During two days, conference delegates from the civic sector and diferent authorities from all regions of Ukraine discussed the prevention and resolution of conflicts in communities in the process of reform implementation.
The 13th All-Ukrainian Conference on Population Self-Organization was held in Kharkiv recently. During two days, conference delegates from the civic sector and diferent authorities from all regions of Ukraine discussed the prevention and resolution of conflicts in communities in the process of reform implementation.
The event was opened by Tetyana Kirillova, head of the NGO “Association for Community Self-Organization Assistance”, Oleksiy Orlovsky, Democratic Practice Program Director of the International Renaissance Foundation, Member of the Coordination Council for the Promotion of Civil Society Development under the President of Ukraine, Andriy Reva, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, and Lyudmila Nemikina, Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Budget in the Kharkiv Regional Council, Vice-President of the Kharkiv Regional Association of Local Self-Government Bodies, Director of the Center for Local Self-Government Development in Kharkiv region.
A study “Conflicts in Communities: Typology, Causes, and Implications” was presented at the conference jointly by analysts and sociologists of the Association for Community Self-Organization Assistance Oleksandra Kalashnikova, Maria Dzhupin, Oleksiy Kolesnikov and Viktoria Balasanyan. The study reveals types of conflicts in the amalgamated territorial communities, lawsuits pertaining to the processes of creation of amalgamated territorial communities and the results of conflict mapping in five model communities.
A panel discussion that followed the study presentation, brought together experts from different regions of Ukraine to discuss prevention and resolution of conflicts in communities: Natalia Drozd, head of the Chernihiv Regional Resource Center for Local Democracy Development, chairperson of “Dobrochin” NGO, Bogdan Zeleny, head of the Lviv Regional Resource Center for Local Democracy Development, expert of the NGO “Public Advocacy Center”, Tetyana Kirillova, head of the Lugansk Regional Resource Center for Local Democracy Development, chairperson of the NGO “Civic Initiative of Lugansk Region”, Irina Gaiduchik, director of Volyn Regional Resource Center for Local Democracy Development, Coordinator of Projects and Programs of the Volyn regional NGO “Association for Support and Development of Community Self-Organization and Housing Associations”, Oleksandr Mosnyagul, Head of the Kherson Regional Resource Center for Local Democracy Development, Head of the Kherson Regional Civic Organization “Black Sea Center for Social and Political Studies “, Vitaliy Filenko, chairman of the NGO “New Energy”.
According to the conference delegates, the most interesting part of the event was a master class dedicated to the topic “Conflicts as a component of everyday life: how to endure amid constant conflict and how to manage conflicts and yourself” by Vladislava Kanevska, Vice President of the National Association of Mediators of Ukraine.
The second day of the conference began with a table top exercise “Optimizing the educational network in the community”, faciliatated by Ayder Seitosmanov, in which participants simulated public hearings, trying themselves in different roles. Following the game, the participants, together with Vladislava, had a debriefing session to review any errors they had made, to learn from them and to develop skills in resolving conflicts.
The event was held by the NGO “Association for Community Self-Organization Assistance” with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.
