operate in the field of services, retail trade, manufacturing, and wholesale trade, when the male-owned businesses cover the sectors of tourism, transportation, agricultural, and IT sectors. To raise awareness of the business, governmental and other strategic stakeholders, Diana organized a Public-Private Dialogue meeting and presented the survey results. Also, the research document incorporates a list of initiatives for improvement of the legal system, investment climate, and tax and customs services in Armenia.
Study on Major Impediments for Women Entrepreneurs and Explore Women’s Rights Gaps in Business Activity of Armenia 2018
The project aimed to facilitate citizens’ access to e-Services in amalgamated communities (hromadas) of Ukraine. To identify high-quality and user-centered IT solutions for the local administrations, Karyna applied the research, monitoring, educational, and awareness-raising methods. To explore the most efficient electronic services for UTC residents, Karyna researched Public and Electronic Services for UTC Residents. The study was carried out through Data Mining & Analysis of IT-solutions to monitor public service in administrative units. The analysis was conducted from May 12th to June 1st, 2018, and comprised 24 regions. Apart from research, Karyna sent opinion polls to more than 700 administrative units. Based on the above findings, she developed e-Services online guide for hromadas’ citizens ‘OTG online’. To unify proactive administrative units towards e-Services Development, Karyna organized various gatherings, including One-Stop-Shop Interactive Panel (14 November 2018, Kyiv), Success Stories Gathering (September – December 2018), Cooperation via Online Platform (September – December 2018), and Practical Task on e-Democracy Tools (7 December 2018, Kyiv).
The project analyzed access to e-Services in the local Ukrainian administrative units. The action produced a bilingual research paper (English and Ukrainian version) – Public and Electronic Services for UTC Residents: Examples. Links. Statistics. The academic publication provides a big picture about the electronic services in UTC and analyzes information about electronic services, public services, and CDASs on official UTC websites (UTC centers); it identifies the main challenges and issues regarding the provision of electronic services in UTC. The research revealed that 500+ hromadas have at least 1+ e-Service and e-Participation (e-petitions & e-appeals) is the most widespread tool in respective units. However, 80% of implemented e-Services (including e-Participation tools) are not applied by the citizens. An online guide developed during the project serves as an instrument to raise e-literacy of the local people in Ukrainian hromadas. All in all, through electronic surveys, online platforms, and offline collaborative gatherings, the project united local administrative units and turned them into drivers of e-Service delivery.
Public services and electronic services for residents of Ukrainian Territorial Communities (in English):
Public services and electronic services for residents of Ukrainian Territorial Communities (in Ukrainian):
The action aimed to assess and evaluate the urban public transport in Chisinau in terms of comfort, vehicles, reliability, accessibility, and other relevant variables. To elaborate on the more inclusive public policies, Stanislav engaged the city residents in the discourse via applying the user-centered approach. Through research and online surveys, he studied public perception about the local transportation in Moldova. To identify trends and appraise the quality of the municipal transport system, Stanislav created a database of the 10 general and 28 specific indicators. The survey results are public and accessible for anyone, including the local media and decision-makers. In parallel with the research, he organized meetings, workshops, and interviews with local authorities, civil society activists, and media outlets. To improve the qualification and expand professional networks in the field, Stanislav participated in the training course offered by the Institute for Training Transportation Professionals, Manchester (the UK).
The project produced the research document and survey database aimed to facilitate inclusive public policies in Chisinau. Through the policy-oriented research, Stanislav enhanced critical thinking among the city residents and liaised between the people and the government by designing innovative solutions. Hence, the database played a crucial role for the local government in identifying public preferences. The research findings will serve as basic guidelines for the government while making policies on sustainable public transportation. Hence, the workshops and training held within the project increased the awareness of civil society actors; the meetings with the public officials put the topic of public transportation at the forefront of their political agenda.
