The initiative aims at involving representatives of civil society, especially from rural and remote areas, in democratic processes in Ukraine. In total, 66 organisations from small towns and rural areas of 13 regions of Ukraine were working hard to bring democratic change in their communities. Lviv Forum was a platform for participants to share their success stories and lessons learnt.

 

The Ukrainian leading experts in civil society development held eight workshops for participants dwelling on advocacy and coalition building, crowdfunding, decentralisation, PR and communications strategies, institutional development of organisations, mediation and conflict resolution, human rights, and gender instruments for local initiatives.

 

Ayder Khalilov, UNDP expert in capacity building, emphasised that "Civil society organisations need to enhance their capacity to partner equally with government. The good example is the UNDP-supported civil society hubs that became a strong network helping other CSOs to develop their capacity."

 

The second day of the Forum sought to develop common ideas, improve cooperation and establish partnership between organisations from different regions of Ukraine.

 

The Forum was organized with the support of the Women's Perspectives Center – one of the UNDP-supported hubs of civil society – and Lviv Regional State Administration. The initiative's partners are leading NGOs from Chernihiv, Rivne, Kirovohrad, Kherson, Donetsk, Zakarpattia, and Lviv regions.