Open Society Foundation helps Ukraine
The Open Lithuania Foundation offered its assistance to active Ukrainians coming to Lithuania, working in the fields of education, culture, public information, etc. areas. The help and support we provide is aimed at active, enterprising Ukrainians who are able to independently develop activities and ideas aimed at strengthening their country’s future and European integration vision.
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.
