Is it possible to make changes without community support? Especially it concerns the social sphere and civil activity. How to deal with such problems and organize the work? The NGO OUM team visits Ukrainian regions and teachers active citizents in their local areas.
Our team members Ostap Stasiv and Natalya Sklyarskaya have lectured on social capital in three villages in Skole Region – Slavsko, Kozyova/Oryavchyk and Korostiv. More than 80 local people joined the events and learned about the role of mutual assistance, trust, cooperation in changemaking. We believe that common success always brings people together.
Social capital is readiness and ability to unite to solve problems using community resources. Here are some examples of such problems: conflicts with the state administration, illegal construction, deforestation, closure and raider seizure of enterprises, struggles against housing and communal services.
Therefore, our lecturers did not stop at explaining the value of social capital. They went deeper into the topic. Our lectors explained that you should have critical thinking skills, realistic vision and analytical skills to start successful and organize people around the issue.
Ostap and Natalya recommend to begin with “Social Capital” and go over to other courses concerning the actual problems of Ukrainian communities. The “Social Capital” course is part of the “Conscious Citizen School” – a complex program that explains how to organize and transform community problems into projects, work together and resolve the issues.
Our trip to Skole Raion, Lviv Oblast ended on July 22. But we will continue to work with the communities that helped us organize the event – NGO “Impulse” and State Enterprise “Suziria Korostav” and the audience.
We wish the communities and active citizens success and inspiration!
