We are heading into 2023. For most of us, 2022 will be remembered as the year that brought the brutal war into our homeland and sharply transformed our vision of the world. Nevertheless, we are entering the new year with hope and optimism. With 2023 just crossing the doorstep, we are excited for a fresh start and hope that Ukraine will win and restore its territorial integrity.
In this special issue of our newsletter, we take another look back at some important moments from 2022 for civil society and explore what Ukrainians think of their future. Get inspired with our traditional read!
****
Are Ukrainians optimistic about their country’s victory and future? According to the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation poll, 93% believe Ukraine will win the war with Russia. 62% believe the war can end only in case of Ukraine`s victory, and 54% see the victory as the expulsion of Russia’s troops from the entire territory of Ukraine and the restoration of borders as of January 2014. Although the war has taken a significant toll on people’s lives, most citizens feel hope when thinking of their personal future (54%) and the future of their country (60%). Check our chart for more details!
****
EdCamp Ukraine Supported Wartime
Teachers
In 2022, EdCamp Ukraine threw all efforts to provide psychological and professional support for educators, schoolchildren, and their parents. The organization developed and implemented an anti-crisis EdCamp Academy, a “Smart Summer” camp, and a small EdCamp Academy for teachers and parents. In addition, the CSO implemented four professional development programs for teachers and certified 151 specialists.
Special attention was paid to those who continued to teach despite the full-scale war. To support them and share their stories, EdCamp published 27 interviews and purchased remote work kits – laptops, mice, routers, and headphones for 58 educators. In addition, CSO provided psychological support sessions for 55 teachers.
****
Smart Osvita Helped Children Gain Knowledge During War
In 2022, Smart Osvita aimed at supporting teachers and children during the full-scale war. In 10 months, the CSO conducted a 5-week training for 2,000 children from all over Ukraine to fill the gaps in their knowledge of mathematics, Ukrainian and English.
As part of the “Staying with Ukraine” project, 1,000 Ukrainian children forced to flee abroad due to the war, took the Ukrainian language, literature and history courses. To stabilize the emotional state of children through creativity and movement exercises, Smart Osvita opened activity centers in Kraków, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia. CSO also organized regular educational meetings for children with teachers from Ukraine and around the world, who conducted 2,000 classes.
The organization continued to advocate for educational changes and the reform of the New Ukrainian School through the NUS website, which was visited by more than 5,2 million unique visitors this year.
The CSO also provided humanitarian aid to children and women in the amount of over 1,4 million hryvnias.
****
Osvitoria Restored Access to Education for Children Affected by War
In 2022, Osvitoria focused on continuous learning for 7 million children. The CSO`s educational applications (Learning-not waiting (28,000 users), All-Ukrainian Online School (224,000), and iLearn (100,000 users) allowed students to acquire quality knowledge and study through Ukrainian programs from anywhere in the world for free.
CSO assisted teachers to perform their duties under new circumstances. To support them, Osvitoria provided free online and offline training for 33,000 educators.
Osvitoria held the sixth Global Teacher’s Prize Ukraine award ceremony to document the stories of the educational from and recognize the courage and resilience of Ukrainian wartime teachers.
****
Crimean Tatar Resource Center Covered Human Rights Violations in Crimea
In 2022, Crimean Tatar Resouce Center threw 5 information campaigns, which talked about the situation in the occupied Crimea, cultural diversity, and introduced the history of indigenous peoples, reaching more than 32 million Ukrainians. Prominent Ukrainians joined the campaign including Jamala, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, Sevgil Musaeva, Taras Topolya, Akhtem Seitablaev.
Apart from assisting IDPs and advocacy activity, CTRC monitored the state of the Crimean peninsula ecosystem and published the study “Environmental and climatic discrimination in occupied Crimea: dimensions and threats.”
****
Kherson Community Foundation “Zakhyst” Helped Kherson Families to Survive the Occupation
From the first days of the full-scale war, Kherson Community Foundation “Zakhyst” launched the humanitarian program “Let’s save together! Kherson” that united the efforts of philanthropists, donor organizations and businesses. As a part of the program, CSO provided aid with medicines and medical supplies worth UAH 1,3 million for the Kherson hospitals.
However, Russia`s later blockage of the delivery of humanitarian goods made such support impossible. Thus, the CSO focused on targeted financial aid to large families and families raising children with disabilities.
Due to CSO`s efforts, more than 1,400 families from the occupied or newly liberated territories of the Kherson region and families of displaced people have already received financial aid in the total amount of almost 4 million hryvnias.
****
Center of Social Partnership Led De-Russification in Sumy
De-Russification of more than 200 Sumy toponyms became one of the key tasks of the Center of Social Partnership. Activists started an initiative group and moderated the work of the city council official commission, collected public proposals, conducted information campaigns for the locals and advocated the adoption of the decisions.
Military volunteering has become an integral activity of the Center of Social Partnership. The team resumed the active functioning of the Public Fund “Sumy” and already collected more than 15 million hryvnias, which were spent on purchasing equipment for the military.
The CSO also restored the functioning of public spaces for socially important initiatives of Sumy. Together with the City of the Smart initiative, the CSO gave new life to the public space “Kuznechna Yard” and began to renovate the Smart Hub. Activists have already held 30 different events attended by more than 1,500 participants. Donation is your entry ticket – in this way, 150,000 hryvnias have already been raised.
****
Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center Exposed Corrupt Schemes and Collaborators
In 2022, Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center continued to monitor city procurement and expose suspicious operations with public funds. Since the occupation of part of the Kharkiv oblast, activists have been investigating collaborators among local officials.
In addition, the CSO actively supported the military: in two months, the KhAC collected 406,000 hryvnias for anti-drone devices for the 127th brigade of the Territorial Defence.
****
