One of the areas of our organization's work is advocacy. As a Ukrainian organization, we face localization problems and represent the interests of our community foundations.
That is why it is important for us to have our voice heard in the international arena and to take into account the Ukrainian context when making decisions.
One of these events was the Kyiv Café in Berlin, which was attended by the coordinator of the program Karolina Solyar.
"The event featured discussions on humanitarian aid, reconstruction, and political perspectives, but not all of them were attended by Ukrainians. For me, this is a reflection of the principle we are trying to lobby for in the localization: "Nothing for us without us," says Karolina.
During the panel discussion "Humanitarian work in Ukraine: New solutions and current challenges", Karolina had the opportunity to start discussions on topical issues for Ukraine.
Among the guests were Oleg Mutus, Chairman of the Board of Ukraine-Hilfe Berlin, and representatives of the Lieberco initiative, which has been operating in Ukraine since 2014, who are directly able to disseminate localization practices and influence the quality of their partnerships with Ukrainian organizations.
Raising the topic of localization and talking about it is an opportunity to set expectations of what we, as a Ukrainian society, plan to achieve in the near future, so that international partners and ministries can already think about how to adapt to it. After all, for German ministries, the proposal to allocate 25% of their aid directly to local organizations is as uncertain and uncomfortable as it is for most local organizations.
The second panel was devoted to the experience of German organizations that helped Ukraine during the full-scale invasion and their exhaustion. It is worth recalling that volunteers working directly in Ukraine cannot put the war on hold, so the option of "disappearing or professionalizing" does not actually exist, so we need to transform quickly. This is exactly the experience Karolina shared during the discussion