The Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Mantas Adomėnas, came to congratulate the participants of this important initiative: “the implementation of Ukreate Hub initiative once again highlights the importance and power of civil society. I’m grateful to Open Lithuania Foundation, which cares not only about Lithuanians but also about active citizens of Ukraine and sees the value of unleashing their potential in foreign but friendly environment. I believe that this place will become a home far from home for Ukrainian civil society. Let’s be more than witnesses, let’s unite our strength to support brave initiatives that arise here.”

In his welcoming speech, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Lithuania, Petro Beshta, stressed that Ukreate Hub will broaden the horizons of Ukrainians in Lithuania and contribute to the creation of a vibrant social network. The Ambassador also noted that this meaningful initiative will help build even more bridges between Ukrainians and Lithuanians.

The official opening of the bilateral initiative was complemented by a live presentation by Mykhailo Vynnytskyi, Harvard University Fellow, a PhD in sociology and an Associate Professor at the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, on the importance of civil society for the development and reconstruction of Ukraine. The same theme was carefully continued by Oleksandra Matviychuk, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and representative of the Ukrainian Centre for Civil Liberties.

“Since the end of February last year, the Open Lithuania Foundation has been supporting Ukrainian initiatives in Lithuania, responding to the needs of active Ukrainian citizens: working on educational and integration challenges, establishing NGOs, and finding financial resources for self-realisation projects in our country.”

“After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which shocked the whole world, we were looking for a way to help the motivated and active part of Ukrainian society operating in our country. We remained faithful to our mission – to strengthen civil society, to encourage and support those citizens, who seek social and political changes in their environment for the sake of better coexistence and the consolidation of overarching democratic values,” said Sandra Adomavičiūtė, OLF director.

Svitlana Zalužna, Hub manager for Ukraine, who has been developing OLF projects for social and cultural integration of Ukrainian citizens for a year now, sees Ukreate Hub as a platform that can nurture active compatriots into professional civic activists, NGO leaders, and social initiators. “I believe it will be a place where we will come together for a bigger purpose – to strengthen our diaspora for a more active advocacy and the reconstruction of Ukraine.”

Potential participants in the Ukreate Hub emerged before the hub’s activities were even announced publicly. Eugenija Kovaliova, OLF international project manager, project leader and hub manager for Lithuania, believes that this is another way for Lithuania to support Ukrainians in their struggle for the future of their homeland. “We want to invest in people who will return ready to rebuild Ukrainian communities. We are sending a message to the societies of both countries that we invite Ukrainian thinkers, teachers, academics, cultural workers, activists to join Ukreate Hub, where they will have access to our facilities, participate in networking and intellectual discussions, and receive professional assistance in nurturing their ideas into well-developed and impactful projects, grounded in Lithuania for now, but focused on their home country – Ukraine.”

There are various ways to contribute to the activities of Ukreate Hub: for example, the strategic concept, name and visual identity of the hub were voluntarily developed by business consultants Synthesis Consulting Group and Andstudio, and designers Lina Ščerbuke and Donatas Čiulada from the BNI Aitvaras business community helped to furnish the premises. Law firm Sorainen will pro bono consult the Hub community on legal and tax issues, OSFL Projektai will provide accounting advice, Kotryna Stankutė-Jaščemskienė, head of Marius Jakulis Jason Foundation and Orion Wealth philanthropy and education projects manager, will advice on networking, Publicum FComm will provide PR services, and CRC Consulting – strategic services.

Ukrainian students studying at the Design Department of Kaunas Faculty of Vilnius Academy of Arts are creating Lithuanian-Ukrainian relationship themed posters for interior design as their bachelor’s thesis, and centre premises were also decorated with reproductions of Ukrainian children’s drawings from the Kharkiv metro, “Diaries from the Hiding Place”. The drawings, which were born in a difficult time, are a tribute to Ukrainian heroes. The website www.ukreatehub.eu was created by Ukrainian artist Mikhail Filonenko.

The post Civil society leaders of Lithuania and Ukraine to gather in UKREATE hub appeared first on ALF.

The COVID crisis is not going away anytime soon. We want to supplement the SWOT analysis of this process with the results of the activities under the project “Manage the COVID crisis with Care, reasOn, Values, unIty, soliDarity”. Let’s note the mistakes and omissions, but let’s see what the conclusions and lessons are, the organizers say.

At the center of this project is placed the Human: doctor, manager, teacher, creator, parent, unemployed, young and old, convinced European or Eurosceptic. The participants in the project consortium listen carefully to everyone’s voice to make it clear and reach millions of European Union citizens. For this purpose, 10 thematic debates were held under the title “Lessons from the crisis”. The lessons for the cultural and social sectors, for education, people with disabilities, young people, families, business, the media, health care were discussed in them with different target groups.

As a result of the discussions during the debates and extensive research work, 42 ​​stories from 8 countries were collected: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Republic of Serbia and Spain. They are presented in an online brochure in English. “STORIES OF GOODNESS” contains photos, videos and stories of help and empathy, personal experience, good practices from the experience of doctors, NGOs, communities, cities and countries. In it you will find many personal, human stories, some of them – famous, others – about “small” characters who remained out of the limelight.

This booklet shines a light on the daily, quiet act of kindness that we believe is even more contagious than the virus.

The project is funded by the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union, Strand 2: “Democratic Engagement and Civic Participation”, Measure 2.3 “Civil society projects”. The coordinator is Contemporary Pleven Media Foundation, Pleven, Bulgaria. Partners are organizations from 7 other European countries: ASOCIACIÓN DE INNOVACIÓN FORMACIÓN Y EMPLEO PARA EL DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE (AIFED), Granada, Spain; EDUCOMMART, Athens, Greece; JUGEND-& KULTURPROJEKT EV, Dresden, Germany; MINORITY & LOCAL MEDIA DEVELOPMENT CENTER (MLMDC), Novi Sad, Serbia; SPIRALIS, Prague, Czech Republic; OPEN LITHUANIA FOUNDATION (OLF), Vilnius, Lithuania and 36.6 CENTRUM KOMPETENCJI, Lodz, Poland.

The post The e-publication presents 42 good stories from across Europe in the context of the COVID pandemic. Lithuania contributes 5 good stories. appeared first on ALF.

EU VALUES LT aims to support and strengthen the capacity of Lithuanian NGOs to integrate and more effectively promote EU values of equality, democratic participation and solidarity.

€2.7 million will be allocated for NGO capacity building and initiatives.

Building on three decades of experience in strengthening Lithuanian civil society, we believe that in order to bring about sustainable value change at the national level, we need to consistently strengthen the NGO sector, in particular regional, remote and advocacy NGOs.

The project focuses on ethnic minorities, migrants and refugees, LGBT+, vulnerable women and children and other NGOs.
NGOs, human rights experts and supporters, follow our news. There will be trainings, networking events, and competitions for your ideas.

EU VALUES LT will be funded by the European Commission through the European Union’s Citizenship, Equality, Rights and Values Programme.

The post “Open Lithuania Foundation’s” EU VALUES LT concept wins EU funding appeared first on ALF.

The project is curated by Ira Branitskaya, Ukrainian education expert, founder and director of the democratic Papaya School.

Participants: 35 teachers from Lithuania, Poland, Israel and Ukraine.
A mock democratic classroom was created in three remote seminars with teachers from the four participating countries. The experience of teachers who have been working with refugees for many years was shared, issues arising in their work were addressed and discussions were held.

Issues addressed:
– The language of Ukrainian children in school who have been displaced by the war in Lithuania and Poland.
– The inability of teachers in different schools to include Ukrainian children in the classroom due to language and lack of knowledge.
– Insecurity of children who do not speak the language.
– Low motivation of Ukrainian children to learn a foreign language.
– Lack of Ukrainian experience in opening separate classrooms and schools with foreign language teaching.

Objectives of the meetings:
Presentation of the benefits of the democratic education model
Presentation of examples of the tools of the democratic education model in Israeli schools
The importance of shared responsibility between teachers and pupils
Solutions to the language problem in different Ministries of Education in different countries
Discussion of experiences of working with refugees
Practical exercises and sharing of experiences in groups
Preparation of recommendations to be sent to teachers

Reflection conclusions:
1. Communication between children is an essential aspect of education. Children can communicate even if they do not speak the language. It is important that they are focused on the outcome of the group, in which case they will help each other. There are many measures to improve the level of communication.
2. The teacher needs additional help in the form of an assistant, preferably one who speaks both languages. This could be Ukrainian parents. This work requires additional hours to prepare materials in Ukrainian.
3. Shared responsibility. Without putting pressure on the children, encourage their motivation. Children are responsible for their own results, it is not only the teacher’s responsibility. If the teacher has the support of the school and colleagues, the support of parents and a good rapport with the children, he/she can create an appreciative classroom environment that not only helps Ukrainian children but also benefits children from other countries in the same classroom.
4. It would be appropriate to bridge the gap between conventional and democratic education by creating space for individual growth of each student and teacher.
5. Communication between teachers from different countries provides more new impulses and solutions to problematic impasses than teaching new tools and methodologies.

The project is part of the Regional Initiatives Programme funded by the Active Citizens Foundation.

The post Joint Lithuanian, Polish, Israeli and Ukrainian project “Democratic Teacher Education” appeared first on ALF.

Together with the following representatives of Ukrainian civil society staying in Lithuania:

– Kateryna Yasko, founder of the educational portal EMPATIA.PRO, founder of the NGO International Institute for Integrated Development (IIID), co-author and lecturer at the School of New Thinking, Ukraine.

-Iryna Bila, a historian, curator of the Zaporozhye Museum of Architecture, founder of the educational project “Dogory Drigom”, curator of the photography exhibition “Zaporozhye from behind”, member of the Ukrainian Ukrainian initiative group in Vilnius.

-Svitlana Zaluzhna, a founder of ZORELOVY Family Support and Development Programs, Ukraine. Author and manager of the TULA project, programs and meetings for Ukrainian and Lithuanian families on mutual integration and cultural education.

-Ira Branitskaya, a founder and director of the democratic Papaya School, we are looking for ways to help the recently grown local Ukrainian community.

After months of working together, we realized that, despite the many areas in which we need the focus and courage of all of us, both state and non-governmental organizations and ordinary citizens, we can and must prioritize the following groups:

-Students and teachers;

-Journalists;

-Representatives and activists of non-governmental organizations;

-Teachers (both Lithuanian and Ukrainian) working with mixed classes in Lithuania.

Areas:

-Generating ideas and visions for rethinking and rebuilding Ukraine;

-Cultural integration and strengthening of relations between Lithuania and Ukraine;

-Adaptation of competencies in young professionals;

-Democratic and inclusive education.

Activities

-Consultancy and information assistance to Ukrainian war refugees in Lithuania;

-Organization of events promoting dialogue, education or mobilizing civil society;

-Fundraising for Ukrainian community activities in Lithuania;

-Provision of the existing premises at Didžioji st. no 5 for activities and events of Ukrainian activists.

In the near future, a joint team of the OSFL and Ukrainian activists will bring together Ukrainian professionals and civil society representatives to find ways to help them implement their ideas in the areas listed above.

If you think alike, and have new ideas, please write to us at info@olf.lt or in the comments below.

We are grateful to the EEA and Norwegian financial mechanisms, as well as to the Ministry of Finance, who already responded to Ukraine’s  non-material needs.

In June 2022, more than 57,000 Ukrainians who came to Lithuania from war-torn Ukraine were registered in Lithuania. More than half of them are children and adolescents. Lithuanian NGOs and initiatives, such as the Red Cross, Save the Children, Strong Together, the Food Bank, have mobilized enormous forces added by financial and human resources to provide basic humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians fleeing the war and their families.

The post Open Society Foundation helps Ukraine appeared first on ALF.

The post We provide facilities for Ukrainian people, young people appeared first on ALF.

The post Suteikiame patalpas Ukrainos žmonėms, jaunimui appeared first on ALF.

The project „Transition dialogue. Dealing with change in democratic ways“, initiated by the Transition dialogue network, aims at taking a closer look at two of the areas that mostly contribute to the formation of knowledge and perceptions of that recent past – the public discourse and teaching of transition.

In order to awaken young people’s curiosity and desire to learn more about the transition period, a brainstorming session was organised remotely on 21 December with Donatas Puslis, a social activist, TV and radio presenter, history teacher, and head of the media programme at the Vilnius Institute for Policy Analysis.

The game was attended by 15 teams of senior schoolchildren from all over Lithuania – Vilnius and Vilnius district, Kaunas, Klaipėda district, Panevėžys, Ukmergė, Pasvalys, Šalčininkai, Anykščiai, Telšiai, Mažeikiai, Raseiniai, Tytuvėnai (Kelme district).

“Inviting young people to deepen their knowledge about the transition period, the Open Society Foundation team, with the help of historians Donatas Puslys, Laurynas Kudijanovas, Vaidotas Steponavičius, prepared an interactive test about the last decade of the 20th century BACK TO 90‘S

The post Take a quiz about Transition period appeared first on ALF.

The project „Transition dialogue. Dealing with change in democratic ways“, initiated by the Transition dialogue network, aims at taking a closer look at two of the areas that mostly contribute to the formation of knowledge and perceptions of that recent past – the public discourse and teaching of transition.

In order to awaken young people’s curiosity and desire to learn more about the transition period, a brainstorming session was organised remotely on 21 December with Donatas Puslys, a social activist, TV and radio presenter, history teacher, and head of the media programme at the Vilnius Institute for Policy Analysis.

The game was attended by 15 teams of senior schoolchildren from all over Lithuania – Vilnius and Vilnius district, Kaunas, Klaipėda district, Panevėžys, Ukmergė, Pasvalys, Šalčininkai, Anykščiai, Telšiai, Mažeikiai, Raseiniai, Tytuvėnai (Kelme district).

“Inviting young people to deepen their knowledge about the transition period, the Open Society Foundation team, with the help of historians Donatas Puslys, Laurynas Kudijanovas and Vaidotas Steponavičius, prepared an interactive test about the last decade of the 20th century BACK TO 90‘S

The post Take a quiz about Transition period appeared first on ALF.

In 2020, global society and civil society organisations (CSOs) face new and unusual challenges. The pandemic has affected all dimensions of CSO sustainability, as measured annually by the US Agency for International Development’s CSO Sustainability Index. The twenty-fourth annual CSO Sustainability Report notes that the pandemic has served as a litmus test for the maturity of civil society in Eastern and Central Europe and Eurasia – the resilience and vulnerabilities of their organisations.

In Lithuania, as in other countries in the region, the CSO sector has responded to increased demand for services, mobilised resources in pandemic-affected economies, had to find new ways to help vulnerable groups due to quarantine restrictions, and had to find new ways of carrying out their missions in the new environment.

The Centre for Community Change presents the development of Lithuanian CSOs in 2020.

The CSO Sustainability Report for Eastern and Central Europe and Eurasia is available in English. 

The post The 2020 Sustainability Index of Lithuanian CSOs appeared first on ALF.