Ukraine

The Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCCG), established in 1994, works towards promoting restorative social transformation in Ukraine: away from post-Soviet alienation and disempowerment and towards a culture of democratic participation and cooperation. Informing all of UCCG's work is our vision of transforming the country by cultivating the Ukrainians' personal stake in their future. UCCG does this primarily by promoting the attitudes and skills necessary for Ukrainians to identify and solve their problems and conflicts in a peaceful and non-adversarial way.

In addition to the economic and legal havoc wrought by the disintegration of the centrally planned Soviet government, that state's collapse left Ukraine without a functioning civil society. Soviet control over people's actions was removed, but no individual capacity for cooperative problem solving or conflict resolution replaced it.

Restorative Justice Initiative

UCCG has launched the Restorative Justice Initiative to develop and institutionalize the movement to reform the judicial sector in Ukraine. This pilot project is being supported by European Commission, British Embassy in Ukraine and the Institute for Sustainable Communities and has been financed for three years (2003-2005).

The initiative seeks to introduce Restorative Justice into the Ukrainian Legal System by developing a cadre of specialists able to advance the project and pilot the Victim-Offender Mediation Program. This team of specialists is designing and developing a model applicable to the Ukrainian legal system, and once developed, will implement and institutionalize relevant models into the legal system to supplement the existing system. The pilot project is now implemented in Kyiv in partnership with The Supreme Court of Ukraine, Academy of Judges, Ministry of Justice and General Prosecution Academy. This provides better opportunities for UCCG and Ukrainian Legal System officials to evaluate and monitor the process. The project is divided into five phases and run over three years.

Learn more about the Restorative Justice Initiative...

Radio: Conflict Resolution Drama

A conflict prevention radio drama for young adults in Crimea has been produced in 2002. Designed to model new ways of working together across social and ethnic lines, the radio drama Nasha Ulitsa created in collaboration with the Youth and Children Theatre on Moskoltso, depicts the complexities of conflict centered around everyday pressures on young adults, including school, drugs, parents, relationships, friends, government and religion.

In 2002 The Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground produced 13 pilot episodes of Nasha Ulitsa. It is the first radio drama produced specifically for young adults, aged 14-21, in Crimea. The series was created in collaboration with the inter-ethnic drama troupe, Youth and Children Theatre on Moskoltso. In winter 2002 the 13-episode pilot series aired on Russian Radio and Gala Radio (Simferopol).

Learn more about Radio: Conflict Resolution Drama...

Crimean Dialogue

Economic, social and political instability are unfortunately still commonplace in the former Soviet Union. Search for Common Ground, Brussels and the Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground have cooperated with government, labor, the private sector, donor organizations, and other NGO's to improve community and ethnic relations in Crimea.

During the Soviet era, Crimean Tatars and many other smaller ethnic groups were deported en masse to Central Asia. The return of these formerly deported minority peoples adds considerably to the typical post-Soviet strains on an already fragile social and economic infrastructure. Although many people in Crimea will claim to live peaceably with their neighbors, their protests are reminiscent of those made in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia in the early 1990's. As of yet, thankfully, there has not been a catalyzing force for violence on the Peninsula. However, this parallel should not go unnoticed and demands intervention.

Learn more about the Crimean Dialogue...

Problem Solving Education Initiative

Confidence, communication and cooperation are learned behaviours, not innate human capabilities. In this post-Soviet period of transition, we must teach the generation the skills they need to gain control over their own lives. In the process, we want to create a culture of cooperative problem solving -- not confrontation.

The Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground has done in the past a number of projects developing Peer Mediation programs for high school and piloting them and have received very positive feedback from the Ukrainian educational authorities. UCCG has been training Ukrainian educators in Peer Mediation Systems development and methodology in Odessa, Crimea, Vinnitsa, Sumy, Kyiv and Mariupol, sometimes supervising the following process of systems development, when there is an interest on behalf of school authorities.

Learn more about Problem Solving Education Initiative...

Conflict Resolution and Prevention Network

This Ukrainian/Russian-language Web-based conflict resolution resource "Conflict Resolution Practice - from Competitiveness to Cooperation" was created and could be found at www.commonground.org.ua. The goal of the web site is to provide information on cooperative approaches to conflicts and existing practices and methodologies in conflict resolution. It also includes news, an on-line library, glossary, and links to other Internet resources in conflict resolution, as well as a forum for both specialists and a wider audience interested in conflict resolution. This new web site will be particularly useful for non-English speakers in NIS countries, providing information in Ukrainian and Russian. There are more than 6500 hits registered since August 2003. As may be seen from the following diagram most of the web-site visitors interested in CR news and publications in Russian and Ukrainian are from former Soviet Union countries.

Learn more about Conflict Resolution Prevention Network...