Annual overview 2005

Facing the perspective of our first little anniversary – 5 years – and being freshly baked SCI group, we have started the year with serious intention of getting registered, which has happened so as well – so finally we can call ourselves Interregional Voluntary Organization “SVIT-Ukraine”, active in Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkov, Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk regions, created for promotion, support and development of volunteering in Ukraine.

The year has started, as usual, with search for workcamps and their development, sending delegate to the TEM and East-West Coordination meeting, organized by SCI-Germany in Leipzig. In the continuation of UNCRO Program of Milieukontakt the last training on volunteering took place. Several workcamps were also supported in the framework of this program: "City of plastic bottles" and "Kleban Byk". With support of Jucker-Mauderly Fund of SCI-Switzerland we have organized two more projects, "English for Children" and gender workcamp “Strong-Equal!”. The fifth project, Paraskoveyevka, was realized with financial support of “Omahans for Orphans”. A group of our volunteers attended anti-racist project “Strange Is Beautiful” inLeipzig, organized by SCI-Germany, and gender seminar, organized by IAL Sweden.

Two EVS volunteers have started their service with SVIT member organizations – Jasmin Soehner in “Ecoschool” project of ECC “Bakhmat”, and Natacha Pastoukoff in Green World Lugansk.

With support of SCI-Switzerland Jucker-Mauderly Fund our first campleader training was organized, which has allowed us to involve new activists in leading our workcamps, and have more exchange between local groups from different cities. As continuation of “Tool for Change”, a new bilateral project was developed. With the year coming to its end, we started jointly with SCI-Germany planning International Chernobyl Study Visit, and participate to new large-scale project “Youth Transcending New Frontiers”.