“We stand for a distinct response to community requests”: on the results, achievements, and challenges of Chervonohrad-based YIC NGO

Publication date: September 18, 2024

Author: Yuliia Bilyk, LDN Communications Manager 

Youth Initiative Center (YIC), a Non-Governmental Organization based in Chervonohrad, Lviv Region, focuses on supporting small communities in Chervonohrad District. The NGO team provides community residents with specialists in legal and psychological assistance, carries out legal education activities, assists communities by providing them expert support, encourages dialogue between the authorities and individual target groups, and provides professional advice on relevant issues. During March-July 2024, these important areas of the member organization were supported by the Legal Development Network (LDN) as part of a program to strengthen the capacity of local organizations to respond to the challenges of war.

Field outreach

YIC NGO  works where the need for the organization’s involvement presents itself. Currently, there are five communities in the Chervonohrad District of Lviv Region: Dobrotvirska, Sokalska, Velykomostivska, Belzka, and Chervonohradska.

“These are small territorial communities whose residents have no access to quality social services, psychological assistance, legal aid, or support for any issues, as many settlements are remote and have no transport links at all. That is why we focus our work not only on the district center, which receives enough attention from donors and government agencies. We are targeting those areas that are talked about a lot, but when you go to these areas, you realize that there is no work going on there and people are not receiving support.”  — shared  Natalka Kostyshyn, Youth Initiative Center NGO Chairman.

The YIC team experienced a particular demand for their work by the communities in the first months after the full-scale invasion. At that time, the border communities of the Lviv region became a transit zone through which Ukrainians from the occupied territories and the war zone traveled to European countries. And, since the government had not thought through and regulated the procedures in the early days, the public sector, including the Youth Initiative Center, took responsibility by providing legal and psychological assistance and support in solving social issues.

Long-term focus

Today, the NGO’s priority is to restore communities during the war and post-war period. 

“We stand to focus our activities not on the algorithm of the work itself, but on a precise response to the requests of communities, target groups, and in some cases, to the requests of individuals, and on achieving results in accordance with this request.” — highlights Natalka Kostyshyn.

According to her, the organization builds all its initiatives and projects according to a simple logic: first, they research the problem, then jointly develop algorithms for solving the issue, and then take action to resolve it.

Natalka Diachuk, Youth Initiative Center Board Member and Psychologist, notes that the NGO’s work with communities is aimed at long-term prospects. And they are initiated by the communities themselves.

“In my opinion, our work on developing community self-sufficiency and facilitating networking between communities that are close to each other but have not had good connections before is very important. This is our merit, and it has institutional implications for the communities.” — highlights Natalka Diachuk.

An integrated approach

During the five months when YIC received institutional support from the LDN, the organization’s team provided 202 legal consultations to community residents, provided legal support for seven cases filed by citizens, developed 12 cases of comprehensive legal and psychological assistance in Velykomostiv and Sokal Communities, and organized the work of 10 mobile legal offices. The efficiency of such work is based on an integrated approach.

“Neither legal aid nor psychological aid provided separately would have had the effect we have received. The combination of both areas helps to find meaning. We had several meetings where that was very obvious. For example, meetings with the families of killed and missing soldiers. It was just “wow”. During these meetings, we managed to establish good communication between the families and community administrations: some were heard, and others understood how to listen,”, — stresses Natalka Diachuk.

Support of military personnel and their families 

One such discussion took place on July 17 in the Velykomostiv Community, where, as of July 01, there were 28 families whose relatives were killed in the line of duty, and another 20 families had soldiers who lost their health during the fighting. Two residents of the community returned from captivity, and six are recognized as being in captivity. Natalka Kostyshyn calls these sad statistics inaccurate, because, in reality, the losses may be much higher.

The meeting with the Youth Initiative Center team in the Velykomostiv Community was attended by representatives of 23 families of soldiers. “The event was significant for the community. First, because a large number of people responded and engaged in a discussion, and second, because the event was efficient. As a result, the Velykomostiv Community applied to participate in an analytical project aimed at studying the needs and demands of families of military personnel. The project envisages that the authorities will develop a program of social and legal support for such families and, accordingly, monitor the implementation of such a program.”  — shares Natalka Kostyshyn.

Lawyers of the NGO in cooperation with representatives of local authorities in Dobrotvir Community helped a serviceman who was seriously injured in the first month of the full-scale invasion to obtain the status of a combatant and social benefits from the state. The problem was that after he was discharged from the army, the man did not receive any documents confirming the fact of his service and combat injury.

Legal education

A special place in the work of the NGO is taken by legal education. The lawyers conduct training in communities and for schoolchildren at educational institutions and advise community members by phone and through mobile offices in Velykomostiv, Belz, Dobrotvir, and Sokal communities.

Besides, the Youth Initiative Center cooperates with two FM radio stations – Sokal and Neo-Radio. With the support of the LDN and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, these stations broadcast legal lectures by YIC lawyers, which are heard by more than 90,000 people.

“The radio stations cover not only Chervonohrad district but also part of the Volyn region that borders on us, as well as Zhovkva, part of Zolochiv and Lviv districts. So these are good channels for delivering useful information. More and more people are aware of our activities.” — notes Natalka Kostyshyn.

Non-fixed membership practice

The NGO calls this type of interaction, similar to the one with FM radio stations, a non-fixed membership in the organization. It means that at any stage of its activities, whether in the preparation of projects or the organization of events, YIC invites specialists, experts in various fields, or simply those who, although they do not have specific expertise, are ready and able to help. For example, in logistics, management, or communication.

Uniting like-minded people

Realizing that the best results can be achieved by uniting with those who share similar values and aspirations, the Youth Initiative Center invited 11 other active civil society organizations in Chervonohrad district to cooperate. All of them declared their intention to work together, which was confirmed by signing a memorandum. Within the framework of cooperation, several initiatives have already been implemented with the Caritas Sokal Charitable Foundation and the Nadbuzhanshchyna Regional Development Agency from Dobrotvir.

“This is also a significant area of our work. After all, despite the large number of organizations registered in the district – about 300 – not many are working. The inactive ones are weeded out, and those who are ready to work are involved in the processes », — highlights Natalka Kostyshyn.

As a result of this initiative, Velykomostivshchyna NGO was established in a community that is committed to development, and YIC is currently providing mentoring support to help the young organization take its first steps.  

Challenges and prospects

The biggest challenge for the communities the Youth Initiative Center works with is the lack of resources and specialists. “Donor funds are usually directed to the frontline or de-occupied territories, but communities also suffer from the consequences of the war. For example, the beginning of the heating season becomes a challenge for one of the communities, and this challenge is a consequence of the war. Secondly, there is a lack of specialists who can accompany certain processes or perform certain work, and this is especially noticeable in small communities.” — notes Natalka Kostyshyn. 

While addressing these challenges requires systemic action and a re-orientation of attention from international organizations and the state as a whole, the YIC NGO continues to “do its part”: among other things, to respond to community requests for legal and psychological assistance, the relevance of which cannot be exaggerated.

A separate area of the organization’s activity is interaction with the young people’s environment – in fact, this is one of the strategic goals that requires special attention due to the current demand of young people. The organization’s experts are also involved in the creation and planning of youth spaces in the Sokal and Dobrotvir Communities. Currently, we have the first results of the trainings held in these communities. In Dobrotvir, they are actively working on the formation of a Youth Council, and in Sokal, they are formalizing a Youth Initiative Group. The next step is to develop strategies, plans, and possibly youth programs or policies in the communities.

In cooperation with the Docudays Club, the YIC NGO implements the project “Meeting Point – Library” in the Dobrotvir Community. In addition to screening and discussing human rights documentaries, the project aims to help the community rethink the format of the library network.

As part of this project, the Youth Initiative Center is completing an advocacy campaign. As a result, in eight institutions, library specialists who have been trained will add access to legal aid to their services, referring their readers to lawyers.

The organization’s experts are simultaneously involved in the implementation of several projects, helping to unite community residents around problem-solving, resolve conflicts or prevent them, establish dialogues, initiate change, create spaces, and more.

The material was created with the support of the international charitable platform GlobalGiving, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The content of the publication is the sole responsibility of the Non-Governmental Union “Legal Development Network”.

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