An international volunteer forum was held in UzhNU
On Friday, 10 May, an international volunteer forum was held at UzhNU, with the participation of organisations from Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and other countries that help Ukrainians and the armed forces in the fight against the Russian aggressor. The event was initiated by the NGO ‘Association of Political Scientists and Internationalists of UzhNU’ with the support of Uzhhorod National University, Transcarpathian Regional Military Administration, NGO ‘Volunteer UzhNU’, the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of UzhNU, the World Congress of Ukrainian Youth Organisations and the NGO ‘Institute for Democratisation and Development’ (Kyiv). Partners of the forum were the international network of Carpathian Foundations, Ukrainian Association ‘Unity’ (Budapest, Hungary), Union of Ukrainians in Romania, Slovak-European Cultural Society ‘Feman’ (Kosice, Slovak Republic). The forum included an international roundtable discussion: ‘The role and place of volunteer organisations in Ukraine and the EU in supporting Ukraine during the war’. The international event was opened by the Vice-Rector of UzhNU Myroslava Lendyel, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Yuriy Ostapets and the Deputy Head of the Transcarpathian Regional Military Administration Yuriy Huzynets.
Also at the opening, the Head of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration Anatoliy Kliuchkovych, the Head of the Slovak-European Cultural Society Feman Eduard Burash, the Head of the NGO Ukrainian Association Unity (Budapest, Hungary), Victoria Petrovska, the Head of the Carpathian Foundation Slovakia Laura Dittel, and Mariana Kasiv-Hurak, Deputy President of the World Congress of Ukrainian Youth Organisations. The meeting was also attended by Consul of the Consulate General of Hungary Tomas Bezseg.
During the roundtable, Oleksiy Shafranyosh presented a documentary video about the activities of Ukrainian and EU volunteer organisations supporting Ukraine during the war.
The roundtable was followed by thematic presentations by the participants. Kristina Tovt, Head of the NGO Volunteer UzhNU, Assistant Rector of Uzhhorod National University, spoke about the activities of Volunteer UzhNU during the Russian-Ukrainian war. She stressed that a significant basis for the success of this initiative was its institutionalisation and organisational work, which allowed it to work actively in many international projects. Ruslan Zhylenko, PhD in History, Director of the Carpathian Foundation, Associate Professor of Sociology and Social Work, spoke about the activities of the Carpathian Foundation during the Russian-Ukrainian war. He touched upon many important issues of development and support of the volunteer movement that arose in the third year of the full-scale war with Russia.
Ruslan Zhylenko, PhD in History, Director of the Carpathian Foundation, Associate Professor of Sociology and Social Work, spoke about the activities of the Carpathian Foundation during the Russian-Ukrainian war. He touched upon many important issues of development and support of the volunteer movement that arose in the third year of the full-scale war with Russia.
Eduard Burash spoke about the volunteer activities of the Slovak-European Cultural Society ‘Feman’ during the Russian-Ukrainian war, Victoria Petrovska spoke about the volunteer activities of the NGO ‘Ukrainian Association Unity’ in Hungary during the Russian-Ukrainian war.
World Bank consultant in the Slovak Republic, volunteer of the NGO ‘Podaj dalej’ in Prešov. Vladimir Bench spoke about the activities of his own civic initiative, conducted an analytical review of the assistance provided, and emphasised that Podaj dalej provides targeted assistance to specific institutions and units with which it has already established long-standing and sustainable contact. The head of the NGO ‘Union of Rusyns-Ukrainians of the Slovak Republic’ Pavlo Bohdan spoke about the humanitarian activities of the organisation during the war. Also speaking at the event was Alexander Mushinka, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Presov, who spoke about Roma refugees from Ukraine during the Russian-Ukrainian war in Slovakia in light of the publicity in the public opinion.
Deputy Chairman of the National Congress of Ukrainians of Moldova Roman Russu presented the volunteer movement in support of Ukraine in the Republic of Moldova.
Gabor Prokai, a volunteer of the Carpathian Foundation (Hungary), spoke about the participation of volunteers from the Carpathian Foundation in Hungary in supporting Ukraine during the war.
Another interesting presentation was made by volunteers of the NGO ‘Iniciativa Aktualyty’ from the Slovak Republic, led by Randi Grich. They have created an information resource that informs Slovak readers about current events in Ukraine. The volunteers also organise campaigns to help Ukrainians.
Serhii Topolianskyi, a senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, spoke about the implementation of the People's Drone project at Uzhhorod National University and his own experience of collecting FPV drones.
Oleksandr Bertolon, Deputy Head of the NGO ‘Association of Political Scientists and Internationalists of UzhNU’, PhD student at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, spoke about the role and place of the Ukrainian diaspora in organising the volunteer movement in Central Europe during the Russian-Ukrainian war.
During the forum, participants had the opportunity to learn about various volunteer initiatives and communicate in an informal setting.
In addition, an exhibition of photographs about volunteer assistance from the NGO Podaj dalej (Presov, Slovakia) was presented in the hall of the UzhNU administration.
