Diversity Initiative

Promoting Intercultural Dialogue in Ukraine

Responding to an increase in the number of suspected racially motivated attacks in Ukraine beginning in December 2006, the IOM, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Amnesty International and other concerned civil society organizations formed the Diversity Initiative in April 2007 to begin addressing the issue in a coordinated way.

The Diversity Initiative (DI) strives to uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants, refugees and visible minorities in Ukraine. It currently includes over 65 organizations from the international, civil, corporate, and Government sectors as well as diplomatic missions and interested individuals.

There are three main areas of action:
· Government liaison, which seeks to support Government activities that encourage intercultural dialogue;
· Legal affairs, which provides analysis of existing legislation in the area of discrimination and bias motivated crimes, it also researches good legal practices from other countries;
· Advocacy, which seeks to engage civil society and the broader population. Activities include research and surveys, round tables, cultural events, monthly bulletins, fliers and debates.

Key Objectives · Provide a platform and forum for civil society to network with each other and with Ukrainian Government representatives.
· Support the Ukrainian Government’s interventions in the areas of promoting cultural understanding and interagency cooperation.
· Collect and disseminate verified and standardized statistics as well as other relevant information relating to suspected racially motivated crimes in Ukraine.
· Engage in public awareness raising and educational activities to encourage intercultural dialogue.

Beneficiaries 

·Migrants, asylum seekers, foreign students, visible minorities and citizens of Ukraine
· Non-governmental organizations who participate in the network’s mailing list and other activities
· Governmental counterparts

Projects

·    CIDA-funded project “Promoting Cultural Dialogue in Zakarpattya and Lviv Regions in Ukraine’’

·    UK-funded project “Development of a University Education Module on Cultural Awareness

·    UK-funded project “Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Discrimination from Ukrainian Police Investigation Documents”

·    IOM-funded project “Promoting Values of Multiculturalism in ‘Living Library’ Events”

Photo-Contest “Citizen of the World”

The Diversity Initiative invites people to take part in a photography competition spotlighting cultural diversity. Participants can post photographs on the Facebook group page (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=112443798769327) to be judged by fellow contestants and also send their submissions to kiev.diversity@iom.int where they will be accessed by a panel of judges and potentially used in mobile photography competitions taking place during Living Library events in twelve cities of Ukraine. By utilizing a social networking site as the basis for the competition, contestants can see what cultural diversity means to people spanning the globe.

New E-card collection of visionaries of the 20^th century

The Diversity Initiative partner NGO East European Development Institute and Gudimov Art Centre have created an animated ‘e-card’ collection detailing the lives of twelve outstanding individuals, who made morality a defining component in their struggle to change the politics and art of the 20^th century. Their legacy will serve as a moral lighthouse guiding future generations to come. The e-card collection is intended to remember these visionaries throughout the year by celebrating their birthdays.

These e-cards can be sent to anyone via e-mail by downloading following the link http://diversipedia.org.ua/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&layout=category&task=category&id=24&Itemid=6&lang=en

Living Library events

The “Living Library” event is a system whereby the “books” of the “library” are individuals from different social or ethnic backgrounds, and the “readers” of the books are high school or university students. The event serves as a tool for opening dialogue between people, and in doing so provides an informal setting in which to ask questions and discuss stereotypes or prejudices. The IOM Mission in Ukraine has adopted the concept of “Living Library” from the model introduced by the Danish civil society organization “Stop the Violence” in 2000 (for more details please visit http://living-library.org/the-history.html).

To date, 195 students have participated as ‘readers’ and 65 individuals as “books” in five ‘Living Library’ events. According to results of the post-event questionnaire, 92% of respondents would recommend attending a similar event to their friends and 93% found the Living Library format “cool”.

Quote from student participant:

“This is an ideal way to get acquainted with people form different cultures, make our countries closer and find friends!”