The war taught us to be brave. Especially in what we doubted even in peaceful life – whether it will succeed or not, whether it is expedient or not, interesting or not interesting. After all, as a creative team, we continue to produce innovations and unite bright and proactive people who share European values ​​​​for the preservation of cultural and natural heritage. And our everyday experience in war conditions, oddly enough, confirms that the "iron" logic of the principle from dream to action - works now more than ever.

Therefore, we invite you to participate in our program to support young and creative people – those who strive to save the cultural heritage for the completeness of the colorful picture of the future and protect this heritage from the brutal impact of war!

The Youth Initiatives Support Program is implemented by the Agency for Private Initiative Development (ARPI) and the Ukrainian CSO Network for Support of Heritage Communities GoHeritage! with co-financing from the NED Democracy Endowment (USA).

Leaders of youth CSOs[1] of Ukraine are invited to participate in the program, including students, teachers, local historians, experts in the history and culture of local communities, technologists, writers, other creative individuals and more[2].

The goal of the program: to involve youth in communities in the rescue and preservation of cultural heritage that is suffering from war or is out of the attention of society in order to increase its value, recognition and popularization of such heritage in local, national or international dimensions.

Program objectives

1. Support youth initiative groups in the protection and preservation of local heritage and Ukrainian identity by strengthening the communication and advocacy skills of CSO teams;

2. Strengthening youth participation initiatives and providing sub-grants for selected ones and their implementation.

Initiatives must be implemented at the level of one or more local communities of Ukraine (except for communities in temporarily occupied territories). It is expected to support no more than one initiative in a particular community.

The program includes three stages: 1) submission of concepts of CSO initiatives that meet the program's objectives; 2) a course on communications and advocacy for CSO representatives who submitted the best concepts, finalization of ideas and preparation of full project application forms; 3) implementation and grant support for selected initiatives.

Stage 1. Submission of the concept of the initiative

It is necessary to submit the concept of the idea by December 30, 2022, by filling out the application at this link https://forms.gle/18H3kjtfpYGXUKNr8.

For ease of preparation and filling - the application in word format is available at the link https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F8Lhc0iCbUCZqskSbOcgvAqk1nuOQwxp/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=109332627542289285224&rtpof=true&sd=true.

The application must include:

· a letter from the CSO regarding the intention to participate in the program (in any form);

· a resume (link to the profile in social networks) of the proposed participant of the program.

· Letters of support from potential partners: local governments, state authorities and CSOs of relevant territorial communities, etc. - are welcome, but not mandatory.

Based on the results of the evaluation, no more than 20 initiative concepts will be selected.

The selection results will be announced on January 20, 2023.

 

Stage 2. Civic Heritage Camp for civic activists, authors of the best concepts

After the specified date, 20 representatives of CSOs who submitted selected concepts will be invited to the Civic Heritage Camp intensive training, aimed at refining the submitted concepts and "upgrading" the skills of citizen engagement, communication and advocacy (civic representation) to save cultural heritage in crisis conditions. The experience gained will help the camp participants not only prepare and implement effective projects, but also contribute to the systematic involvement of community residents in the preservation of cultural heritage and strengthening the impact of cultural heritage on the development of communities and territories.

The approximate time of the educational camp is February - March 2023. The exact dates of the course will be announced after the completion of the 1st stage of the program.

Stage 3. Grant support and implementation of selected initiatives

Based on the experience and knowledge gained during the course, participants will be able to prepare and submit revised project proposals for their initiatives for sub-grants with the participation of creative groups of local residents, primarily youth, and other stakeholders, such as local authorities, philanthropists, educators, bloggers, etc.

The announcement of the submission of project proposals will be published in March - April 2023 after the training. Submission of full project proposals is expected in April 2023. The exact timeframe for submission of proposals will be announced after the completion of the activities of stage 2 of the program.

Based on the results of the evaluation of the submitted project proposals, the participants who scored the highest number of points will be provided with sub-grants to the relevant CSOs for the implementation of the relevant initiatives. The maximum size of the sub-grant in hryvnias is equivalent to 2,000 US dollars at the interbank rate at the time of transfer of tranches to the sub-grantee. A total of 5 subgrants are planned to be provided within the framework of the program.

Subgrant projects must be implemented by the end of August 2023.

Subgrants may, in particular, but not exclusively, support the following activities:

Activities that communicate to specific target groups the role and significance of community heritage in local, national and international dimensions (contexts):

· performative presentation events (theatrical performances, thematic camps, mini-reconstructions of eras);

· events for children, including the development and testing of methods and programs of education through knowledge of cultural heritage: children's theater, video projects, thematic web pages, books, game methods, etc.;

· school or student debate tournaments (in the state and, if necessary, in foreign languages);

· preparation, publication and distribution of printed publications or audiobooks thereof;

· digitization of archives of tangible and intangible heritage (for example, songs, stories, applied craft techniques or labor cultures, etc.);

· inventory (recording, description and translation) of authentic techniques of applied, visual, performative, choreographic, vocal art (creation of text, audio and video projects, etc.);

· initiatives of CSOs forcibly displaced from occupied territories or areas of active hostilities, aimed at preserving and popularizing the cultural heritage of their communities. "Live" or online events to present the cultural heritage and local identity of communities, etc. are welcome

· improvement of heritage sites: (restoration of buildings or interiors, arrangement of monuments, libraries, museums, etc., public meetings);

· creation of means of heritage interpretation (stands, thematic locations, photo zones, costumes for amateur theaters and performances, uniforms of local guides, etc.).

The following cannot be financed:

· projects of a political nature (activities of political parties, deputies, village, city), election campaigns;

· commercial projects aimed at making a profit;

· salaries of CSO employees;

· activities/expenses incurred by CSOs before receiving a subgrant or after the end of the project implementation period;

· covering administrative expenses of CSOs and their expenses for paying for utility services;

· payment of penalties (penalties), administrative fines, compensation for damage (losses);

· events, the holding of which is limited under martial law (mass gatherings, rallies, movement of cars in convoys, etc.).

If you have any questions, write a personal message on the page of the Agency for the Development of Private Initiative on Facebook or contact the email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

The program is implemented within the framework of the project “Heritage Advocates: Supporting and Promoting Local Youth Initiative Groups” with co-financing from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The project is a continuation and strengthening of the results of the ARPI activities with the support of the NED. Thanks to these projects, a number of changes were introduced to strategic policy documents and the scope for CSO involvement in the preservation and management of cultural heritage was expanded. From 2019 to 2022, the network leaders prepared cultural and natural heritage interpretation plans for 18 communities from 13 regions of Ukraine, and also achieved significant progress in involving community residents in the preservation of local histories, antiquities, and in the revitalization of “communal” castles and palaces.

 

[1] CSOs are civil society organizations registered under the laws of Ukraine as a legal entity in the form of a public association (public organization, public union) or charitable organization and included in the Register of Non-Profit Institutions and Organizations (non-profitability sign 0032 or 0036).

[2]This list is exhaustive - it is important that program participants are motivated to participate in all its cycles and take an active part in the generation, development, implementation of ideas and further advocacy for the heritage of their communities.