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Dialog between the civil society of Ukraine and the EU is initiated

IRF Editor Democracy and Good Governance

The goal of the working visit was to initiate a dialog and establish cooperation of Ukrainian civil issue-related platforms with corresponding pan-European platforms that have representative offices in Brussels, for the following purposes:

  • Enhancement of attention to Ukraine in the agenda of pan-European civil platforms;
  • Enhancement of capacity of broad segments of the Ukrainian civil society to influence the content and the EU policy tools regarding Ukraine (in particular, through regular delivery of communications and expert evaluations both to public partners in Brussels and the EU institutions);
  • Enhancement of capacity of broad segments of the Ukrainian civil society to exercise pressure on carrying out of reforms in Ukraine in terms of the country’s obligations to the EU.

The following representatives became the participants of the visit on the Ukrainian side: nine professional and experienced representatives of issue-related public associations (human rights, ecology, youth policy, protection of the rights of the disabled, gender issues) and associations with a broad issue-related profile that have a large-scale network of partners in different regions of Ukraine. Candidates for participation were proposed and agreed by experts and active figures of the third sector in Ukraine.

Thus, the following people became the participants of the visit:

  • Vitaliy Shabunin, Head of the All-Ukrainian Youth NGO “Foundation for Regional Initiatives” (http://www.fri.net.ua/)
  • Yevgeniya Pavlova, Expert of the All-Ukrainian Public Social-Political Association “National Assembly of the Disabled People of Ukraine” (http://naiu.org.ua/)
  • Volodymyr Yavorsky, Executive Director of the All-Ukrainian Association of Public Human Rights Organizations “Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union” (http://www.helsinki.org.ua/)
  • Olha Melen, Head of the Legal Department of the International Charitable Organization “Environment-People-Law” (http://www.epl.org.ua/)
  • Raisa Kravchenko, Executive Director of the All-Ukrainian Public Organization “Coalition for the Protection of the Rights of Disabled and Mentally Handicapped People” (http://www.inteldisability-coalition.kiev.ua/)
  • Natalya Karbovska, Head of the Board of the International Charitable Foundation “Ukrainian Women’s Fund” (http://www.uwf.kiev.ua/)
  • Iryna Shvets, Project Manager of the All-Ukrainian Network of Public Activists “OPORA”(http://www.opora.org.ua/ )
  • Maksym Latsyba, Program Director of the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research (http://www.ucipr.kiev.ua/)
  • Andriy Kohut, Secretary of the Organizational Committee of the Network of Public Organizations “Public Assembly of Ukraine” (http://gau.org.ua/).

 

During the working visit Ukrainian public figures met with more than 20 issue-related public platforms and such platforms that deal with a broader range of issues of the civil society in Brussels, including:

 

The participants of the visit to Brussels also had an opportunity to communicate with representatives of the following EU institutions: European Commission (http://ec.europa.eu/), Council of the European Union (http://consilium.europa.eu/), European Parliament (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/) and European Economic and Social Committee (http://www.eesc.europa.eu/index_en.asp).

This project is a component of one of the priority directions of the European Program of the IRF regarding integration of civil societies of Ukraine and the EU and it is also among the priorities of activity of Civil Society Impact Enhancement Program of the IRF. Among other things, the project entails a release of a publication on public platforms in Brussels and envisages opportunities and ways for Ukrainian issue-related platforms to cooperate with them, as well as carrying out of a number of informational-educational events to enhance capacity of broad segments of the Ukrainian civil society to influence the content and the EU policy tools regarding Ukraine and to exercise pressure on carrying out of reforms in Ukraine in terms of the country’s obligations to the EU.

 

Contact persons:

Daryna Nakonechna, Project Coordinator of the European Program of the IRF, nakonechna@irf.kiev.ua

Iryna Solonenko, Director of the European Program of the IRF, solonenko@irf.kiev.ua

Diana Zubko, Project Coordinator of the Civil Society Impact Enhancement Program zubko@irf.kiev.ua

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