On the second weekend of April the IFLRY Belarus and Ukraine Programme held a seminar on the topic “Ukraine and the EU” in Kyiv, Ukraine. The seminar was attended by 18 youth activists from Ukraine and Belarus, with a special focus on participants from Eastern Ukraine. Speakers and trainers included Ukrainian and international experts, among them Robert Farla, International Officer of the Dutch liberal party D66.
“The main idea of the event was to discuss European Integration of Ukraine and the actual political situation with our partners on the ground. Of course the trainings also included a learning momentum for the youth-activists but more important is that the IFLRY Programme had the chance to communicate with local activists from Eastern Ukraine and get a better inside on how to support processes for democratization and stabilization in the coming months”, says Daniel George, IFLRY Belarus and Ukraine Programme Manager.
IFLRY is grateful to the support of the International Democratic Initiative (IDI) and D66 for their extensive support that made this event possible.
Daniel George is positive that IFLRY will further increase its activities in Ukraine in the upcoming months: “We have several events and projects in the pipeline and will also aim to increase cooperation between Ukrainian and Belarusian organizations. With the new government in Kyiv we see a chance for actual cooperation with official structures for the first time in years. This was underlined during a very constructive meeting with the new head of the Youth Department at the Ukrainian Ministry of Youth and Sports that local contacts facilitated for the seminar.”
Upcoming training event on Political Ideology and Theory in Vilnius
Between May 30 and June 2 the IFLRY Belarus and Ukraine Programme will host a training event on “Political Ideology and Theory” in Vilnius. The event is open for Belarusian and Ukrainian youth activists. The Belarus and Ukraine Programme already organizes this kind of training for the third time.
The training will use an extensive participatory method to introduce youth activists to the fundamentals of a modern democratic statehood such as the rule of law and liberal democracy and furthermore focus on the essentials of liberal ideology and the differences to other common political ideologies.
Moreover the event also provides the opportunity for activists from different organizations and backgrounds to exchange opinions and network with each other.
The IFLRY Belarus Programme extends its gratitude to the D66 Democraten of the Netherlands and their International Democratic Initiative (IDI) for extensively supporting this training.
Detailed information can be found under http://www.liberal-belarus.org. For questions please contact the Belarus and Ukraine Programme Manager Daniel George (daniel.george@iflry.org).