EYPigeon 2014

www.eyp-ua.org

EYP

igeon

Official newspaper issue of EYP-Ukraine

April - December, 2014

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Editorial letter

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Events

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Projects

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People

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Opportunities

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Journalists: Victoria Korniichuk, Julia Matviychuk, Maria Stronska, Alexander Ustymenko, Valery Boyko, Tetyana Stadnik KIate Petrenko

Why EYP? Because people.

Why people? Because exchange. Why exchange?

Because development. Why development? Because life.

As you can see EYP means the whole life for me in this sense.

After attendance of some EYP events I have looked at EYP from the perspective of an exciting way of diverse self-development. I have met lots of smart and interesting people that had something to share, that were better than I am in some spheres and they showed me the level to which I want to reach now. What is interesting about EYP? It’s that this level goes higher and higher at that exact moment when you have reached the previous one.

So, I would say that it is infinite way to the universe of selfdevelopment.

Now I’m on my way. I try myself in the different roles that EYP can offer, I take something from each of them and I like it. I like to be diverse. I like to learn something new. I like to accept a new challenge.

If you feel the same way, you are always welcome to join!

Olya Budinskaya Editor/Layout Designer

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3 I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply.

Being willing is not enough; we must do. (c) Leonardo da Vinci

Events

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Feeling excited and waiting for a wonder I was holding my train tickets.

Finally! All our expectations came into life and after it was once postponed - The 8th National Selection Conference took place in Cherkasy.

75 delegates and 38 officials from different parts of the world arrived to the picturesque bank of Dnipro to spend 4 days in so well-known unique atmosphere of EYP. Though someone greeted each other as good old friends, a great number of delegates must have been to the Session for the first time. I could definitely spot them out in the crowd as I was one of them.

From registration till the last minutes of the Session we didn’t have a free moment to be bored and lived in the pace of Formula1. The first day was full of new acquaintances. It also opened the secrets of teambuilding. You know, after carrying each other so carefully and escaping from the cobweb there is no other way than to become friends. Afterwards the committee work began. Every single delegate was trying his best to present the most productive ideas, to find the best solutions or to show off a bit. We were supposed to be selected to the International Session after all!

General Assembly seemed to be a battlefield of the smartest. We had 8 committees and 8 remarkable resolutions. In spite of hot discussions all of them were adopted. Could there be a better proof of hard work?

In addition every evening was hiding a surprise from the organizers! EYP is a rare place where you can be a deer one day and a boogie-woogie dancer another, where you can try cuisine from all the regions of Ukraine under the same roof and come onto the stage with your own breathtaking performance.

After this unforgettable event many young people gladly joined EYP family and I am really happy to be one of them.

by Victoria Korniichuk

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9 EYP-Ukraine was honoured to welcome participants from 26 European countries to re:think security policy and hack old paradigms in the framework of ASK International Forum that took place this November in Kyiv IInjustice. Lie. Complains. Pain. Anger.

Courage. Actions. Hope. Changes… This is what Ukraine is going through right now. In this case the event dedicated to the topic of international security held in Ukraine seems to be more relevant and obvious than ever before.

ASK forum was hacking old paradigms not only during the topics discussions, but through the new structure of the event comparing with an ordinary EYP one. Instead of delegates, chairs, committees and general assembly, there were participants, moderators, dimensions and symposium. Instead of resolution – final report that was about 5 pages long and consisted of the issues that were discussed by the dimension members during the work in groups. Participants could have diverse opinions about the topic, it was not obligatory to agree on everything as a team. Especially interesting was an absence of voting at the Symposium after presentation of the final reports.

The most important here was to give participants an opportunity to get acquainted with the topics of all of the dimensions and not to waste time on thinking about competition, that’s why there were two days of Symposium. On the first one, dimensions were briefly presenting their topics and had the opportunity to take part in roundtable discussion on their issues with other participants. They had one more evening to analyse the discussion and add some points to the final report that they were about to present the next day on the second day of Symposium.

The recruitment of participants was also unusual as for the EYP International forum. The project managers thought

that the decision about taking part in the event in the country with active conflict zone on its territory should be made by the adult persons of 18-30 years old. How could it be possible, if the middle age of EYPers is around 20? The answer is pretty easy: half of all of the participants were not members of EYP. ASK forum invited great amount of Ukrainian as well as international experts whose professional activity is connected to security. There were additional morning lectures held by the co-founder of Ukrainian energy innovations platform Greencubator – Roman Zinchenko, who was talking about the influence of paternalistic policy on the energy security. The second morning lecture was held by co-founder of EYP-Ukraine and the Ukraine Crisis Media Center – Vasyl Myroshnichenko, who was presenting his view of the role of information war in the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Participants have also attended the “Worldcafe” – event, where there were 3 rounds of simultaneous roundtable discussions with experts in the area of security. Everyone could pick only 3 preferences of topic discussions. All of the present experts were really experienced and charismatic personalities, so even if you were appointed to the table that you hadn’t chosen there were plenty of interesting things to discuss and analyse afterwards.

So, it’s a pity that there was no opportunity to talk to all of them except of 30 minutes of coffee break.

We also shouldn’t forget about huge impact of the international team of moderators that was successfully lead by fellow Mr. President – Martin Hoffmann, whose experience in EYP seems to be more than enough to come up with the new methods of team work and build strong cooperation not only

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inside of moderators’ team, but inside of every particular dimension as well. As a result of such successful way of “coordinating the coordinators” the discussions kept close to the topic and the level of concentration of participants boggled the mind.

Thanks to all of this hard work the level of academic preparation of the participants was raising with every next day of the forum, which obviously should be used as much as possible, so that everyone would get an opportunity to express themselves and exchange the knowledge. All of the participants were offered to hold a master-class about any topic somehow related to the international security, so that everyone could gain self-realization through sharing uncovered issues. Such special framework was called “Barcamp”.

But the thing that really makes ASK forum special, is the huge amount of effort that was put into the realization of this project by the team of organizers. Facing the truth the amount of resources that are needed for organizing an international event is pretty limited in Ukraine comparing to other European countries. In spite of this fact, project managers Anya Suprunenko and Kseniia Choni didn’t give up on the idea to make big international event on the highest level that was only possible in the period of difficult current economic and political situation in the country. These two girls gathered a team of brave Ukrainians who shared the same values and were ready to work hard to achieve the perfect result. The level of preparation was so high so that all of the organizational issues became invisible for those who were not involved in it.

Talking about ASK forum it’s also impossible not to mention special atmosphere that was felt by everyone there. Even after tough day full of tense discussions and debates, participants still could find some energy to spend with each other. When you are sitting surrounded by people of multiple nationalities, singing songs accompanied by guitar in English, Georgian, Italian, Polish, Russian or Ukrainian language and you feel that there is no difference anymore. You feel that you are in the right place with right people doing right things and this is what EYP is about. EYP is a moment, so live it through and do not think what will happen next!

by Olya Budinskaya

Alexander Ustimenko, ASK participant I have done EYP for 3 years now and I should say that this experience was different from the usual EYP sessions.

It has been enriching to discuss every single security dimension. In fact, I realized that it was all interconnected and interesting as well. ASK helped me to form my political vision and make some substantial conclusions, especially about cyber security in my personal life.

I met people who shed light on the new paths for me about problems I didn’t think even existed. Lisa Lacroix from Lyon, France spoke passionately about gender questions at the Barcamp presentation. Is is the field she wants to study at the university.

The media team wrote 3 issues of POLYHEDRAL magazine which have been useful to re:think, revise and reconsider security adjacent topics.

They also made everything to involve everyone and raise interest in everyone about the Forum by making funny statistics, putting information in unexpected places (for example in the WC) and by being just kind and open-minded.

In general, this event raised my awareness about security worldwide, made me feel much more confident, gave me the opportunity to meet great minds and share my ideas so that they can be heard. I’m still fascinated by the human and intellectual experience ASK gave me. This was THE event of the year. We want more of things like this to repeat! ;)

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On September 21, 2014 first EYP-Weekend of this autumn took place in picturesque Kharkiv. It gathered around 40 delegates from Sumy, Kyiv and Lutsk regions, who discussed relevant social and political issues, met new people and improved their English skills during 2 days of the event. EYP-Weekend is a unique format of work not only for delegates, who get to know what EYP is about, but for older EYPers who can try themselves in the new role of a chair, led by experienced Ms. President Olga Shvets and supervised

by Vice-president on Public Relations of EYP-Ukraine – Olena Yermakova.

The whole event was fully supported

by Yaroslav Mudryi National Law Academy of Ukraine, where team-building and committee work took part. The conference-hall for the General Assembly was provided by the EYP partner “ILF” (INYURPOLIS Law Firm). All of these things would never be possible without amazing head-organiser Galina Voloshina, who was working really hard not only for provision of everything needed, but also for attracting new partners. The President of NGO “ELSA Kharkiv” was honored to hold a speech at the Closing Ceremony of the session. Hopefully, this successful and well-organized EYP-event proved that everything is possible and maybe YOU will be the next EYP headorganiser in your city!

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On 11-12th of October 2014 in marvelous city of Kherson, second EYP-Weekend of this autumn kicked off. Thanks to the head-organiser Anna Savchenko around 40 delegates from the South of Ukraine gathered to get to know EYP, discuss relevant political, economical and social issues, improve their English and practice their public speaking and debating skills.

Kherson session was one of the most emotional and sincere ones and this is all because of its fabulous Ms. President - Valery Boyko, supervised by Master

of EYP studies - serious as usual Kristina Chelmakina. The special atmosphere was felt not only inside of the officials and organisers team, but between the delegates as well. The General Assembly was full of strong arguments and tension between the the committees, but all the resolutions passed and each of delegate went home with strong feeling of selfdevelopment and positive emotions.

On October 18-19 a new EYP weekend was held in Boryspil. “New Ukraine. Local Agenda” was the topic of the meeting, which is of current interest for the majority of Ukrainians. All participants were divided into four committees, which discussed the most burning problems. How to protect minority languages, culture and traditions? How to solve the energy problem in Ukraine and make our homeland energy self-sufficient? How to activate the participation of local communities in political decision-making process?

What actions should be taken by the EU to foster peace on the European continent? Answers to all these questions were found after hours of hard and intensive work and formed the core of the resolutions presented at the General Assembly. However, not everything was so formal! Cool teambuilding activities, funny games, tasty coffee brakes, smiling people around you and just unforgettable atmosphere…These two days were really the time of their lives for all participants. So, we hope that singing the EYP anthem standing in a circle was not a farewell forever, but simply meant “goodbye ‘till later!”

by Julia Matviychuk

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It was an unforgettable experience -the first chairing experience for me. Before going to Uzhgorod, I heard a lot about it being a cozy small city with beautiful architecture and authentic culture. And that is really the case. People there really speak in aspecial way, it is an unusual form of Ukrainian accent and I enjoyed listening to it. However, I explored this city very quickly, not even having the time to properly feel its spirit.

The first thing that surprised me when I came to the city was the low prices compared to the city where I live in (Kyiv). It caosts 20 hryvnas for the taxi to reach any part of the town. Then followed the lowfood-price shock. A pizza of 51 cm costs only 81 hryvnas in one particular café at the “Veselyi Monakh”. I was enjoyinging it during my stay there with the whole officials team.

Ivan Dyulay, the head-organiser, showed the special places where to go and was the perfect Chaperone during the whole session.

After having these pleasures I got to know the officials team. These were people I really appreciate and respect now: Koka Kapanadze, Alex Tychyna, Valentina Seminikhina, Marichka Ihnatova, Inna Shcherbyna and Lina Tarashevska. It was delightful to spend the time working and having fun at the same time with them.

The delegates in my committee were very friendly and loved teambuilding and committees work. They knew how to cope with stress and EYP brought the best in them. I chaired my committee CULT in pair with Valentina Seminikhina and I’m very lucky to have chaired with her.

The General Assembly day happened to be a happy ending for this two-day adventure. I could almost feel every delegate’s relief and content after a stressful day of work. It gave me pleasure to see them full with good emotions.

I think it’s a very good thing to bring EYP in places where it is not known. Weekend in Uzhgorod had its own spirit and the delegates got unforgettable experience from it as did I.

by Alexander Ustimenko

15 The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invesible battles inside all of us - that’s where it’s at. (c) Jesse Owens

Projects

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17 Training for teachers (TFT) Like a gifted artist achieves his greatest masterpiece, talented organisers Anna Lachykhina, Tetiana Korniichuk and Alexandra Krivoruchko made their longcherished idea come true: organising a training for teachers. It was held on the 27th of September in BIONIC University and was one of the most long-waited events of this autumn. Participants spent the whole day with EYP members and had a chance to remember the time when they were pupils.

What is non-formal education and how does itwork? What learning styles exist and how do people acquire information?

What is debriefing and how can we use it? These and many others useful and interesting topics were discussed during the day. However, not only these issues where absorbing, but also the format of training delivery was unusual.

Lectures were combined with discussions, engrossing games and practical tasks.

As a result, the day appeared to be even more useful and fruitful than in was expected. The atmosphere was really cool, since all the team of participants and trainers were full of energy, new ideas and could not even hide happy smiles and excitement from their faces. So we hope that it was an unforgettable experience for everyone who took part in this big event and expect that the knowledge obtained by the teachers to be applied practically as soon as possible.

by Julia Matviychuk

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The “«Understanding Europe» project is aimed at making people get acquainted with the structure of the EU through non-formal peer-to-peer approach; increasing pupils’ interests in the EU-related issues and encourage them to participate in group discussions and offering a platform for pupils’ questions and a room for dealing with controversies.

Recent events: On the 26th & 29th of April, two EU Crash Courses were conducted in International Relations Lyceum 51., brought together around 45 pupils.

On the 21st of October, the EU Crash Course was lead

by Maria Fedorukl and Iryna Sruk, gathered around 30 pupils.

On the 5th & 7th of December, Train-the-Trainer, supported by Auswärtiges Amt and Schwarzkopf-Stiftung Junges Europa, gathered 20 young people to learn the method behind the 4-hour EU Crash Course.

Organized by National Coordinator -

Maria Fedoruk Supervised by representative of the Board

Michael Rozhkov

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19 Chairs Academic Training Chairs Academic Training took place on 6-7 of September - a two-day training designed to help newcomers understand how to be a good chairperson, which was especially handy for those, who were going to take up a chair’s role for the first time in upcoming EYP-Weekends.

The training began in M. Hryshko Kyiv Botanical Garden, then shifted to Yansen Capital Management Office.

While the participants were guided through stages of teambuilding by their trainer Oleg Shymanskyy, each of them got a chance to take up a role of a “team builder”, guiding TB games themselves, which they were asked to prepare beforehand.

Then the academic part began.

After that stage I had a dozen of graphs, drawings, notes about facilitating a team in a notebook I made myself during the training – another activity – each participant made a notebook and covered it with a thing, that inspires him/her – something that was brought to the CAT. The topics covered on the training included stages of team building, types of activities appropriate for each part of it, phases and methods of committee work, ways to write a topic overview.

Together with our trainer we discussed all the questions we had to make sure we know how to act and conduct different situations while being a chairperson.

It was a productive and inspirational weekend, the information and experience we got was already applied to the EYP-Weekends in Kharkiv, Kherson, Boryspil and Ushgorod.

Thanks to organizers and the trainer – Oleg Shimanskyy.

by Tetyana Stadnik

20 Training of Regional Development Department When I received a message, informing me of my participation, I was really impressed, but at the same time I had no idea how it would be. Just imagine, 13 young Ukrainian leaders from different regions of Ukraine are gathered in Kyiv for 2 days to shape the future development of EYP-Ukraine all over the country.

What really impressed me was that all participants were of different age (there were a ninth-form pupil from Lviv and an Odessa university professor), but at the end of our training we were like a family.

And it’s so good to feel yourself a member of this family.

Everyone of us was very active and interested in such a topic. First part of our first day was called Teambuilding. It was one of the most important parts of our training, but the funniest as well. You know, making new friends in such a way was unforgettable.

After that, our training began. But it was not a usual training, which all of us know. It was also not a debate or discussion, it was something like a comfort zone where all participants could easily share their opinions or own experience. By the way, everyone could ask different kind of questions about EYP, more details how to organise an EYP-weekend in their own region or how to become an official member of EYP. It goes without saying, that everybody got new knowledge and improved their organisation skills. I was truly inspired and felt ready to organise an EYP-weekend in my own region.

This training was successfully organised for the first time and I’m proud that I was a part of such a great event.

by Kate Petrenko

21 I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. (c) Maya Angelou

People

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23 Ukrainian EYPers abroad Nadia Telenchuk FLEX alumna, Munich IS, 2 published poetry books, 8th NSC UA organiser Where are you now? How long have you been there?

Since October, I am studying at the Berlin University of Economics and Law, getting my Master’s degree in International Economics.

What is your daily life like?

These days I study a lot. Actually, recently I’ve developed an odd habit of sleeping in the transport on my way to university. It is quite hard to find accommodation in Berlin, and the place I live in is a little far from center – it takes me at least an hour to get to my university.

Are you enjoying living in Berlin?

I enjoy living in this city so much. Berlin is all about freedom; it is a place of contrasts and diversity.

How does EYP international office look like?

I have visited the place unofficially, meeting some people that are visiting the office for trainings. The office is just like a normal office with creative and unusual people inside.

Actually, there is a story I have to share. Some Ukrainians are occasionally sleeping on the floor of the conference room. Once, during a fundraising workshop, Lidia, Board Member on Fundraising, worked so hard during the day that when she had extra time and no energy, she decided to take a nap. I came over to take Ukrainians for the dinner and had to wake Lida up. She seemed to be so cozy in there.

Ukrainian education compared to German?

Here, there are 35 admitted students on my program from 25 countries. Each of those 35 people

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The biggest difference for me is motivation.

Ukrainian community?

Oh yes, currently there are four Ukrainian EYPers living in Berlin. We call ourselves Berlin diaspora of EYP-UA. It is so nice to know that there are people coming from the same background you can turn to in every situation.

There are also “Incoming delegations” – Ukrainians that travel to EYP International Office for trainings. Actually, I must admit that living in Berlin has some benefits – now I get to see more EYPers.

Is this your first experience living abroad? How is it going? How are the experiences different?

Different.Not challenging How did you find out about EYP? Has the organisation contributed to your personal development?

Probably it was Dima Kharchenko who had introduced me to EYP. I was studying in KNEU and there were quite a few people involved from my university (editorial side-note: KNEU diaspora of EYP-UA).

If you were to ask me what I was doing in my student years before EYP, I would never know what to answer. The one and a half years of my studies seem to fall out of picture. Student life gained meaning only after I have joined EYP. Skills: I have told this a million times to newcomers: for me, EYP is all about experience: academic experience, social aspects, public speaking, working with international people, making friends, functioning under intense conditions, having limited time. You have to go through all the process and get the work you are doing done at the best level.

Story: Actually, EYP has really developed my social skills. When I came to Berlin, during the first week we as a class decided to go out. We were sitting in the bar and people looked so dull, talking only

to their neighbours about their studies. In one moment, I, the youngest person in that program, stood up and said: “And right now we are going to play a game”.

That was how we have gotten closer, by completing icebreakers and EYP games that build teams. The funnies part was when all tough 25 year-old serious people were asking me: “Nadia, when are we going to play the next game?”

Can you say that EYP has contributed to your success in applying for the program? If so, how?

Even though the choice of my major was determined by my previous studies, the personal growth I’ve obtained though EYP has helped me to get motivation, go on a step further and try studying abroad.

I have been to Germany quite a few times due to EYP, I saw the life there and that was one of the reasons I wanted to go.

Additionally, EYP applications are also an important factor. Applying at the very last minute and being successful helped me a lot in terms of writing the application for my program.

How do you see your future within EYP? I think that each EYPer at one point of time experiences a moment when (s)he has to stop and think of the priorities in life. Of course, nobody would love to give up one thing that has contributed to a huge part of who you are. I do not want to give up on EYP. At first, I had my period of adjustments to new city, new culture, new university. However, I started getting to know German EYP a little. Surely, I would like to stay involved as much as I can. I don’t want to say goodbye yet.

Do you want to come back?

For now it is too early to say. Ask me again when I am closer to finishing my program. I do not know what I will have for breakfast tomorrow, I certainly have no idea what my life will be like in 2 years. .

by Valery Boyko

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Irina Lukyanenko Riga IS’14, French speaker, 8th NSC UA organiser, activist One day Ira Lukianenko found a free hour outside her busy schedule to share with us some thoughts on her life in France and the EYP. Where are you now? How long have you been there?

From September till the end of July I am living in Nevers, Bourgogne region. I work at mayor’s office in International Relations department.

I was accepted to implement my European Volunteer Service (a.k.a. EVS) project. Basically, I work with French youngsters, helping them to apply for internships and conferences abroad, developing their own projects.

What is your daily life like?

I work 35 hours per week, from 9 A.M till 6 P.M. Except for my job, I am also involved with a number of activities: English speaking club, Spanish lessons, dancing school. Moreover, I use my weekend to travel around France.

Are you enjoying living in France?

This is a great experience. EVS is giving me amazing opportunities for self-development as I have enough time not only to complete my job, but also to devote time to the actives I enjoy. I was quite exhausted after the 4 years I have spent on studying French Translation. Therefore, I have chosen to take this year to get more experience and think about my future.

What I especially love about EVS is that a volunteer can develop a personal project in addition to the assigned one up to 4 hours per week. So, I found an organisation in my city that advocates for rights of refugees and I volunteer at the festivals run by the organisation.

This weekend I made a presentation about

Ukraine. Trying to represent my country best, I was emphasising Ukrainian culture, nation, history. Actually, I tried to connect Ukrainian culture with the French one, showing that Ukraine was quite influential in their history.

What is the hardest thing about your job?

I am very nostalgic, I really miss Ukraine. For me, it is extremely painful to observe what is going on in Ukraine now. I fully understand that despite the experiences I may have abroad, I feel like coming back and living in Ukraine.

Is this your first experience living abroad? How is it going? How are the experiences different?

This is the second time I am living abroad.

The first one was in 2012, when I worked in Florida, USA, over the summer, but the job I had there was not serious at all. What I really like doing is working with youth, mobility, opportunities.

In addition, now I am conducting presentations of EYP to French youngsters.

I have also prepared the first delegation from the city where I live now to attend Rennes 37th National Session of EYP France.

How did you find out about EYP? Has the organisation contributed to your personal development?

Ira Garbuz, a person I’ve known for many years, as we have studied in same school, is the one who has brought me to the organization.

After I came back from the States, I wanted to make my life a little more interesting and exciting. I saw Ira’s photos from EYP events on social networks, got interested and gave

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her a call.

EYP has definitely helped me grow as a person. I became more self-assured. It used to be a challenge for me to speak publically, conduct presentations, use English, work in a team. I got involved in EYP and it has helped me improve in those spheres, I started to look for more opportunities for self-development. I have met great people that share my interests, people that are open-minded, have different perspectives. Oh, as you see, even in France I cannot live without EYP Can you say that EYP has contributed to your success in applying for the program? If so, how?

For sure. EVS covers a lot of topics that are usually brought up in EYP, moreover, one can easily apply EYP activates in the framework of EVS projects. The main topics that interest me are the EU awareness and mobility. In my motivation letter I mentioned my experience in EYP and personal features that I have developed through the organisation.

How do you see your future within EYP? I cherish a dream of becoming Head Organiser of an International Session in Kyiv.

Also, I want to continue doing EYP either in the EU or Ukraine as I do not know where I’ll end up next year.

by Valery Boyko

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Q&A with Ksenia Choni

FLEX Alumna, “serial” volunteer, organiser of NGO G20 Summit, TeslaCamp and other daring and innovative projects, hyperactive part of Ukrainian energy innovations platform Greencubator, people lover, Agora on Security Kyiv (ASK) Project manager. These are just a few characteristics that describe Kseniia Choni better than any words. But still there are some questions left...

- Hey, Kseniia! Looking back to your and tests plus part-time job as a marketing past it becomes obvious that you have a bright experience participating in uncountable amount of social projects and even organised some of them. How did you choose this way?

What was the first push for you?

- I like to help people. When I was a child my parents thought me to treat people the way I want to be treated and to help those who need it. I started to act on a bigger scale when I was a FLEX* student in the USA and even more so after coming back from the States.

Being alone in a foreign country made me more confident as I understood that I’m ready to take responsibility and make an impact in Ukrainian society. * FLEX a.k.a. Future Leaders Exchange Program, which provides scholarships for high school students (ages 15-17) from Eurasia to spend an academic year in the United States, living with a family and attending an American high school - That’s definitely seems to be one of the turning points of your life! But what in particular have you started doing after coming back?

- It all starts with small steps and big dreams.

Following my FLEX year I entered KPI (Kyiv Polytechnic Institute) and started to take part in various student activities (KVN, International Department of the Students’ Council) and in events organised by FLEX Alumni. In addition to that I had ordinary student life with classes

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assistant at the international agriculture company. But it was more about “consuming” project rather than “producing” them.

In 2012 I didn’t win my dream scholarship which crashed my plans of getting Master’s degree abroad that year. It made me to rethink my life and to find new ways of self-development.

On one of these self-reflection days an email from EYP mailing list landed in my mailbox. It was a Call for volunteer coordinators for the European Village in Kyiv – a project dedicated to EURO 2012 Football Championship. I applied, was selected and spent one of the happiest months of my life at the EuroVillage camp under the Arc of Friendship in Kyiv with a great team of 40 volunteers. That’s when I met Yegor Vlasenko, at that time a VP on Fundraising of EYP Ukraine. After European Village he encouraged me to stay active in EYP and to become a project manager of the Second NGO G20 Summit. That’s how my failure opened a whole new spectrum of opportunities for me.

- What is the main purpose of NGO G20 Summit?

It is a platform for youth NGOs in Ukraine, aimed at establishing and strengthening their cooperation by organising joint projects.

The idea of this project belongs to JCI Youth President 2012 Sergii Molchanov and the first Summit was initiated and organised by three youth NGOs: JCI Youth, AIESEC Kyiv and EYP Ukraine. Summit itself was a living example of the possibility of inter-NGOs cooperation.

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This Summit was your first experience in the role of a project manager. What was the main lesson that you have learned?

Of course the biggest lessons one learns out of his / her mistakes. While organising the Second and the Third NGO G20 Summit I learned that the original format of the project, which looked just great on paper turned out to be a failure on practice. The main purpose of the Summit was to create joint projects in the framework of the common strategy, developed by youth NGOs at the first NGO G20 Summit. Of course, during Summit itself participants developed ideas of joint projects (and there were pretty good ones), but unfortunately they never became a reality after the Summit. If I had a chance to organise it one more time, I would put an emphasis at networking and bestpractice exchange between NGOs rather than

he offered me to join Greencubator team as a project manager. * TeslaCamp is an open-air renewablespowered energy innovations hackathon and festival. It is organised by Greencubator and a big team of volunteers and friends.

- And how have you become a headorganiser of ASK Forum?

I perfectly remember the day when Anya Suprunenko – the project manager of ASK called me on Viber and suggested to join her as a co-project manager. At that time they had major changes in the team and in the concept.

I took 24 hours break to think, but it took me just a couple of hours to realize how eager I was to face this challenge. So the next day Anya and I were already discussing practical moments and planning our next steps.

We know each other since 2012 and we

at project planning because it would eventually lead to cooperation. I hope in the future NGO G20 will be re-launched with a new concept.

But NGO G20 Summit was just the beginning of your career of a project manager. How have you become an organiser of TeslaCamp* and a part of Greeencubator network?

In summer 2012 I attended Sustainability Summit which took place in Shcholkine, Crimea and was organized by FLEX Alumni and Greencubator team. I loved the way these guys worked and when they started looking for someone who could help them with grant writing for Sustainabiltiy Summit 2013, I volunteered with great pleasure. That’s when I met and became friends with Roman Zinchenko - co-founder of Greencubator. He liked the way I worked (I think most of all he was impressed by the Sustainability Summit Gantt chart which I drew at one of the organisers meetings), so

worked on a couple of projects together. Anya decided that we would make a great team organising such a complex international event as ASK. Luckily she was close to truth in her assumption!

- What has been already done when you joined the project?

Previous team did a great job in fundraising, we had a part of our organisers’ team confirmed, Mr. President Martin Hoffmann was invited and a nice patterned logo was chosen.

- How have you shared the responsibilities between two project managers?

That’s a tough one. At the beginning there was no strict division, we divided tasks more intuitively, based on what each of us felt more comfortable doing and what we were good at.

For example, Anya was always result-oriented and I was making sure everyone enjoyed the

«ASK organizers’ team is the best team in my life!»

working. Later on we also divided the teams we supervised, keeping a closer eye on our team’s activities (small project insight – all ASK organisers were divided into four teams, namely Team on PR, Team on HR, Team on Venues & Logistics and Team on Food and Supply).

- How it was to work together with Anya?

ASK organisers team was one of the strongest teams I had a pleasure to work with. It had a perfect balance of diversity, gender and experience. I’m grateful I had an opportunity to work with all of these wonderful people and especially with Anya! In spite of the fact that we have different personalities – we share common values and it was very comfortable and fun working with her. I have learned a lot from her and from the whole ASK team.

Anya is highly professional and talented leader; she can keep 100 things in mind and quickly

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switch between them when it’s most needed.

Her brain is like a well-tuned sophisticated mechanism with plenty of Plans B, C, D and down the alphabet for each possible scenario.

Her reaction in crisis situations is very fast and immediate. Apart from that she is an understanding colleague and a wise friend.

Even being hundreds of kilometers apart on Kyiv-Berlin axis I felt constant care and support from her.

Maybe because of the difference in our leadership styles and approaches we were able to cover more issues and make ASK Forum more diverse and interesting not

only for participants, but for organisers and officials as well.

ASK felt like dreams coming true and I was happy to live it through with Anya, Martin and ASK team and enjoy our work together.

by Olya Budinskaya

31 Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless. (c) Jamie Paolinetti

Opportunities

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33 Studying abroad as an opportunity to see the world

34 Being a student isn’t hard. But sometimes preparing for seminars and finals takes too much time and you have no idea how to travel a lot. Fortunately there are some options for mobile people who like to get a new experience and knowledge and to see new countries at the same time. That’s the programs for studying abroad.

And in this article I want to tell you about more about it.

You have a great chance to spend one year in Poland by the Scholarship program named by Lane Kirkland and funded by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation. They give a scholarship of1800 PLN per month and also the possibility to make your own research in Polish University (for 2 semesters) in Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan orWroclaw with a professional internship afterwards.

If you want to apply for this program you should have a master’s degree; be a citizen of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan not more than 35 years old; speak Polish language at sufficient level and have at least 2-years work experience.

So you should hurry up to prepare all the needed documents and apply now to go to Poland, see the country, its culture, people and have fantastic experience. For detailed info please follow this link: http://www.kirkland.edu. pl/ If you are eager to explore cultural and scientific aspects of the US, along with gaining new knowledge in the field of your academic interest, don’t hesitate to apply for the Fulbright Graduate Student Program. This program is for students of senior courses and university graduates. Scholarship will cover your university fees, pocket money, medical insurance and round-trip tickets.

Eligibilityrequirements are as follows: being a Ukrainian citizen and live in Ukraine during the application process, speak English at thesufficient level for Professional Communication; hold a Bachelor’s degree and be able to come back in Ukraine after the program.

More information you can find at the official web-site: http://www.fulbright. org.ua/ .

So only you should decide what to do. You’re not a tree. Feel yourself young, mobile, smart and use all the opportunities which you have now. Start right now and all your dreams will come true very soon. All you need is just never give up and always look for the best.

by Mary Stronska