In August, Ukraїner – the multimedia Ukrainian studies project – presented the film ‘Culture in Time of War. The North’. This is the second in a series of four films created as part of the European Union’s communication campaign, ‘Together, We Create. Together, We Preserve’. The campaign is dedicated to the activities of artists and their projects in these difficult times.

‘Culture in Time of War. The North’ juxtaposes artists’ personal stories with reflections on the meaning and mission of culture in times of full-scale Russian invasion. It is about how representatives of different genres try to rethink the events of the war, Ukraine, and the Ukrainians in it.

In particular, musicians Anton Slepakov and Andriy Sokolov created the project ‘War chatting’ [Ukrainian – warнякання], in which Anton describes his emotions, feelings and sensations verbally and Andriy sets them to music. The result is a performance which they are touring Ukraine with (pictured).

The members of the Babylon’13 Film Association, founded during the Revolution of Dignity, worked as aerial reconnaissance at the beginning of the war, and are now returning to their usual documentary work. One of their key projects is a film adaptation of the literary works of the Ukrainian defenders – ‘Gluttonous War‘.

Artist Volodymyr Manzhos began his career as a graffiti artist, then moved on to murals. Later, he moved on to other genres of fine art, but the war brought about adjustments.

The film also tells the story of the Khanenko Museum in Kyiv. It is empty, and its collections have been evacuated, but are not in storage. They have been lent to museums in other countries.

Before the latest ‘expansion’, only individuals and educational and medical institutions could exchange lamps free of charge. Now, new categories are eligible to take advantage of this exchange programme, namely:

• cultural institutions (municipal and state-owned);
• social protection institutions and specialised support services for victims of domestic and gender-based violence (municipal and state-owned);
• physical education and sports facilities (municipal);
• entities providing services for the management of residential buildings or associations of owners of residential buildings.

The following calculation is used for the exchange:

• Three lamps per 10 square metres for the premises of social security institutions, reading rooms, book depositaries and archive storages of libraries and archives, cultural institutions, the housing stock of the apartment building manager, housing associations;

• Two lamps per 10 square metres for common areas of social security institutions, physical education and sports institutions, housing administrations, housing associations.

As in the previous phase, new participants in the programme must submit a request for bulb exchange via the Diia portal. To do so, complete the following steps:

• Log in to the Diia portal using the legal entity’s QES.
• Check the details of your organisation.
• In the ‘Services’ section, select ‘Light Bulb Exchange’, and fill in the request form.
• Indicate the area in the calculator. Once you see the available limit, select the number and type of lamps.
• Tick the box to indicate that you agree to hand over the same number of incandescent bulbs.
• Input the address of your organisation.
• Check and confirm the data in the generated request form.
• Confirm your request with the legal entity’s QES.

The programme aims to replace 50 million old energy-intensive incandescent lamps with modern LED lamps. More than 20 million bulbs have been replaced since the programme was launched on 30 January 2023. This will save significant amounts of electricity. It will also reduce the strain on the Ukrainian power grid as it suffers from Russian attacks.

“Five minutes into the class, I found myself smiling like a child. Unexpectedly for me, dance turned out to be the place where I could forget about sadness and anxiety for a while. It allows me to restore my resources and return to work with renewed vigour.”

This is how Tatyana Ogloblina from Kharkiv describes her feelings about oriental dance. She now lives in Kamianets- Podilskyi and takes part in the SOS Women IDP Support Programme. The programme is run by local charity, SOS: Civil Defence Headquarters, with support from the EU and the International Renaissance Foundation.

These activities include badminton and strength training classes, oriental dance classes, and master classes in mandala weaving, drawing, and wool painting. Excursions, joint visits to events, and literary and film meetings are also organised for the women. They can choose to take part in volunteering activities, such as teaching classes and giving lectures to club members and children from the frontline and deoccupied territories who are undergoing psychological rehabilitation as part of the ‘Children of War’ project.

Psychologist Svitlana Onyshchuk spends a lot of time with the programme’s participants.

From 5 to 20 IDP women attend each event, often with their children.

Painting eco-bags, making clay pendants and medallions, sewing soft felt toys, painting on glass, excursions to ancient Transcarpathian castles, visiting the Uzhhorod Botanical Garden, a trip to Lake Salva…

All of this was in store for the children that participated in the ‘Safe Holidays with New Friends’ programme. The programme was run in June and August by the Uzhhorod-based NGO Ecosphere, with a grant from the EU-funded ‘Civic Society for Democratisation’ project.

The organisers held 10 classes, reaching around 500 children in total – Uzhhorod schoolchildren and IDPs.

Six classes held in Uzhhorod libraries included games, workshops, and quizzes on environmental topics, such as ways to reduce waste, sort and recycle rubbish, the functioning of forest ecosystems, and bird life in urban areas. Afterwards, the children went to a botanical garden, park or river to continue learning about nature.

Four days were dedicated to excursions.

Ecosphere is an environmental organisation. Their work with children was the first sector to be developed after the organisation was established in 1999.

The children learned the importance of caring for the environment through team eco-games, quests and workshops.

It is worth noting that at least half of the children who took part in Safe Holidays last year took part in a similar programme called ‘Green Holidays’, also funded by the European Union.

A laptop, a portable printer, a handheld scanner, an ID card reader, a video camera, a modem with mobile internet, and a Wi-Fi router – 30 suitcases containing these items were delivered in August to Administrative Service Centres (ASCs) in remote and affected communities in seven regions of Ukraine. From now on, these ASCs can provide the Mobile Administrator Service more efficiently.

These mobile kits were procured and delivered by UNDP Ukraine as part of the EU-funded ‘EU4Recovery – Empowering Communities in Ukraine’ project. The equipment will facilitate faster access to services for people with reduced mobility and simplify the work of ASC staff.

The first client served by the ASC with a mobile kit was a bedridden, seriously ill 85-year-old woman in one of the village districts.

The Koryukivka community in the Chernihiv region is now actively using the new opportunities presented by the mobile administrator – especially as it covers 66 settlements.

Eight secondary schools in Kyiv, Chernihiv and Kharkiv regions were repaired between July and September as part of the EU-funded ‘School Reconstruction Project’, implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). All the schools had previously been damaged during the hostilities.

In particular, the Suzirya Lyceum in Vyshhorod came under heavy Russian shelling on 23 November 2022, causing significant damage and casualties.

The Lyceum needs premises suitable for learning, as it focuses on full-time education.

Another institution the project supports is Lyceum No. 4 in Lozova, Kharkiv region. The building was damaged by shelling in May 2022.

The School Reconstruction Project has delivered 12 window systems to the Lyceum, with a total area of around 115 square metres. More than 70 buildings will be repaired under the project.

The School Reconstruction Project (EUR 20 million) is part of the European Commission’s initiative to support and rebuild Ukraine’s education system (EUR 100 million).

20 projects involving 58 universities and other educational institutions from Ukraine have been selected for funding under the Erasmus+ Programme in the field of capacity building in higher education.

This is a new record for Ukrainian universities – there were 13 Ukrainian projects last year. Ukraine is among the top eight countries participating in the programme in this component.

Svitlana Shytikova, Coordinator of the National Erasmus+ Office in Ukraine, notes that this may be the result of greater attention being paid to Ukrainian higher education institutions and, at the same time, an increase in their capacity to take advantage of Erasmus+ opportunities.

The 20 projects selected this year aim to modernise educational programmes in many areas, including energy efficiency, political science, foreign languages, ecology, and digital transformation.

6 Ukrainian universities are project coordinators. In particular, the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) will lead the project ‘Socially Oriented Learning in Higher Education for the Restoration of Ukraine’. In addition to UCU, the consortium includes Dnipro Polytechnic University, Sumy State University, and three universities from Italy, Germany and Belgium. The project also has eight associate partners, including Ukrainian state and local authorities.

Socially oriented learning is a world-renowned, innovative educational approach to increase the civic engagement of students and teachers and create positive social change in the process of learning. For several years, UCU has been implementing this methodology in its educational process, cooperating with foreign and Ukrainian partners, and organising international events.

What will be new for the UCU, however, is the role of the Consortium Coordinator in the Erasmus+ programme.