In the second part of 2024, STAN made four trips, visiting the NGOs of Croatia, Czech Republic, Moldova, and Kyrgyzstan. Participating in the visits were members of NGO STAN and the partner organization, as well as young people from the different organizations and initiatives, activists, volunteers, and media workers. Keep reading to learn what was the goal of these trips, what were the young people able to learn, and how it affected them.

Destinations and reasons

Participants of the “Young Diversity Ambassadors” program often travel to visit their colleagues from different regions of the country. For instance, they arrange a trip to the Volyn region or Ciscarpathia, meeting with the local organizations and active members of the local communities and learning from their experience. That’s how new friendships and partnerships are forged. Traveling and communicating are just as important for youth education as workshops or work with mentors.

Recent STAN trips resemble traditional “ambassador” visits, but the scale is different. Young people come not to different regions, but rather to different countries. It allows them to see fundamentally new practices and approaches and look at their own work from a new perspective. Paradoxically, we always find plenty of common traits with the Ukrainian context, despite all the differences. For instance, Kyrgyzstan is a faraway country, but its people also have to deal with the burden of the Soviet legacy.

Each of the four visits had its topic and goals. In Kyrgyzstan, we discussed decolonization and studied the youth work of the local organizations. We went to the Czech Republic to learn of the student protests of the 20th and 21st centuries, studied the experience of the ecological initiatives in Moldova, and familiarized ourselves with the examples of the country’s recovery after the war in Croatia.

Not as tourists

At the same time, with these visits we strived to learn more about the countries, to look at them from a different angle, and to see beyond the surface created by the tourist industry or the Soviet stereotypes. “In a broader sense we did it to discover Moldova,” explains Valeria Tkachenko who facilitated the Moldovan visit. “There is this stereotypical image of a country that grows grapes and apples and brews wine, and other than that, we know nothing about their activities. When asked what they want to see there, people would choose the vineyards. But there are different organizations we can learn from. There is a tight-knit activist sector in Moldova.”

We need to keep in mind that when we get to know each other and learn from others, we also need to speak about ourselves. Dialogue is always a two-way process. “These trips are an important training for us, Ukrainian activists of the new generation. They teach us to build diplomatic relationships with the world,” explains Yaroslav Minkin, co-founder of STAN. “It’s an opportunity to represent Ukraine and debunk stereotypes. It is also an opportunity to study the global context. It’s a conscious decision to choose the little-known countries or the topics which are new for Ukraine.”

It goes without saying that such trips are an opportunity to connect with friends and partners and recharge your energy. Yaroslav Minkin explains, “Another goal is to provide people with a non-working environment where they can foster their bonds, oppose burnout, and remind themselves about this good old-fashioned communication.” It is also a matter of communication with foreign colleagues, people who share your values but utilize different approaches. Such contacts teach you to see more, to think big.

Meetings in Kyrgyzstan

The last trip of the year was travel to Kyrgyzstan which, arguably, was also the most eventful. The participants have been in the country for over a week. They visited the cultural center Kuduk, NGOs Idea Central Asia and Esimide, went to important museums and memorial sites.

“The trip focused on fighting the Russian imperialism and resistance,” muses Kateryna Shulakova, participant of the visit and alumna of the YDA program who currently works as the STAN project manager. “I saw two main topics: culture and decolonization. Not so much about decolonization but rather about the ongoing fight, because there is a persisting Russian influence.”

“Before going to Kyrzguzstan I didn’t know much about the context of Central Asia,” says Anastasia Perepelychenko, participant of the visit and editor-in-chief of Bomedia. “This trip was surprisingly eventful for me, and I returned full of inspiration. The political and activist climate in Kyrgyzstan is harsh, Russia’s influence is much more potent. For the first time, I saw how profoundly Russia as a neighboring country affects all the life spheres. The government had passed the law on foreign agents, which has put the activists under enormous pressure and threat of arrest. It is risky to directly speak about human rights. These circumstances are not conducive to the development of civil society. But I was amazed how people we met keep doing their thing and believe in the power of change.”

Current relations with Russia is by no means the only common feature of civil society of Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. Among other things, we both have to cope with the traumas caused by the Soviet past. “We got to know the Esimde organization,” Valeria says. “They are historians. Prior to the full-scale invasion, they went to the Ukrainian archives, studying how Kyrgyz people were deported to the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. At the time, they started to cultivate cotton there, and they needed people who knew how to do it. If I am not mistaken, it happened under Stalin’s reign. In general, there is plenty of experience we both have to talk about, to come to terms with the broader context of Stalin’s and Soviet crimes. These are atrocious things, atrocious personal stories. Collectivization was such a profound trauma for them… They have their traumatic experience, and we have ours. It is important to have the space for discussion.”

The communication with the members of the IDEA CA organization was also thought-provoking. Often it focused on the tools or approaches that would be beneficial to Ukraine. Some of these topics are IDEA’s work with young people, their media projects, and most of all, their ability to roll with the punches. “IDEA made me understand the importance of a good plan, good politics, and quality documentation,” Kateryna Shulakova says. “For example, they have a plan in case they would be designated as foreign agents. They have built a strategy and communication politics. This organization does thorough preparations.”

“We keep in touch with everyone we met there,” says Kateryna, adding to the topic of collaboration and experience exchange. “We made an arrangement with IDEA Central Asia. They have a powerful media component and we want to learn more of their work. On their part, they want to learn from us about creative fundraising strategies. The foreign agents’ law hinders the activities of international organizations, which prompts them to search for new tools. After the full-scale invasion, we developed a full-fledged donation culture, which is new to them.”

Unity

When asked about the most important aspect of the trip, Anastasia Perepelychenko answers: people. She adds, “I experienced a profound sense of unity with women of the whole world. The women we met were wonderful and inspirational. We must have come from totally different cultures, but I feel that we could find common ground. And I was inspired by feeling part of the global women community. On the last day, girls from IDEA gifted us headscarves. I’ve got an orange one with an illustration depicting several women. It’s a symbol of sisterhood. For me this artifact, this gift encapsulates the essence of the trip. I would like to feel the same in Ukraine. It’s not like we don’t have it, on the contrary. But I found a need to feel support and foster sisterhood in Ukraine. It may sound weird, but it is really valuable for me.”

It is hard to overestimate the role of community, the need to come together. Finding a common ground, coming together, and collaborating have played a key part in the rise of humanity. Long time ago, these things formed homo sapiens. They shape our present and define our future. They allowed separate voices to merge into a voice of the democratical liberal humanity and fight for human rights, that is, the rights of every single human.

Civil society is a manifestation of unity. When we speak about its part, “Young Diversity Ambassadors”, first of all, we speak about the community. Yes, it is an educational community and an opportunity to grow and implement ideas. At the same time, it’s a community which helps the separate voices to become a powerful voice speaking fot the youth. That’s an open community, open to new partnerships in Ukraine or abroad, open to young people who are ready to grow.

The project “A network for democracy: Building a future with the European leaders of tomorrow” is implemented by the NGO “STAN” and ActionAid in partnership with the NGO “Center for Social Transformations TENET”, NGO “Insight”, NGO “Chernivtsi Association “Zakhyst” with the support of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Denmark). This project is a part of the program “Young Diversity Ambassadors”

This is a program for youth and youth workers to strengthen social cohesion to create an inclusive, peaceful society, minimize the likelihood of conflicts arising between different groups, and accelerate the integration of young IDPs. The program is implemented by the NGO “STAN” in partnership with the Alliance for Rights, Equality and International Solidarity “ActionAid” with the support of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), Global Fund for Children (USA), Terre Des Hommes (Germany) and IM Swedish Development Partner (Sweden).