In August, the ‘Together We Act. Together We Are Europe’ campaign, dedicated to the EU’s support for civil society and independent media in Ukraine, came to an end. Over the course of three months, various public activities were undertaken with the participation of diplomats, government officials, civil society actors, and journalists.

In particular, five TogetherWeAct fests were held in Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Vinnytsia and Cherkasy.

During the festivals, thematic interactive zones were set up for participants and guests, public discussions on the role of civil society and the media in reforming Ukraine and European integration, quests, and master classes for children and adults were held. Traditionally, the ‘Together We Act’ fests featured an exhibition on the work of EU-supported CSOs, which also toured Odesa and Mykolaiv in August.

The final event of the ‘Together We Act’ campaign took place in Kyiv, bringing together more than 100 representatives of civil society organisations and independent media supported by the European Union. Many of them were awarded special prizes.

The Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting was another key partner to receive an award. As well as carrying out major economic projects, the Institute runs EU-funded sub- grant programmes for local NGOs.

The EU, Ukrainian civil society and independent media continue to work together to pursue common goals.

From the end of July to the end of August, the ‘Young Ambassadors for Recovery’ workshops were organised by UNDP in Ukraine with financial support from the EU (under the EU4Recovery – Empowering Communities in Ukraine project) and the governments of Denmark and the Netherlands. The participants of the training developed leadership and civic engagement skills, as well as the capacity to engage in the recovery of their communities.

The workshops were held in Pervomaisk in Kharkiv region, Kamianske in Dnipro region, Voznesensk in Mykolaiv region, Nizhyn in Chernihiv region and the city of Sumy. Each workshop was attended by about 20 young people who were selected upon prior applications.

The workshops had not only a theoretical part, but also brought about practical results. During the training, the youth teams generated their own ideas and proposals, which they immediately pitched to local government officials for further possible implementation in the community.

Among the initiatives presented by young people in Pervomaisk, Arseniy Shopin, chairman of the Youth Council, liked the idea of opening a tertiary education institution in the community the most. After all, learning an occupation in the community- based environment is an incentive for young people to stay within the community, which would ultimately contribute to its economic growth.

According to the young leader, youth participation in the development of recovery plans is essential.

In Voznesensk, the young people presented the ideas elaborated during the workshop to the secretary of the city council, Viktoriya Baltser.

“The city council pays a lot of attention to youth engagement in decision-making and active participation in community life,” she says, “Since youth are a source of new ideas and perspectives, and a new vision. And if young people are energetic and proactive, it means they connect their future with our community, want to stay here, get married, study, and work.”

Among the ideas introduced during the workshop, Viktoriya considers the creation of a youth news channel, most likely on one of the social media platforms, to be both interesting and realistic.

According to her, the municipal authorities could at least help prepare a high-quality funding application for training and acquisition of the necessary hardware for content creation. They could also provide youth bloggers with access to activities of interest to young people.

In August, Kamianets-Podilskyi hosted another public event called Bazhan residency. Discussions like this are held by the residents, i.e. selected translators and poets who are working on their own projects in the city. This time, it was the writer Oleksandr Mymruk, and they discussed Bazhan’s works.

The Bazhan residency is organised annually by Translatorium, with the support of the European poetry platform Versopolis and funding from the EU’s Creative Europe programme. The artists-in-residence are engaged in writing or translating poetry, compiling collections, etc.

Bazhan residency was founded after the full-scale invasion had already begun. The organisers wanted to provide a relatively safe space for artists to work in, which is Kamianets-Podilskyi. This year’s residency lasts for four months, and the residents can work for a month on the ground in the city.

The Soviet-era poet and translator Mykola Bazhan was born in Kamianets-Podilskyi.

If we draw parallels with the war and the present day, Tanya Rodionova advises reading Bazhan’s poem ‘The Oath’, written during the World War II, which is actually a call to fight the enemy.

One of the last year’s Bazhan-residents was the poet and translator Iya Kiva.

Having extensive experience of residencies in many countries, Iya highly appreciates the organisation and opportunities for work at the Bazhan residency.

Five Ukrainian students took part in the Rule of Law Summer School in Georgia. It was organised by Georgia’s Ilia State University with the support of the EU Pravo-Justice project (Ukraine) and the USAID Rule of Law Program (Georgia).

The school was taught by lawyers and academics from the US, UK, EU, Ukraine and Georgia. The training combined theory and practical classes.

The EU Pravo-Justice Project provided expert and operational support to the summer school, including selection of Ukrainian students to participate in the programme, travel and accommodation in Tbilisi and Tsinandali.

In addition to lectures and practical work, Daria Slutska enjoyed communicating with Georgian students.

Sofiia Vydra, key expert of the Support to the EU Integration Process in the Justice Sector component of the EU Pravo-Justice project, says that since the beginning of this year,

the project has been focusing on a new area of support for legal education. It builds on previous efforts to provide law students with a better understanding of the role and place of the rule of law in the EU acquis.

Olha Sribniak, Deputy Team Leader of the Pravo-Justice project, was one of the lecturers at the school. She believes that both in the context of European integration and the development of justice institutions, it is important to maintain a common platform for new leaders working on the rule of law and human rights in Georgia and Ukraine.

More than 50 eco-activists took part in the Bottom-Up Camp in August. They talked about their vision for green recovery concepts, got insights into examples of successful community- based eco-projects, learned how to submit petitions to the authorities and how to unite people into communities.

The event was organised by Ecoaction with financial support from the EU, the German government and Bread for the World.

Among its participants there were local activists and spearhead group leaders, employees of national parks, community energy managers, CSO representatives, a head of a homeowners’ association, students, and volunteers. Certainly, there were also representatives of the expert community as coaches and organisers.

Camp participant Lidiya Savenko, chairman of the board of the Boyarka Community Foundation, once became involved in public activities exactly thanks to a successful campaign to establish a hazardous waste collection point in Boyarka.

And most of all, according to Lidiya, she enjoyed communicating with like-minded people about pressing environmental issues, such as green recovery.

Dariia Zhdanova also emphasises the value of communication between activists.

As a bonus, the participants of the Bottom-Up Camp were given the opportunity to take part in a call for mini-grants to implement environmental and climate action projects in their communities.

About 900 participants on the ZOOM platform and more Thus, the webinar participants analysed in detail the than 11,000 views on YouTube – this is the huge audience for a webinar on how to arrange catering in shelters located in schools. It was held in late August by the EU4SaferFood project in cooperation with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection and the School Nutrition Reform Team.

The urgency of the webinar topic is underscored by the current massive hostile attacks with prolonged air alerts. At the same time, the government has decided to focus on offline learning as much as possible, even in the current difficult conditions and challenging security outlook for this fall and next winter.

This is indeed a difficult task, as food in school sand kinder gartens must comply with regulations that have largely implemented EU standards. On the other hand, EU member states and their schools have not had the experience of learning in such extreme conditions as Ukraine is currently experiencing.

Thus, the webinar participants analysed in detail the requirements for nutrition in schools, while also discussing practical issues.

For example, in the event of a power outage, food remains safe for up to 4 hours in the refrigerator compartment, 48 hours in the full freezer compartment and 24 hours in the half-empty compartment with the refrigerator door closed. If there is a power outage for more than 4 hours, containers with frozen water should be placed in the refrigerator, or one can also use cool packs. Perishable foods should not be used for children if they have been stored in the refrigerator at a temperature above 5 degrees for 4 hours or more – this includes meat, poultry, fish and milk.