Ukraine/ 4.2 Specific policy issues and recent debates  

4.2.8 Social cohesion and cultural policies

There are special programmes directed at the development of participation and social cohesion in each region, in the form of arts festivals, meetings and reviews. In most cases, funding for these events is derived from regional or local budgets. As a rule, key actors are civil society organisations and state-owned institutions.

Some good examples are internet centres in small towns and villages, opened with the support of international projects, which are accessible to all groups and are mainly free of charge.

On 24 December 2012, the Development Centre "Democracy through Culture" carried out interactive training on "Innovative approaches in development strategies of local communities" held in Lutsk. The training was addressed to cultural managers, chiefs of cultural and educational institutions, local media. Participants presented realised projects and ideas for new initiatives in 2013. In particular, interesting presentations were provided by Yuriy Moklytsia (Theatre out of Theatre), Maia Moskvych (Festival "Banderstadt"), Olga Hrytsiuk (Festival "Straw Bird"), Olena Khadzhyhlova (Jazz Festival), Maryna Khromykh (Festival of Ideas an Ethno-Camp), Nina Bocharova (librarian initiatives) and other. Tetiana Hnativ, chief of the city's cultural department, told about municipal cultural policy for 2013 which envisaged grant support for NGOs and initiatives promoting social cohesion through arts projects.

Responding to an increase in the number of suspected racially motivated attacks in Ukraine that began in December 2006, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Amnesty International (AI) and other concerned civil society organisations formed the Diversity Initiative network in April 2007 to begin addressing the issue in a coordinated way.

The Diversity Initiative strives to uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants, refugees and visible minorities in Ukraine. It currently includes over 65 organisations from the international, civil, corporate, and government sectors as well as diplomatic missions and interested individuals.

Kyiv National Shevchenko University is the first academic institution that has introduced formally a course on cultural diversity.

The Ministry of Culture, jointly with the Development Centre "Democracy through Culture" and the Council of Europe, conducted a set of seminars in 2012 for Ukrainian cultural administrators on the regional and local level to introduce practical recommendations from the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue into current policies (see also chapter 3.4.1 and chapter 4.2.7).

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