Legal Development Network: How Flexible Financing Creates Islands of Safety in Front-line Villages

Publication date: August 9, 2025

In 2024, the Legal Development Network launched five crowdfunding initiatives to attract flexible financing to support active youth and internally displaced persons in the Shevchenkivska community of Mykolaiv region. Since then, they have managed to raise 119,512 UAH, of which 55,073.47 UAH was raised in July 2025. Why the public union is involved in this initiative and how the funds will be used is explained below.

Executive Director of the Legal Development Network Olga Nastina.

“In 2023, we began working in southern Ukraine. By combining various projects, the Legal Development Network helps communities manage their needs, formulate and implement strategic decisions to accelerate and improve the quality of the transition process from early to sustainable recovery and development,” — notes Olga Nastina, Executive Director of the Legal Development Network.

Lyubomyrivka village. Public space development with financial support from GlobalGiving, 2024

In 2024, the Legal Development Network saw for the first time how flexible financing works in action for communities. Thanks to Global Giving’s support, they managed to create decent conditions in a public space that operates on the basis of a former rural medical facility (the only surviving building) in Lyubomyrivka village, Shevchenkivska community, Mykolaiv region, with the involvement of youth and volunteers. They changed the stage flooring and installed lighting in the village club in Vavylove village. They also helped with the evacuation from an occupied settlement in Donetsk region of a family whose members can only move around in wheelchairs.

Program Director of the Legal Development Network Oleksiy Tertyshny

“It was important for us that we could make changes here and now without waiting for the project cycle to complete. But while following all procedural requirements to ensure maximum transparency and accountability. We also involved community leaders in this process. Having learned to do repairs, they saw that they could do a lot themselves in reconstruction without waiting for someone to come to them. And later, the volunteer groups that were formed began to be invited by local residents to help with improving their homes. In damaged and destroyed villages, such skills are worth their weight in gold,” — notes Oleksiy Tertyshny, Program Director of the Legal Development Network, who oversaw this direction.

Two initiatives — the public space in Lyubomyrivka village and the village club in Vavylove village — were included in the list of crowdfunding initiatives of the Legal Development Network, which are hosted on the Global Giving platform.

“What was accomplished in 2024 with financial support from Global Giving provided a good start. But we decided not to stop halfway and to support and finalize what had been developed. So, in Lyubomyrivka, volunteers made very nice walls that need furnishing. Therefore, we continue to raise funds for furniture and necessary equipment. We were very pleased to learn that these needs are also being addressed by other community leaders. For example, a newly created organization from Zeleny Gai village applied for and received their first grant for furniture and necessary equipment for children’s development. However, we know that residents need basic equipment. This space has a multifunctional purpose – children learn there, organizations come to provide assistance, and village council specialists provide services,” — says crowdfunding manager Kateryna Zlatina.

Vavylove village. Replacing stage flooring and lighting in the village club with financial support from GlobalGiving, 2024

Young people come to the village club in Vavylove village to play tennis. They sadly recall pre-war times when they organized loud discos until morning before the full-scale war in 2022. They would like to start a new tradition — gathering to watch movies, discussing them, and they already dream about how they will manage this process. So the crowdfunding initiative will finance minimal equipment for this.

“We selected other projects in the same way. A significant part of the work has already been done. But the main thing is not the walls. The main thing is that there are leaders, initiative groups who will implement their dreams, create and manage islands of safety and community building for their settlements,” — notes Kateryna Zlatina.

The initiative that raised the most funds collected $645 USD from seven donors to support the youth center in Novohryhorivka.

These funds were doubled thanks to participation in the Together for Ukraine campaign, and also increased through bonus funding on special days.

Overall, currently $1,329 out of the required $5,000 has been raised to support the youth center in Novohryhorivka. This is inspiring, but there’s still a significant part of the journey ahead – $3,671 is still needed.

During the Russian occupation, 95% of residential buildings in Novohryhorivka were destroyed, as well as all public infrastructure, including the kindergarten, school, and cultural center. Children and teenagers were left without basic opportunities for learning, leisure, and communication. Many of them study remotely, in conditions of social isolation.

In 2024, young people decided to create a youth center in the half-destroyed library.

In the photo: Opening of the youth center. On the right — Kateryna Melnychenko, who initiated the creation of the youth center with friends. She was 16 years old at the time of implementing this initiative. Photo by Kateryna Melnychenko

“There are five of us. We cleaned all of this ourselves, built the wall. We wanted to relax here. Two weeks later we posted a video. The video started going viral and one organization noticed us. They also came to us and helped us. They applied for a grant to rebuild our youth center,” — notes Kateryna Melnychenko, a resident of Novohryhorivka village.

It was the Odesa Charitable Foundation “Heritage.” They wrote a small project and won 150,000 UAH for interior renovation. The space inside is furnished, but outside, on the building’s facade, bullet marks are still visible.

“We understand how important it is to have such a space for stabilization in a half-destroyed village, which will remind us: war is not normal. And even in this turbulent world, there is a place where you can create. That’s why it’s so important for us to help take these final steps. So this project got into our portfolio,” — notes Kateryna Zlatina.

youth space in Novohryhorivka village. Photo by Lidiya Sydor

The opening of the space was a real celebration for the village community. And since then, creative workshops for representatives of different age groups are held there daily.

How you can help:

• Make a donation
• Share information about the project in your community
• Become an advocate for change and support Ukrainian youth who dream of a dignified peaceful future

Campaign social media page: https://www.instagram.com/restorethesouthua/

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