Ukraine

All Ukrainian Association of the Civic Organization “Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union” (UHHRU)
$46,190*
To publish the 2008 edition of its annual report on human rights in Ukraine. The report will be published in Ukrainian and English for distribution to government agencies; the domestic and international media; political parties; universities; domestic and international human rights NGOs; and international organizations such as the OSCE, Council of Europe and UN Committee on Human Rights.

All-Ukrainian Public Organization “Civic Network OPORA”
$36,370
To increase citizens’ involvement in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election. Opora will conduct a nonpartisan online campaign to mobilize Ukraine’s voters by explaining the principles of citizen involvement in the electoral process.

All-Ukrainian Public Organization “Women’s Choice”*
$39,590
To conduct a series of twelve one-day seminars for women deputies from local and regional legislatures from western and eastern Ukraine. Participants will be chosen through the Women’s Choice network, consisting of local leaders of Women’s Choice and other NGOs, deputies of local legislatures, and other prominent figures.

All-Ukrainian Youth Civic Organization “Young Rukh”
$50,000*
To conduct a year-long program of anti-corruption activities in Ukrainian universities. Young Rukh will monitor corruption at universities throughout Ukraine and carry out a nationwide information campaign against corruption in higher education.

American Center for International Labor Solidarity
$540,000
To support and strengthen the independent trade union movement in Ukraine so it can participate in the development of civil society and democracy. The Solidarity Center will support the implementation of a public campaign to increase awareness of the independent trade union movement and attract new members. In addition, the Solidarity Center will support activities designed to strengthen the role of women in trade union leadership, improve the capacity of local union leaders, and promote internationally recognized labor rights.

Association Spilnyi Prostir
$50,000
To foster greater media awareness in six regions of Ukraine - Rivne, Chernivtsi, Cherkasy, Sumy, Donetsk, Kherson - by organizing discussion groups in public libraries. The train-the-trainer format of these groups will eventually involve many thousands of Ukrainians. Spilnyi Prostir will also monitor media coverage of the 2010 presidential candidates, focusing on how candidates’ positions on key issue are covered in the Ukrainian media.

Bukovynian Center for American Studies
$35,900
To hold a course on the system of trial by jury. The Center’s course will impart both technical knowledge and a set of skills and attitudes desirable for the next generation of Ukraine’s leadership.

Center for Independent Political Research
$99,990*
To carry out four research projects on various aspects of democratic development, monitor the national legislature, propose amendments to legislation to bring it into line with democratic principles, develop a system for monitoring emerging political threats, and disseminate information to raise public and official awareness of key issues in the consolidation of Ukraine’s democracy.

Center for Independent Political Research
$27,590
To print nine issues of an analytical bulletin, Tviy Vybir-2010 (Your Vote-2010) to inform voters, analysts and citizens about the policy positions of candidates in the 2010 presidential election. Each issue will contain an analysis of party platforms, focusing on one set of related issues.

Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
$160,215
To improve the advocacy skills of business and civil society organizations, enabling them to more effectively advance reforms and maintain civic involvement in the policy-making process. This project aims to build the capacity of business associations, enhance the role of business as a voice for reform, and encourage the private sector to monitor the government’s fulfillment of its obligations.

Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
$132,827
To improve corporate governance standards among and applicable to Ukrainian SMEs and to increase dialogue in Ukraine on corporate governance and reduced regulatory burdens on SMEs. CIPE and the Corporate Governance Center at the International Institute of Business will provide Ukrainian entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills both to adapt to changing legal conditions, as well as to shape the regulatory environment for SMEs.

Center for Research on Social Perspectives in the Donbas
$49,700*
To cover political developments in the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, and increase the availability of objective and timely information about the impact of Kyiv politics on the regions.

Center for Support of Civic and Cultural Initiatives “Tamarisk”
$23,000
To conduct a training and education program aimed at helping to professionalize the local NGO sector. The project will involve a series of training seminars on topics such as informational technology, organizational development, fundraising and public relations. Tamarisk will also publish a brochure highlighting “success stories” of local NGOs, organize a press club, and publicize the project’s results.

Center for the Study of Social Processes and Humanitarian Issues
$30,000
To support a four-person team of journalists covering regional news in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk and surrounding region. This project will be carried out in cooperation with an organization called “Our Town,” which will support a similar team in Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine and with the Center for Research on Social Perspectives in the Donbas in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

Chernihiv Educational Center “Initiative”
$20,000*
To increase the accountability of local authorities to citizens’ needs and increase the flow of information between the electorate and local officials. Armada will conduct public-opinion surveys, monitor the proceedings of the regional administration, sponsor debates on local issues, and broadcast the findings of its monitoring activities on local radio and television stations.

Chernivtsi Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU)
$22,000
To promote government accountability at the local level. Chernivtsi CVU will monitor the legislatures of Chernivtsi city, Chernivtsi region, and Vyzhnytsia, Storozhynets, Kitsman, and Khotyn cities.

Civil Society Organization “Initiative”
$28,715*
To develop a network of legal aid and mediation groups to inform citizens about their property rights, provide a means for mediating disputes, and teach citizens how to gain access the Ukrainian legal system to better defend their constitutionally protected rights. The project will focus on rural communities that have been adversely affected by usurious lending practices and unscrupulous realtors.

Coalition of Cherkassy Youth Non-Governmental Organizations “Moloda Cherkaschyna”
$39,130*
To encourage cooperation between youth NGOs in former Soviet countries, specifically Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Georgia. The Coalition will organize a one-week forum for international NGOs and a mini-grants competition for selected international organizations to carry out cross-border projects in participating countries.

Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF)
$50,000*
To stimulate informed debate and dialogue among civil society, government and the general public on issues relating to Ukraine’s transition to democracy. DIF will help ensure that Ukraine’s leaders are informed about public opinion, while at the same time informing the public about important policy debates.

Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF)
$50,000
To conduct a nationwide exit poll during the upcoming 2010 presidential elections and conduct public opinion surveys before and after the elections. DIF will distribute information from its public opinion surveys and the exit poll to the media at a series of roundtables and press conferences, and will publish a report on the election at the conclusion of the project.

Dniprovsky Center for Social Research
$25,000
To work with journalists, editors, media experts, and government officials to assess the state of freedom of information and reporting in Dnipropetrovsk region. The Center will conduct a survey of local media experts, organize a study group on information freedom, hold a series of roundtable discussions on pressing local issues, and work with NGO “Advokat” to provide free legal assistance to journalists in Dnipropetrovsk oblast.

East European Democratic Center (EEDC)
$91,258
To assist local non-state newspapers in eastern and southern Ukraine. Through its School of Journalism and Newspaper Management, the Poland-based EEDC will organize three training seminars for 48 newspaper editors and award six grants totaling $25,000 to participating newspapers. Finally, EEDC helped to convene a Belarus International Implementers’ Meeting in Prague in March 2009.

East European Democratic Center (EEDC)
$51,906
To support nascent civil society in southern Ukraine. The Poland-based EEDC will provide a series of three trainings to approximately 100 local NGOs in five southern oblasts and will assist them in implementing projects through a small grants competition. Approximately five to seven grants totaling $5,000 will be awarded to NGOs in Crimea, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Vinnytsia.

Eastern-Ukrainian Center for Civic Initiatives “Total Action for the Support of Human
Rights and Democracy” Project
$30,000
To facilitate citizens’ access to information, stimulate civic activity, and promote government accountability in Luhansk, a major city in eastern Ukraine. Total Action will provide training to local activists to carry out advocacy campaigns and will hold a series of roundtables, public hearings and seminars to promote access to the Luhansk City Council, encourage local government accountability and support civic participation.

Europe XXI Foundation
$60,210
To examine the state of democracy in three Ukrainian regions, one each in eastern, central and western Ukraine. This project will build off of Europe XXI’s previous project, which developed criteria for assessing the state of democracy in post-totalitarian countries.

Free Choice of Luhanshchyna
$21,000
To make deputies of the Luhansk region legislative assembly more responsive to their constituents. The project will involve: educating citizens about the electoral programs of the various parties and blocs in the legislative assembly; comparing these programs with representatives’ actual voting patterns; analyzing deputies’ responsiveness to local residents; surveying citizens’ views across the oblast; and publicizing the project’s findings through a media campaign.

Freedom House - Ukraine
$50,000
To produce the 2009 edition of its annual report on human rights in Ukraine; distribute information on human rights in Ukraine to the public; train NGO activists in human rights monitoring and defense techniques; and produce a series of policy recommendations on the topic for the Ukrainian government.

Independent Center of Political Researchers and Journalists
$28,000*
To analyze threats to Crimea’s stability stemming from Russia’s continued military presence in Simferopol and from ethnic cleavages that have recently been exacerbated by the 2008 Russo-Georgian war.

Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation
$81,005
To hold four seminars which will examine Ukraine’s prospects for future integration into the European Union and NATO. The seminars will be held in Donetsk, Lviv, Chernihiv, and Odesa regions, with a final press conference in Kyiv.

International Charitable Organization “Center for Ukrainian Reform Education”
$80,000
To combat the recent deterioration of journalistic standards in Ukraine and the associated decline of public interest in political participation, the Center will use Endowment support to employ its nationwide network of press clubs as the base for a nonpartisan grassroots voter education program for the 2010 presidential elections.

International Cooperation Support Foundation of Ukraine
$40,000*
To train 50 emerging political media and business leaders from major NGOs, local governments, political parties, media outlets, businesses and cultural organizations. The program itself will consist of on-line learning and exchanges through the Foundation’s web site. Working with the Atlantic Council, the Foundation will arrange for US and European experts to visit Ukraine to participate in multi-day seminars with the young leaders.

Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHRP)
$46,100*
To produce a series of publications on human rights in Ukrainian and English, and to create a virtual human rights library on its website. KHPG will also continue to monitor draft legislation in the national and regional legislative assemblies for potential human rights violations, provide recommendations to lawmakers, and assess the activities of the Ombudsman’s Office.

Kherson City Association of Journalists “South”
$39,900
To encourage public dialogue about human rights in Ukraine. The organization will use Endowment support to organize a traveling festival of human rights documentary films, docudays.ua, that will be shown throughout Ukraine.

Kremenchuk City Committee of Youth Organizations
$25,909
To foster the growth of youth organizations in rural areas of Poltava and Cherkassy oblasts. The regions that have been selected for the project are ones in which youth groups are either few or entirely absent, and where civil society is weak, in part due to the distance of these regions from the oblast capitols.

Luhansk Regional Public Organization “European Choice” Business Club*
$20,000
To conduct a youth leadership program that will focus on students and faculty members at Professional-Technical Schools located in juvenile correctional facilities in the cities of Luhansk, Alchevsk, Krasniy Luch, Stakhaniv, and Sverdlovsk in Luhansk region.

Odesa Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU)
$38,129*
To develop methods for monitoring local government bodies - particularly, regional legislatures and city councils - in the aftermath of the introduction of a pure party list system for all elections at all levels of Ukrainian government. Odesa CVU’s staff and volunteer experts will monitor the legislatures of the cities of Odesa, Kostovsk, Rozdilna, Bilgorod-Dnistovsky, Izmail and Reni, as well as the Odesa region legislature.

Open Society Foundation - Ukraine
$55,000*
To monitor and publicize the activities of the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. The Foundation will produce three publications and an electronic bulletin detailing the work of Rada deputies from each party. It will also conduct a series of 10 roundtables to increase the accountability of elected officials to their constituents, and will continue to modernize and update its website.

Poliskii Fund of International and Regional Research
$24,500
To conduct a training and publication program, which will provide residents of the targeted regions with political analysis that will clearly formulate policy alternatives to help them understand and become more engaged in politics, and to encourage young people to become more involved in the process of democratizing their home regions.

Public Organization “Donetsk Press Club” (DPC)
$49,570
To continue a series of press clubs for journalists in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. The press clubs will cover a diverse range of topics including political reform, EU integration, and economic development. In addition, DPC will hold a series of trainings for NGO representatives, members of the Donetsk banking community, lawmakers, and government employees, focusing on increasing cooperation with the regional mass media.

Public Organization “Our Town”
$35,840
To continue its regional reporting and press monitoring programs. Our Town will organize a weekly club for independent journalists and regional experts in western Ukraine; monitor reporting by the regional mass media; and track reporting on issues such as separatism, anti-Semitism, and constitutional reform in the national mass media.

Regional Information Center for Women (RICW)
$42,030
To expand its activities by opening an additional five centers in its Civic Education Network (CEN), so that each county government town will have a center. From among the staff of the 25 local centers that will make up its expanded network, RICW will select participants for training through a series of four seminars.

School for Policy Analysis of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
$54,950
To increase public knowledge of and involvement in the process of constitutional reform. This project will build on last year’s Endowment-supported project, in which the School developed a series of proposals for constitutional reform, distributed them to politicians and officials, and publicized their research in the mass media.

Smoloskyp, Inc.
$65,400*
To strengthen networks among promising young Ukrainian activists and scholars, expose young people to democratic values and principles, and engage the next generation of Ukrainian activists in the country’s development. The organization will conduct a series of seminars and round tables, publish its monthly bulletin and a journal, continue to expand its website, and operate its Samvydav (Samizdat) Archive and Museum.

Ukrainian Catholic University
$42,000
To cover issues of church-state relations, freedom of conscience, and religious conflicts between Ukraine’s various faith communities.

Ukrainian Center for Economic and Political Research Named After Oleksandr Razumkov
$36,000*
To publish three issues of National Security and Defense, one of the most widely read policy journals in Ukraine. Each issue of the journal, published with a print run of 3,000 copies in Ukrainian and 800 copies in English, provides a thorough examination of an issue of particular importance to Ukrainian democracy.

Ukrainian Youth Association of Ukraine (UYA)
$43,815*
To conduct NGO outreach and information sharing programs in the Ichnyanskiy and Domanivskiy regions of Chernihiv oblast, and the Novomoskovskiy region of Dnipropetrovsk oblast. UYA will conduct NGO training and partnership development seminars in these regions to help promote cooperation between civil society organizations, business, and government.

Vinnitsa Regional Committee of Youth Organizations
$33,711*
To improve the public perception of NGOs in Vinnitsya and Khmelnytska regions through public and media relations campaigns. The organization will hold a master class and two seminars for NGO leaders, conduct quarterly on-site monitoring with members of its Partnership Network, hold its annual summer camp for NGO leaders, and provide small grants to eight regional NGOs.

Vinnitsa Youth NGO “Nashe Podillya”
$27,000
To support and strengthen developing civil society organizations and informal social movements in 11 Ukrainian regions. Nashe Podillya will hold a series of seminars on NGO management for the staff of new organizations, and will conduct a short internship program to allow leaders of nascent NGOs to gain experience by working with larger organizations.

Youth Alternative
$117,538
To support its parliamentary internship program. Youth Alternative will select 30 students from leading Kyiv universities to serve eight-month fellowships in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s national legislature. One hundred twenty students from universities in 18 regional cities will serve four-month internships in local radas. Interns will participate in a variety of training, academic and research activities during their internships.