Civic Engagement in Rural Communities

About this grant

The program goal is to promote civic engagement in decisionmaking in rural communities and small towns throughout Ukraine. To this end, the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine will provide training, technical assistance, and local campaign support to at least six communities in different regions of Ukraine whose environments are being negatively affected by industrial farming, gas drilling, mining, illegal waste dumping, or highway construction. The grantee will conduct fact-finding missions, offer internships, create an online local campaign manual, and provide networking opportunities for local activists from different regions in up to another 12 communities. Founded in 1991, the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine is a nonprofit organization that encourages individuals to take common action to protect the environment. The grantee’s members are scientists, journalists, artists, students, and others who strive to save nature by maintaining and creating new protected areas and to decrease human impact on the environment through policy change.