The Agency for Private Initiative Development has completed an evaluation of youth initiatives that provide specific measures to engage residents in using the potential of their communities' cultural heritage for local development purposes.

Preparing full project proposals was a homework assignment following the training for youth leaders on June 23-26, 2021 in Yaremche. Nineteen out of twenty training participants completed the task, submitting their own initiatives to the competition, which specified the project concepts submitted at the first stage of the program.

We are grateful to all participating CSOs who made efforts to unite stakeholders in their communities, finalized the concepts of their own initiatives, and submitted full project application forms. Below is a list of the submitted initiatives, where the top five are those that received the highest number of points according to the evaluation results and which ARPI plans to support with microgrants for co-financing from the NED fund.

1. Public organization "Nadvirna Tourist Information Center" (Nadvirna, Ivano-Frankivsk region). Initiative Volunteer Laboratory for the Salvation of the Heritage of Krasnodvir Castle
2. Charitable organization "Artistic Colors" (Pryluky, Chernihiv region). Initiative Creation of a Virtual Tour of the Pryluky Fortress of the 17th-18th Centuries
3. Public organization "Transformation" (Bilozersk TG, Kherson region). Initiative Cultural Heritage Festival Kizim Yushka Fest
4. Charitable organization Charitable Fund "Heritage.UA" (Novyi Rozdil, Lviv region. Initiative Novyi Rozdil - a city born of sulfur
5. Public organization "Mamont Family" (Ponornytsia community, Chernihiv region). Initiative Mamont Fest Festival - a business card of the Ponornytsia community
6. Public organization "Wellbeing Together" (Kuyalnytsia community, Odessa region). Initiative Promotion of the cultural heritage of the Kuyalnytsia territorial community through the presentation of the cultural phenomenon of the lyre making era
7. Charitable organization "Charitable Fund "Help Center "GARANT" (Rohan community, Kharkiv region). Initiative Interactive information stands "Rohan Tourist"
8. Public organization "Tourist Association "Hutsuliya" (Kosiv, Ivano-Frankivsk region). Initiative Kosiv painted ceramics in the design code of the city as a tool for cultural transformation of the community
9. Public organization "InSource Initiative Development Center" (Kremenetsk community, Ternopil region). Initiative Kremenechyna historical through the eyes of youth
10. Youth public organization "Vector" (Zhydachiv city, Lviv region). Initiative Zhydachiv Cultural Code: we discover, interpret, develop
11. Public organization "Perspective Sustainable Development Platform" (Novoselyvka community, Poltava region). Initiative Heritage - a hidden treasure of the community
12. Public organization "Yakymivka living room" (Yakymivka village, Zaporizhia region) Initiative Museum courtyard in Yakymivka - a center of youth cohesion and attractiveness for community guests
13. Charitable organization "Oleshka community fund named after Sofia Falz-Fein" (Oleshka community, Kherson region). Initiative Oleshkivskiy Pisky – a unique natural heritage for a happy future
14. Public organization “Liyka” (village of Rayivka, Dnipropetrovsk region). Initiative On the Paths of the Past of Our Land
15. Public organization “Magic Runes” (city of Zvanivka, Donetsk region). Initiative Interpretation of the Zvanivka Heritage
16. NGO “Brotherhood of Princes Ostrohsky” (city of Ostroh, Rivne region). Initiative Novomalynsky Castle: activation
17. Rohatyn Society of Plast Guardians “Dobrodiy” (city of Rohatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk region). Initiative Skarby Opillya
18. Charitable Foundation “Baryshivska Grain Company” (village of Chornukha, Poltava region). Initiative Skovorodynivskyi Region
19. Public organization “Kalush Tourist” (village of Piylo, Kalush community, Ivano-Frankivsk region). Initiative: Through the mouths of old residents, the memory of the village is revived

The Youth Initiatives Program is ongoing. Its participants are also developing plans for interpreting the heritage of target communities, and the supported initiatives will, in fact, become the first brick in their implementation, as most of them offer measures to increase the activity of the community population, primarily young people, to help them understand the role and importance of local heritage, and increase their motivation to participate in local heritage interpretation activities.

For detailed information on the development of the Youth Initiatives Program, follow the web and FB pages of the Agency for the Development of Private Initiatives.

ARPI is sincerely grateful to all declared CSOs and initiative groups for their interest in the heritage of their communities and their desire to act thoughtfully and thoughtfully towards its salvation and prosperity and will definitely meet with everyone at the youth initiative forum that will be held at the end of the project.

The program is implemented within the framework of the project “Heritage for Development-II: Increasing the Management Capacity of Small Communities of Ukraine through Youth Involvement” with co-financing from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The project is a continuation of the previous ARPI initiative with the support of the NED “Heritage for Development: Increasing Public Participation in the Preservation and Use of the Heritage Potential of Local Communities” and aims to attract the potential of youth and provide young community leaders with the skills of smart management of heritage potential in the interests of local development, as well as create opportunities for them to implement their own creative initiatives in their communities. More information about the project is available here https://cutt.ly/ax5yqOs.