Ukraine

PDCS is a non-governmental organization providing professional training and facilitation services, consultancy and advisory services in areas of conflict resolution, support of dialogue in the society, citizen participation and civil society development in Slovakia and abroad.

We have been bringing to life the slogan of our organization „The Joy of Learning, Deliberation, and Change“ since 1991 when PDCS was started at the Comenius University in Bratislava as part of the international educational program of Partners for Democratic Change. In 1994, an independent PDCS foundation was established which has continued as a civic association since 1997. We are also members of the Partners Network (https://www.partnersglobal.org/) comprising 20 partner centers which share the same mission and values of democratic change.

For a long time we have worked to co-create and strengthen the democratic culture, spread participation approaches and mechanisms for dialogue and conflict prevention. We have provided help in international development programs and arranged cultured dialogue among various interest groups. We fulfill our mission by working with nonprofit organizations, public administration institutions and cross-sector partnerships. Our training courses have been attended by over 25,000 participants in Slovakia and 45 countries and regions of the world, including Abkhazia, Afghanistan, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kirgizstan, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Russia, Senegal, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the United States, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

PDCS also published 30 books in 8 languages.

The Federation for Social Defence (German: Bund für Soziale Verteidigung, BSV) is an independent, non-governmental organisation based in Minden, Germany, that unites people and organisations of pacifist and antimilitarist conviction. The BSV was founded in 1989 as an umbrella organisation to promote social defence and other alternatives to the military, and to work for total disarmament. Its creation was the result of a big conference on social or civilian-based defence held in Minden, Germany, a year earlier. Currently, we actively support civil rights groups in Belarus and Ukraine, are engaged in advocacy work to promote the concept of Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping (UCP), and seek to counter the militarization of youth in (German) schools through peace education.

The Democratic Society East Foundation (DSE) is a public service organization established in 2002. The Foundation's mission is the development of civic society through education in Poland and countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Major activities conducted by DSE in recent years:

I. Global Education Projects
a) Long-term program "How to Operate and Cooperate, How to Exist and Co-exist in the Modern World" – educational materials and training for the teachers
b) Competitions for the Best Initiative in the Field of Global Education (2005, 2007)
c) Global Education Festival (2006)
d) Volunteerism in the East (long term program)

II. Journalists in Civic Society
a) International seminar "Improving the Media. An International Exchange of Experience" (2005)
b) Free Media and Election Campaigns. Polish-Ukrainian Seminar for Television Journalists (2005)
c) Workshops for Beginning Journalists of the Polish Émigré Press in Moldova and Ukraine (2005)
d) Television Investigative Journalism as a Tool in Fighting Corruption – Training for Ukrainian Journalists (2006)

III. Support for Local Democracy in Ukraine
a) Cooperation between Polish and Ukrainian Local Governments
b) "Welcome to Europe" – Support for the Crimean Tatars
c) Polish-Ukrainian Youth Cooperation for the Development of Local Society

IV. Project to Activate, Educate and Integrate Senior Citizens

Hilfswerk Austria is one of the largest Austrian non-profit-organisations operating internationally in relief and development, and a member of the Austrian Hilfswerk. Our mission is to help victims of civil wars and natural disasters and to carry out development cooperation projects world wide, as well as providing development education.