Last year in the villages of Kybyntsi and Polyviane of Myrhorod district of the Poltava region with the support of DVV International Ukraine cultural and educational platforms for adults were opened. The inhabitants of these two villages gained opportunities to develop personal skills, increase their civic competences, develop critical thinking, learn how to defend their rights, master information and communication technologies etc.
Nevertheless, in rural areas, it is complicated to organize systematic educational and cultural events at a high level. Often local communities are lacking needed experts or knowledge. Civic education courses became an urgent need and high priority for local communities in realities of the decentralization, education and medical reforms implementation and other social transformations.
One of the ways to solve the problem of access to high-quality and advanced knowledge in rural areas is online education
That is why it was decided to present the opportunities for civic education and other opportunities for local development through the platform vumonline.ua in the first steps of our cooperation with the Open University of Maidan. After all, VUM-online is the largest platform of this kind in Ukraine.
VUM-online trainers Ostap Stasiv and Natalia Sklyarska conducted an introductory lecture on the importance of lifelong learning, the relevance of civic education for community development and the opportunities that people can use to transform their community. Participants learned how to use the online education platform vumonline.ua and studied cases on how a community can develop itself with the help of cultural initiatives and tourism.
Ostap and Natalia were able to present the information to the participants and get them interested in educational opportunities in an accessible, interesting and interactive form. Participants got recommendations on specific programs on the platform. During the presentations and joint discussions, Kybyntsi and Polyviane residents presented new ideas for implementation in their villages, impressed by the information they received.
More and more people are realizing that their future and the fate of their communities depend first of all on themselves and their ability to meet the challenges that face them.
We hope that the beginning of our cooperation with VUM-online will help to popularize and increase access to lifelong learning opportunities among residents of rural areas.