Director's diary: We are live!

15-04-2021

The Youth House has taken its first steps! Read the director's review of the past month.

Spring is here, and as winter is finally letting go, The Ukrainian-Danish Youth House activities have been kicked off. After many months of preparation, we have taken the step from being an idea on some documents to being a virtual Youth House. It is a big step for us, and we are working hard to make this a great place for all - online and offline.

The past months have been intense and very productive. Since I started on February 15^th, we have gotten an identity and a virtual home! This website and our Facebook page give us a platform where we communicate with you all. So here you will find information about all our upcoming activitiesas well as get an insight into where we are at.

And activities are coming up in plenty! We had our kick-off event on April the 6^th, marking the start of our online activities. A whole lot of you watched our livestream, and we have received so much positive feedback on the Ukrainian-Danish Youth House coming in from all directions, so I just want to say a big thank you to Mr Lars Bo Møller (Danish Foreign Ministry), Ms Maryna Popatenko (Ukrainian Ministry for Youth and Sports), Petrine, Bogdana from The Danish Youth Council’s cross-political network, and Anka and Anton from The Danish Cultural Institute’s anti-corruption theatre project Corrupt:off! Thanks for joining me and showing the amazing things you are creating, and which we want to continue in the Youth House.

We already have planned a Cultural Shuffle, a SPRINT-workshop and a lot of other good things to come – so I hope to see many of you joining us!

Since the Youth House is all about youth and people and exchanging ideas, it is also great to see that so many have already joined our online community. This group is for all of you who want to be a part of the core community of the Ukrainian-Danish Youth House. If you would like to volunteer in the future, share ideas or take initiative to events, this is the place to do it!

Our Advisory Boardwas selected a while ago, and we are having our first meeting the 20^th of April. I am looking forward to hearing all the perspectives they can bring, representing two countries and a whole wide range of organisations and experiences.

One of the big developments is that the Secretariat in Kyiv is expanding. On April 6, Roman Tyshchenko joined the team as Start-Up and House Manager. He came from a position at the USAID anti-corruption SACCI program. In the Youth House, he will be managing the House – once it is established – and our public program.

To give a better impression of Roman, I asked him a few questions:

What potential do you see in the UDYH?

“I think the Youth House can become a safe space for youth from different (also vulnerable) groups, where folks will feel comfortable being their true selves. I am not talking only about our physical building in Kyiv (it will be cool and safe, for sure!), but I also mean our programming in general (which will go far beyond Kyiv). It can be a platform for dialogue between people with different views. If we respect each other, everyone can have their opinion and feel safe about expressing themselves. This is super important in our polarized society!"

What will be your contribution to the project?

"Of course, as House Manager I’ll mostly be responsible for implementing our public program and making sure it aligns with the initial goals of the Youth House. Since I have interacted with many civil society and youth organizations, I want to develop and expand this network by offering them various capacity building and networking opportunities. Of course, I am also happy to continue engaging youth in anti-corruption activities (after I have had some rest :D) as I did for the past two years – there are so many fun instruments that are waiting to be used! However, my greatest dream is to help young people in more remote parts of Ukraine. Born and raised in a small town in Central-Eastern Ukraine, I know how limited the opportunities for youth can be. Thus, I want to create programs that will integrate those young people into civil society and erase the borders between them."

What will you emphasize in managing the house and the public program?

"In Ukrainian, “house” also means “home.” And I genuinely believe that it will be our unofficial motto for the coming years! I want our team to come to work and think of it as of our second home where everyone has their duties but also feels very comfortable and “hyggelig.” Likewise, I want the UDYH to feel like home for our visitors and members where they will feel inspired to co-create projects and build connections without any pressure. However, I want to emphasize that the Youth House won’t tolerate any sort of disrespect or hate. It is important to remember that freedom of speech and expression that we want to ensure and encourage will never supersede human dignity and safety."

I am very excited to have Roman on board, and you will see him in our two next events.

Also, Nina Bondar joins the team on Monday 19^th to assist with our communication! You will soon be able to see her traces on different platform. It is great to see the team growing, so we can do more for the users of the House.

We are all waiting for the physical House in Kyiv - and we are in the process of investigating a building, so stay tuned. I am very excited to reveal it to you, once everything falls into place.

I am myself also very excited to relocate from Copenhagen to Kyiv, to start working from Ukraine, and not just from Denmark. Hopefully, I will be arriving in Kyiv in the beginning of May, so I can still enjoy the wonderful Ukrainian spring.

These are difficult times, but we still have to look forward and do our best to create something constructive.

Take care, all of you! I look forward to next time we interact.

Best wishes,
Julie

Director's diary: We are live!

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