Regional Voices – Building Bridges for Democracy

Main goal: promoting pluralistic decision-making process at the local level by improving the quality of democratic cooperation and create conditions for dialogue between civil society activists, journalists and representatives of the local government.

The project was implemented by the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association and DVV International in nine oblast’ of Ukraine – Lvivska, Vinnytska, Zaporizka, Zhytomyrska, Kirovohradska, Kyivska, Kharkivska, Sumska and Khersonska. The project was implemented with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.

The main activities of the project:

facilitate access of different society groups in decision-making at the local level (especially for groups with special needs, for example: displaced persons, demobilized soldiers and others);
increase the number of training programs on civic education and education for democratic citizenship at regional level, especially for youth;
raising awareness of local population on current political, economic and social processes at the regional level;
support of independent regional media;
creation of platforms for dialogue between civil society activists and representatives of regional mass media and representatives of local governments.

Regional voices as regional mapping of democracy in Ukraine, allowed each of the organizations that participated in the project to make its focus on such topics as local politics and gender issues, the dialogue of generations in the context of the democratization process, electoral behavior and participation of young voters, decentralization, the role of local media and relationship between the leaders of local NGOs and local authorities.

In particular, the following activities and events were conducted within the Project duration:

18 multiregional open-space sessions
Multiregional Forum “Building Bridges for Democracy”
regional trainings
press-conferences and round table discussions.

Part of the project was an analytical material contest attended by journalists, media activists, bloggers who work in the registered mass media. Main topics for discussion were democracy, the role of civil society, NGO success stories.

The following organizations became Partners to “Regional voices – Building Bridges for Democracy” Project: Khersonskyi regional center “Successful Woman”, Vinnytska local civil society organization “Vinnytskyi Press-Club”, Melitopol charity foundation “Social Fund”, Zhytomyrska civil society organization “Modern Format”, Lvivska civil society organization “Impuls”, civil society organization “Crimean Diaspora”, Mykolaivska civil society organization “Sustainable Development Club “Southern Initiative”, Kharkivska civil society organization “Chuhuivska Human Rights Group”, Sumska civil society organization “Young Scientists Council”.