Restoring community and environment in northern Ukraine

“Working in Ukraine is harder now due to the Russian war, but I believe there is always a silver lining,” says Serhiy Bezborodko, head of Eco Misto Chernihiv, a civil society organisation in northern Ukraine that is promoting sustainable development by engaging locals in environmentally friendly activities. “When bad things happen, we find ways to fix them.”

He relates that on 17 April 2024, there was a Russian missile attack on the very centre of Chernihiv city, and the epicentre of the explosion was only a hundred metres from Eco Misto’s offices.

“Our equipment was damaged, and our doors and windows were broken. Yet, within an hour of the attack, we had a dozen volunteers showing up and helping us clean up. We restored everything that same day so we could organise an eco-workshop in our offices. We even recycled the broken glass.”

Inspired by revolution

Eco Misto Chernihiv was born out of grassroots activism following Ukraine’s 2014 EuroMaidan, known as the Revolution of Dignity, which led to major transformations on the national and local levels, as national reforms pushed for more transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement.

Serhiy is originally from Chernihiv, but he was at the time living in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. As a participant in the protests, he was eager to continue with the transformations that the Revolution unleashed. He returned to his native Chernihiv – a city of just a quarter of a million residents and 60km away from the border with both Russia and Belarus.

“The first thing we did was pick up litter in the forest,” Serhiy recalls. “Every weekend, my friends and I picked up litter and this activity then grew into a mission to transform the city.”

“We did not think of the challenges lying ahead. We wanted to improve things instead of waiting for someone else to do it for us. Seeing these transformations motivated us hugely, especially when we see the support we get from young people.”

By 2016, the group had formalised its efforts, registering an NGO focusing on ecology and urban improvement. They tackled waste sorting and recycling, organised environmental workshops for children, and introduced eco-friendly practices in local communities.

In the decade of its existence, the organisation has held almost 550 community events and revitalised seven public spaces, making them inclusive and ecological.

“As an organisation, we’ve been transforming our city with every activity, improving the quality of life and strengthening community engagement,” says Serhiy.

Renewing the work after the full-scale war

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 marked a turning point for the organisation. “Our operations were upended,” Serhiy admits.

Thousands of residents left the city in the early days of Russia’s invasion as Chernihiv came under siege throughout February and March of 2022. While Russia withdrew from the area in the following months, the city is still targeted by missiles. One of the organisation’s primary facilities in the campus of Chernihiv Polytechnic University was damaged by shelling and many environmental practices had to be paused due to security concerns. One member of the small team of nine joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Serhiy realised that they had to rethink the organisation’s approach. “We had to adapt and rebuild ourselves. The European Endowment for Democracy (EED) provided us with long-term institutional support, so we’ve been able to renew our organisation and focus on activities and strategies relevant during the war,” he says.

The team launched new initiatives that made sense for the residents given the security situation. These include the #BikesForUkraine project.

“With the start of the invasion, bicycles became essential,” Serhiy explains. With public transport disrupted, bicycles provided mobility for displaced persons, social workers, and volunteers. The organisation has since distributed over 750 bicycles across Chernihiv and de-occupied areas in the region.

Eco Misto is now advocating for policies to promote cycling. Public events and educational campaigns demonstrate how cycling benefits everyone, from individual commuters to the broader urban ecosystem. Serhiy envisions Chernihiv as a model ‘bike city’ for Ukraine, leveraging current challenges as opportunities.

Beyond infrastructure projects, the team prioritises education. Initiatives like ‘Tops to Toys’ teach children the value of recycling through creativity.

“Children in the kindergarten bring us lids and tops from the water bottles and we give them toys and other fun and useful things made from the recycled plastic. This motivates the children and teaches them about sorting and recycling waste from a very young age,” says Serhiy.

Rooted in the community

Eco Misto Chernihiv has maintained engagement with schools and universities, adapting to wartime realities.

Today, Eco Misto operates as a social enterprise, initiating and supporting environmental solutions in the Chernihiv area. It launched a ‘Startup and Innovation Centre’ and the ‘Peremoha Lab at the Chernihiv Polytechnic National University’, a meeting space for researchers and creative individuals to collaborate in interdisciplinary projects that benefit the community.

The coming months will see the opening of ‘Velokukhnya’, or ‘Bike Kitchen’, a social kitchen that will double as a cultural hub. The team also runs the ‘Urban Studio’, a project renovating public spaces with the involvement of students.

“With the EED’s support, we launched a new project called ‘City Workshop’,” Serhiy says. “It is a crowdfunding platform through which other civil society organisations and small enterprises can raise funds for their own projects. We’re not just about ecology now. We are building an ecosystem of innovation and resilience locally, which is something badly needed in times of war and uncertainty.”

“Our team — consisting of students, volunteers, and local partners — embodies a shared determination to rebuild. Even at a time of war, it is possible to do great things in a small city, and to bring good news to your local community. That’s our philosophy: ‘If not us, then who?’,” he says.

Eco Misto Chernihiv received support from the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), an independent, grant-making organisation, established in 2013 by the European Union and EU member states as an autonomous International Trust Fund to foster democracy in the European Neighbourhood, the Western Balkans, Turkey and beyond.

EED supports civil society organisations, pro-democracy movements, civic and political activists, and independent media platforms and journalists working towards a pluralistic, democratic political system.

The EED was established by the EU as an independent, complementary mechanism to provide fast and flexible technical and financial support to democratisation and human rights promotion in the European Neighbourhood.

The original story was published by the European Endowment for Democracy