Citizen Engagement in the Lugansk and Donetsk Regions

About this grant

The program goal is to engage residents from economically depressed settlements in eastern Ukraine in revitalizing their communities. Over the next two years, the Regional Development Agency "Donbass" will deepen its community development work in provincial population centers in order to strengthen the capacity of leading community-based organizations to effect social change. Activities will include training community leaders, convening public participation workshops, mapping community needs and resources, advising on local development projects, and promoting citizen participation in community life. In the previous grant period, the grantee established six community information centers to foster local civic participation. It facilitated the staging of Citizen Participation Weeks in four target communities as regular events. A new distance learning program focused on social development and participation was also instituted. Initiated in 1997, the grantee supports the implementation of market reforms to assist transformation in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.