In 2015 Youth Alternative used renewed Endowment support to continue and expand its government internship and regional exchange programs.
Objectives:
Donor: NED
Brief Description of Assignment(s) carried out and their results:
The organization selected 30 students from leading Kyiv universities to serve eight-month fellowships in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s national legislature. In addition, were selected 126 students to serve five-month fellowships at local councils in 18 regions.
The interns participated in 46 events, including orientations, training seminars and roundtable discussions. Thirty-six orientations and training seminars taught the interns about government institutions, public policy, legislative affairs and political processes. The interns received trainings in public speaking, leadership skills and organizational management, which prepared them for leadership roles in the future.
An additional 180 students from 12 regions participated in 8 cross regional exchanges, trainings and presentations. Educational booklets, with a total print run of 500 copies, were published and distributed.
To help Ukrainian youth better understand cross regional sentiments about each other and dispel stereotypes emanating from Russian media and a dearth of interpersonal communication, Youth Alternative organized eight three-day visits for students from twelve regions of Ukraine. Students were selected from Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Odesa, Mykolaiv to visit students in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Chernivtsi. Each western city hosted participants from a total of four southern and eastern cities on two separate occasions to engage in discussions about democracy, tolerance and governance; students also took part in city tours and participated in free forums to exchange their ideas and beliefs. Students presented their experiences in each region during the visits. Following the visits, two students were selected from each region to visit Kyiv for a final presentation about the program, their experiences and whether they managed to move beyond personal linguistic, ideological, religious and regional differences.
Youth Alternative also published and distributed educational booklets and nine newsletters, with a total print run of 500, on topics chosen by the interns, who were also responsible for producing materials and writing articles for the booklets. Five roundtable discussions and five book presentations were held to discuss the topics addressed in each booklet. Finally, the organization added the interns’ names to an existing database of past participants for future networking and other alumni activities.
Profile(s) of Professional Staff Provided by Your Organization:
The main staff - engaged in the organization and implementation of the project; organization and holding of trainings, seminars, exchange visits, meetings and analytical data review etc.
Personnel involved - regional coordinators; promote and assist in the implementation of measures in the regions of Ukraine.
Involved staff - trainers.
Description of Actual Services Provided by Your Staff:
Partners in the project (18):
Chernivtsi - "Union of Active Youth", Eugenia Oleinik
Ternopil - Youth Governmental Union, Igor Protsyk
Dnipro - NGO "MIX", Kateryna Zezulina
Kharkiv - Company «DENDY-PROmo», Denis Tkachev
Chernihiv - NGO Youth Information Centre, Oksana Stelmach
Vinnytsia - YA, Svetlana Dubina
Cherkasy - Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Anastasia Prokopenko
Mykholaiv - "Youth Municipality", Oleksandr Maksimenko
Kherson - Youth Governmental Union, Anastasia Shevchuk
Rivne - Zeon, Mykhola Orlov
Lutsk - Press Club, Bohdana Stelmach
Lviv - Lviv First Foundation, Roman Koshovyy,
Odesa - YA, Elena Saykovska,
Ivano-Frankivsk – CVU, Maxim Lysyuk
Kirovograd - Student Government, Yaroslav Lanetskyy
Zaporizhzhya - YA, Denis Kasyanenko
Published materials
www.ya.org.ua/images/pdf/14-15/1.pdf
www.ya.org.ua/images/pdf/14-15/5.pdf
www.ya.org.ua/images/pdf/14-15/4.pdf
www.ya.org.ua/images/pdf/14-15/3.pdf
www.ya.org.ua/images/pdf/14-15/2.pdf