Our people in the Ukraine

A meeting/ workshop, organized by EuroCom from Berlin and Ukrainian environmental organizations, was held in Tarnopol in the Ukraine, April 8-10, 1994. The purpose of the meeting, which was attended by Tomasz Terlecki of the Polish Ecological Club and Darek Szwed of the Green Federation in Krakow, was to discuss with environmental groups from the Ukraine the possibility of forming an information center for Ukrainian environmental organizations. EuroCom e. V. of Berlin, together with groups from Eastern Ukraine, have already set up such a center in Kiev. The center in Tarnopol will serve groups from Western Ukraine and will begin operating in June or July, 1994.

The duties of the Tarnopol center will be as follows:

1. Arranging workshops.
2. Distributing information to groups.
3. Assisting in the development of projects.
4. Ensuring access to information concerning Western (chiefly European Union) organizations, foundations, etc.
5. Conducting training in the offices of EuroCom in Berlin or with us in Krakow.
6. Publishing bulletins.
7. Maintaining contact with the Kiev office.

The presence of two people from Poland formed a link between Germany and the Ukraine. In Krakow we have a lot of experience in setting up this type of regional information center (e.g. the Ecological Office which has been in operation since 1993). Thanks to the meeting we were able to share our experience and offer assistance. In addition we were able to give the groups from the Ukraine information about obtaining funding, about international cooperation, and about the character of the environmental movement in Poland.

Our conclusions from the meeting: the environmental groups in the Ukraine are at a preliminary stage of development and can therefore benefit from the broad range of experiences (and mistakes!) of groups in Poland over several years. They are very interested in joint activities with groups in Poland.

Darek Szwed
Cracow Group of the Green Federation

For those interested in contacting the Tarnopol office, we give their temporary contact address (correspondence can be in Polish):

Irina Twerdostup
Biuro EuroComu dla Zachodniej Ukrainy
Siczinskogo 10, 282001 Tarnopol
007-035-29234,
fax: 007-035-26194

reprinted from "Zielone Brygady" no 5(59), May 1994