Ukraine

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.

We have established two mediation groups in Crimea and have worked to bring together diverse local groups to resolve issues and concrete problems of common concern (unemployment, citizenship, ecology, discrimination, religious-based issues, etc.) Our work in Crimea involves the use of problem solving skills, which, while second nature in the West, are lacking in post-soviet Ukraine. The main methodology for our work in the region is to facilitate group discussions followed by cooperative action in communities. Majority of communities we worked in formed long-lasting Local Working Groups to implement specific projects addressing burning issues of their community. Today most of them partner with us in promoting victim-offender mediation programs as part of their community-based conflict resolution activities.

In addition to the work of the Local Working Groups, we are expanding our conflict prevention tools by developing small projects involving the Crimean youth, such as Peace Camps focused on the Crimean multi-ethnic heritage and aimed at developing cultural diversity management skills. Furthermore, drawing from our experiences in "reconciliation radio" in Africa, the Balkans and in the United States, we have also developed a radio soap opera Nasha Ulitsa to address issues of inter-ethnic understanding for the Crimea region and model new ways of working together across social and ethnic lines.

Community Dialogue 2002 - 2003

In 2002 - 2003 twenty-eight (28) Local Working Group (LWG) meetings have been held in 10 regions of Crimea, as opposed to the initial plan, which proposed 18 meetings. Only these meetings were conducted with the help of trained facilitators and UCCG in order to build the group and help it arrive at the appropriate plan for community initiatives serving the needs of each community. Much more meetings were held by LWG's on their own during the initiatives implementation stage and some still keep meeting. In addition to Discussion Group Meetings, UCCG trainers have provided 2 mediations over land issues in Krasnogvardeyskoe region, one Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Skills training workshop for Local government and Mejlise representatives in the same region, and 2 facilitations with their LWG upon their request.

Each Local Working Group has generated more than one initiative that was implemented in its region. Modest financial support has been provided to 8 of them, when requested. Our 2002 report provides more details on concrete initiatives in each region. As one LWG attendee from Ukrainka village Irina Kamilova stated: "Discussion Group Meetings has opened our eyes to the fact that we actually can do something together for our own community without waiting for somebody to do this for us..." We believe that such an impact is the most important outcome of the Community Dialogue that proves the effectiveness of our approach and the need to continue the project and spread the work to other communities.

The Final report on Crimea Dialogue, describing the methodology and results of the project has been published in Russian for distribution to the interested parties.