GURTCommUniqUe July 2015

GURT Resource Centre

is the leading national centre for societal information

and expertise. Since 1995 we have been committed to better Ukraine through

strengthening civil society. GURT exists for conscious and successful Ukraine where civil society ensures dignity,

confidence, and trust among citizens at local and national levels. GURT plays a role of the communication, knowledge

and resource platform for active citizens – agents of societal change from all regions of Ukraine.

FaCT

s •The number of GURT web-portal registered users has grown by 17%.

•GURT web-portal unites the largest civil society constituency that is 14 800 registered users.

•The number of GURT’s Facebook subscribers has reached 9200 people.

•The number of GURT’s Twitter followers has increased to 4050 people.

GURT Resource Centre, 2015 1

sUCCesses and HiGHliGHTs 2015

support of small and mediumentrepreneurship In order to support those who have responsibility and

inspiration to change their lives, GURT develops small

and medium entrepreneurship in Ukraine and imple-

ments projects “Development of Small Entrepreneur-

ship in Small Rural Communities in Ukraine” and “De-

velopment of Women Entrepreneurship in Ukraine”. In

2015 GURT has provided consultancy and small grants

for setting up a business for 36 entrepreneurs from

rural communities in Cherkasy, Kirovograd, Kyiv, and

Zhytomyr oblasts.

improvement of vocational educationin Ukraine At the end of 2014 GURT stated the implementation of the

project “Public-private partnership to improve sanitary

education in Ukraine” funded by Swiss Cooperation Of-

fice Ukraine and Geberit International Sales AG. The proj-

ect goal is to contribute to improvement of the VET in-

stitutions capacity to offer market-oriented, practical

and up to date education in the field of sanitary educa-

tion in Ukraine. New educational standards and plumb-

er training curricula were drafted in partnership with the

Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine in 2015.

GURT Radio – alternative civil societyaudio channel GURT Radio – an alternative online audio resource for civil

society development in Ukraine – is designed to broad-

cast high quality societal content and promote active citi-

zenship. In 2015 we had launched 8 new radio programs

that have presented funding and capacity building op-

portunities for CSOs, provided legal advice to CSOs, and

shared success stories of social entrepreneurs.

GURT web-portal:an influential civil society media In 2015 GURT continued to transform GURT Portal into

civil society media and communication platform for

CSOs and community leaders. During the first half-an-

nual period, GURT Portal has moved from 25th to

19th position in Bigmir.net rate of internet-portals in

Ukraine.

Key aCTiviTies

start and improve your Business Training ProgramIn order to strergthen the Ukrainian communities and decrease the unemployment in all regions of Ukraine through

development of entrepreneurial skills and self-employment GURT implemented projects “Development of the Small

Entrepreneurship in Ukrainian Rural Communities” and “Development of Women Entrepreneurship in Ukraine”.

In 2015, GURT conducted trainings “Start Your Business” and “Improve Your Business” for more than 80 entrepre-

neurs. “Participation in the project inspired me to start my own business. I learned how to manage my time effectively

and not to be afraid of trying new things. Another interesting fact is that the business game pushed me to find myself

in another business sphere – in photoart”, – Olesia Makovei, participant of the project “Development of Women

Entrepreneurship in Ukraine”.

nGo Connection day 2015NGO Connection Day 7, organized by Microsoft Ukraine and GURT Resource Centre, took place on April 10, 2015 in

Kyiv. The key topics of the event, besides information technologies, were successful practices of CSOs in the area

of national defense, reforms and European integration of Ukraine.

NGO Connection Day 7 brought together more than 100 executives and managers of national and regional non-for-profits.

youthspark live 2015On April 25, 2015 GURT organized YouthSpark Live.

Over 100 young people have planned their future in the

sphere of IT with the assistance of Microsoft Corporation

and GURT Resource Centre. In addition to that, the par-

ticipants shared their experience and received mentors’

support for the positive changes in both Ukraine and the

whole world.

Nadia Vasylieva, General Manager of Microsoft Ukraine, Yaroslav Kashuba, Head of State Employment Service of

Ukraine, Sergiy Savchuk, National Coordinator of International Labour Organization in Ukraine and Bohdan Maslych,

GURT Executive Director shared their perspectives of youth employment in order to assist participants in setting their

targets in employment, career in IT and entrepreneurship.

Global day of Citizen actionOn May 16, 2015, Ukraine for the first time joined Global

Day of Citizen Action. This event was initiated by CIVICUS

World Alliance for Citizen Participation, and took place

simultaneously in more than 55 countries of the world.

People around the world were sharing their views on

`civic space’ - the freedoms of expression, association

and assembly. GURT organized the Global Day of Citi-

zen Action. providing platform to connect people from

across the Ukraine, through the sharing of stories, skills and lessons learned. GURT engaged around 1500 ordinary

GURT Resource Centre, 20152

citizens by asking them whether they feel free to speak out, organise and take action. We interacted with citizens

in an easy way that allowed them to give their opinion on `civic space’ and allowed to create awareness about their

citizen’s rights.

Global Day of Citizen Action in Ukraine was heldin 10 oblasts such as Vinnytsya, Dnipropetrovs’k, Zaporizhzhya,

Kirovograd, Kyiv, Odessa, Poltava, Cherkassy and Sumy. To organize Global Day of Citizen Action GURT involved 14

regional partners and 130 volunteers.

GURT Radio CampGURT Radio Camp was held on June 18–19, 2015. 20 civic

journalists from different regions of Ukraine got an ap-

partunity to improve their skills in producing multimedia

success stories and learned more about community de-

velopment in Ukraine. As a result, 10 multimedia success

stories of entrepreneurs supported by GURT Resource

Centre have been created.

GURT Business Camp GURT Business Camp that took place on June 19–20, 2015 in Kiev, gathered together 100 entrepreneurs, community

and CSO leaders, representatives of governmental authorities, and donor organizations. They shared perspectives

of social and economic community development, presented successful cases of setting up social start-ups in Ukrainian

communities, and developed joint projects in order to make their communities more prosperous. “If someone asks me

about criteria for a successful societal project, I usually say that it is crucial that the project has the potential to exist

after we stop providind financial support. Exactly, this potential has been demonstrated at GURT Business Camp”, –

commented Vitaliy Fedchuk, Corporate Engagement Lead at Monsanto Ukraine

open space “People and money: Receipts for Community development”A one day conference in open space format “People and Money: Receipts for Community Development” took place

on July 20, 2015 in Kyiv. 60 representatives of small businesses, local communities, governmental authorities and

civil society organizations during one day of intense work drafted 8 projects aimed at economic and social devel-

opment of Ukrainian communities.

Community development study visits to Kyiv oblastWithin the project “Social infrastructure empowerment” funded by Ukrainian Social Investment Fund, GURT has orga-

nized 3 study visits “Community Development Models” to Kyiv oblast for over 60 representatives of rural commu-

nities from Lviv, Kirovograd and Vinnytsya oblasts.

During the study visits successful community development cases of Borodyanka community and Novyy Korogod com-

munity of Kyiv oblast have been presented. Events included meetings with community leaders and local authorities,

presentation of community development plans and successful local project as well as a training session “Community

development models in Kyiv oblast”.

GURT Resource Centre, 2015 3

PaRTneRs and donoRs

�e Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation

GURT Resource Centre, 2015

ConTaCTs

52 Popudrenka St., office 609, Kyiv, 02660, Ukraine

Phone / Fax: +38 044 296 1052

E-mail: info@gurt.org.ua

GURT in Ukrainian: www.gurt.org.ua

GURT in English: global.gurt.org.ua