On 22 January, on the Day of Unity of Ukraine, the 2023 Responsibility Award ceremony took place. The award recognised civil society organisations and their stories of responsible partnership, which are the best examples of cross-sectoral cooperation in times of full-scale war. Finalists and winners were selected in three nominations.
The winner in the “Story of Responsible Partnership: Communities” nomination was Zaloga Chornomorets with the TT Shelter project. The shortlist in this nomination included Hangar.Ukraine with the Hangar Shell project, Save Ukraine Now with the project “I work 1 day a month for the Armed Forces”, and Plateau with the project “Space for Urban Gardening and Horticulture “Nursery”.
In the National Partnership Project nomination, Ukraїner won with its Brave Cities project. The shortlist in this nomination includes JurFem with its project Building a Human-Centred System for Responding to Cases of War-Related Sexual Violence and Assisting Victims, Kolo with its project Medical Assault, and Directed Action with its project First Volunteer Surgical Hospital.
The winner in the nomination Interaction Without Borders: Ukraine to the World” category was Docudays with the project Archive of War. Also shortlisted in this nomination was the Save Dnipro organisation with the project Development of Radiation Monitoring in the SaveEcoBot System.
Oleh Karpenko, a member of the Award jury, veteran, reserve captain and deputy director of the Come Back Alive Foundation, shared how difficult it was to select the shortlist and the winners:
“I started with our common value – responsibility. And at some stage I realised that all the organisations met this criterion. Then I started from the principles of work that our organisation adheres to: consistency and sustainability. And when I reached the middle of the list, I realised that a lot of organisations are like that.
What personally touched and impressed me the most was the story about memory. It’s about how to build projects that will be beneficial for many years to come, tell our history and, without exaggeration, build the future.”
Jury member, human rights activist, chair of the board of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Centre for Civil Liberties, Oleksandra Matviychuk addressed the audience:
“In such difficult times, responsibility, leadership, all those qualities mentioned by Bohdan Hawrylyshyn in the Declaration of Human Responsibility come first.
Ukraine’s voice in the world is powerful in spite of everything. Because it is about how to go through times of turbulence with dignity, how to fight for freedom, how to show courage, how to make difficult but right decisions, how to support, protect, and help each other. After all, this is what makes us human.”
The winners were awarded UAH 100,000 each and unique statuettes that have become a symbol of unity and cooperation. Another nice bonus was a cash reward of USD 1,000 each from the Razom for Ukraine Award partners for the 7 finalists shortlisted for the 2023 Responsibility Award.
The longlisted participants were awarded for their stories of responsible partnership. And the partner of the Award, Radio Culture, presented a special award to EdCamp Ukraine for the best educational story of responsible partnership.
“Bohdan Hawrylyshyn said: “Learn, dream, act”. All those present, all those who applied for the award, all those who won, we all dream. And what is important is that we dream together and show Ukraine’s enemies and the whole world that we are unbreakable, that we act together, united. I feel your creativity, leadership and thank you for working so hard for Ukraine!” Patricia Shmorgun Havrylyshyn, co-founder of the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation and daughter of the famous Ukrainian, summed up the event.
The stories of responsible partnerships united by the Prize have become an inspiration and motivation for even greater cooperation to strengthen Ukraine.
The 10 stories of the Award finalists will be highlighted in a special media project implemented in cooperation with the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation, the Media Network Foundation and The Ukrainians media.
The Responsibility Award 2023 is organised by the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation in partnership with the USAID/ENGAGE activity, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Pact in Ukraine, Razom For Ukraine, the Media Network Foundation, the International Renaissance Foundation, and the Fedir Spih Foundation with the media support of the Ednannia Information and Analysis Centre. The main media partner is Espresso, the general media partner is Suspilne Broadcasting, and the radio partners are Ukrainian Radio and Radio Kultura.
Source: На часі
