Online courses
The first experience of the Open University of Maidan (OUM) activities helped us to make several important conclusions. First of all, our team should apply different approaches and observe the issues from different perspectives to implement changes as it is hard to realize what will be needed in the process, what programs should be outlined and how to establish a systematic approach in one’s studying. Gained experience supported us in our decision to create “Concerned Activist’s School” educational program. This school is the result of facilitators', psychologists', activists', and leaders’ work. Implementing the experience of 26 events we had held all over Ukraine, we transformed the School into a branch of massive open online courses that provide a balanced and comprehensive base of knowledge about public activism, have straight structure and deliver simple and precise messages.
It is extremely crucial that “Concerned Activist’s School” as many other complex programs by the OUM is always changing and adopting concerning demands of the society and patterns of its development.
But how does it actually works? If you are interested in one of our massive open online courses and sign up for it, our platform automatically signs you up for all the online courses of this program.
Complex programs require not only the successful ending of the particular online courses but final assignment completing. When you end the course you may get your Certificate.
This part contains complex solutions of the issues in the civil society sphere. The main objective of the complex programs is to help us with an efficient understanding of the courses and experts effectiveness in answering complicated questions that are on your list. Topics of our courses may correlate with your particular problems and may be instrumental in the troubleshooting process.
The platform creates new opportunities for those responsible and active members of the communities who are ready to change themselves and their communities. Choose your program now and enjoy the education process on the OUM!
We often discuss our politicians, the Verkhovna Rada, deputies, but in fact we know not so much about how this whole political construction works. Some people have a superficial perception of the public administration processes, other people are partly familiar with the rights, responsibilities and tasks of deputies. And at the same time we pay their salaries from our own taxes and not understanding what we should receive in return. This situation should be corrected!
A new course “PRO Parliament: why do we need deputies” has launched at VUM online.
For whom is this course? This course is for everyone who realizes that without understanding the whole picture – how the Verkhovna Rada works – there will be no effective interaction between the government and the people.
The aim of the course is to help clarify the basic aspects of the Verkhovna Rada work, to consider the parliamentary “kitchen” and to demonstrate how citizens can influence the parliament.
The course is in Ukrainian. It is free and open to everyone.
The course was created with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Representation in Ukraine.
We have to pay taxes. When you start this course, you will be surprised at how much the average Ukrainian actually pays to the state. But in Ukraine, most people view this duty more as a bribe to officials. And unfortunately, this is partly true.
So what should be done to turn the "bribe" into a contribution to the common goal? What should be the tax sense in the democratic country?
This course is developed for a wide range of citizens who are interested to know how much, in what way and for what exactly they give their hard-earned money.
In this course you can find answers to the following key questions:
- Why should we pay taxes?
- What are the types of taxes, and why are there so many types?
- Are taxes really high in Ukraine?
- Why is the Ukrainian tax system inefficient?
- What do we propose to do to correct the situation?
The All-Ukrainian Day of Libraries is celebrated in Ukraine on September 30 each year. Especially for this professional holiday, the new course – “Libraries in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals” was launched on the VUM online platform.
Libraries are unique social institutions that can be included in all areas and spheres of public life, and have great potential to join their intensive progress. The same applies to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Here we are able to influence the implementation of tasks on the way to the Goals, as well as to involve as many people as possible in their implementation.
This online course focuses on the role of libraries in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The authors in an accessible form explain to participants the essence of each goal and demonstrate opportunities and successful examples – how libraries contribute to their achievement.
The course is aimed at librarians of all kinds and sincerely seeking to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals in their communities and globally.
The program is supported by 13 international partners: The European Union, the European Investment Bank, the US Embassy in Ukraine, as well as the governments of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Japan.
The course is in Ukrainian. It is free and open for everyone.
The online course “How to choose an apartment building manager” contains 6 useful lectures that will help the co-owners of an apartment building to put it in order and provide its quality service.
If the company that maintains your house is inactive, you are not satisfied with the services, the condition of the house becomes worse – it’s time to change the situation and hire proactive professionals and effectively monitor their work. How to do this? It is discussed in the proposed course.
It is intended for co-owners of apartment buildings and representatives of condominiums, as well as managers who want to improve their knowledge in this area and get useful advice. The course will be interesting for everyone who wants to learn more about the manager activities, the features of this status, as well as get step-by-step instructions for hiring a manager for an apartment building.
In this course participants will learn:
- Who is the manager and how do they differ from the “old model system”;
- What are the requirements for the status of the manager, what services they provide and how they should act during the service performance;
- How to hire the manager of an apartment building;
- How to organize the meeting of co-owners quickly and successfully;
- How to conclude a contract with the manager and monitor its services;
- How to comply with all legal requirements when changing the manager and terminating the contract.
A law on the bullying prevention has operated in Ukraine for two years. This is an extremely important step in creating a safe environment for children at school. But are we really ready to protect all categories of children from bullying?
According to a national survey of the school environment held by the NGO Tochka Opory in 2017, more than half of LGBT adolescents were physically abused, and almost 90% suffered from verbal harassment due to their sexual orientation or gender expression. More than 60% of such children never reported about these facts to school staff because they were sure that school staff would not interfere or that their actions would have no effect. Finally, 55.3% of respondents who approached school staff were instructed not to pay attention to harassment.
Bullying and adult indifference affect the mental health of LGBT children, their academic abilities, and their desire to continue their education. Children who suffer from bullying are more likely to be depressed and at increased risk of suicide.
What needs to be done to change this situation? We offer to listen to the course "School for all: a safe school environment".
The course combines videos, the experience of practitioners working with the problem, as well as a list of additional sources to continue the study process.
After completing the course and completing the internship, participants will receive a certificate.
The course is in Ukrainian. It is free of charge and open for everyone!
This course aims to improve the life quality of people with disabilities living in Ukraine by creating opportunities for inclusive online education with sign language translation and psychological support.
The main purpose of the course is to provide people with disabilities with the necessary knowledge and skills to ensure their basic rights and needs in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and other critical situations.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, people with disabilities became the most vulnerable in Ukraine. Due to the pandemic, people with disabilities lost the opportunity to meet their rights and needs, remained in complete social and information isolation. This is especially true for people with disabilities living in rural areas. Therefore, our online course with sign language translation will contribute to the formation of new behavior skills of people with disabilities in critical situations, as well as the development of algorithms for interaction, mutual assistance and response, and the formation of critical thinking.
The course contains the following blocks:
- Crises are challenges for everyone;
- How to behave during a pandemic (individual protection, basic needs and search for reliable information);
- Modern information technologies help people with disabilities;
- Psychological support for people with disabilities during the crisis (including information technology).
Fair and transparent elections are the key to the successful democratic development of the state. Every few years, citizens of Ukraine vote for their future, choosing the trajectory of the country's development through politicians whom they trust to represent their interests.
However, to achieve the election goals, candidates and political parties can use violations and manipulations: bribing voters, financing their campaign with "shadow" funds, using administrative resources, distributing fakes, and so on. All these actions affect the decisions of voters and the outcome of the election.
Therefore, to guarantee the elections to be transparent and the results show the conscious choice, citizens must have some information about candidates and parties throughout the election process. That is why it is important that journalists, bloggers, community activists, and other stakeholders be able to find and investigate election violations and communicate the results of investigations to the public.
The purpose of the course "How to investigate election violations" is to give information how to pursue high-quality investigations of violations of election law. The use of the acquired knowledge and skills will help to make elections in Ukraine more transparent and fairer, and the choice of citizens - conscious and responsible.
This course is for journalists, bloggers, public activists and all interested listeners who will monitor compliance with election laws in national and local elections.
After completing the course, participants will be able to independently find violations of election law, determine the subject of investigation, formulate a hypothesis and plan further work, deal with open sources, create briefs and prepare materials for publication in the media and social networks.
The course is in Ukrainian. It is free of charge and open for everyone!
On February 7, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the Law “On Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine (Regarding the Strategic Course of the State to Acquire Ukraine's Full Membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization)”.
It was with the adoption of this law that Ukraine first declared its state course towards the EU and NATO in the country's basic law - the Constitution.
We are a country that has been subjected to military aggression by the Russian Federation and the occupation of our territories. We have been waging a defensive war for six years, but there are still doubts in society as to whether Ukraine should achieve the membership in the world's most powerful security alliance, which includes developed and democratic countries. So this course is developed for the general public to tell about NATO and explain what kind of organization it is, what principles it includes and what values it is guided by.
We are a country where aftereffects of Soviet propaganda can still be notable. And as a result - a country in which a large proportion of people still form their position on NATO, based on various myths and populism of the sympathizers of the "Russian world". Therefore, this course is designed to dispel myths, provide verified information from primary sources, introduce experts who understand the geopolitical importance of the state's course for full membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and understand what we have already done in this direction. And how much we have to do.
Citizens lack the arguments to form their own critical stance on NATO and its importance to Ukraine, as well as the importance of Ukraine to NATO. Russia's hybrid war with Ukraine and the civilized world has violated the usual principles of security. Information has become a weapon that more effective than bullets and missiles. This means that Ukrainians need to form their own position, where there will be no place for the tragic Soviet past, but there will be a place for a quality and effective future.
The course was developed with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Representation in Ukraine (Kharkiv).
The course is in Ukrainian and it is free.
The course “Act further: Sustainable development for civic activists” is part of an educational product developed by the United Nations Development Program in Ukraine with the financial support of the German Government through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, which also includes the courses “Sustainable development for businesses” and “Sustainable development for civil servants”.
This course is an opportunity to understand our own role in the process, regardless of age, position, profession or field of activity.
It is today that we need to create not only a reliable, comfortable world, but also the livable environment to pass it to future generations. The task is not easy. Therefore, we need new knowledge and visions of how to proceed - #dali.
The course provides the following understanding and skills:
- Ability to think in the categories of sustainable development.
- Awareness of personal responsibility for its own impact on sustainable development.
- Understanding the causal relationships between the economic, environmental and social components of public life.
- Understanding how to define the goals and objectives of sustainable development for your community, as well as how to involve stakeholders in the partnership.
- Willingness to play a transformational role and act as an integrator to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Ukraine.
This course is for those who want to make improvements in their apartment blocks.
The information is given in a simple way so each person can easily learn how to organize the management of an apartment block and understand what else the housing and communal services reform provides for co-owners of apartment buildings.
During the course, participants will be able to gain knowledge in particular on the following issues:
- What is an apartment building and what is the property of all the co-owners;
- How co-owners can operate their apartment block;
- How to hold a meeting of co-owners and arrange housekeeping;
- Who is the manager and how to attract or refuse his services;
- What is the difference between the manager and the housing office of the old model;
- How to create a condominium (apartment blocks joint owners association);
- What are the options for homeowners through condominiums?
- What does the reform of housing and communal gives for the co-owners of apartment buildings?
- What happens if the co-owners do nothing for the apartment block?