Annual report of Democracy House
4th of July 2017 – 4th of July 2018
Democracy House was established as a Ukrainian think tank on July 4, 2017.
In the second half of 2017, members of Democracy House were primarily in engaged in institutional capacity building. In particular, they defined organization’s mission, vision, purposes and priority areas, creation of website, recruitment of staff members and other administrative matters (including anti-corruption and procurement policies, code of conduct etc.).
At the same time, members of Democracy House were elaborating project ideas, seeking opportunities to implement project ideas and submitting applications for respective project calls.
However, Democracy House did not receive any external funds throughout 2017.
Likewise, Democracy House was not audited in 2017.
In the first half of 2018, Democracy House has had the following income resources:
- The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (EUR 2,000) within the project Crosssectoral impact of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement on Ukrainian economy (July 2017 – July 2018). Experts of Democracy House prepared a comprehensive research on how the Association Agreement effected various sectors of Ukrainian economy. A presentation of the paper is scheduled for the end of July 2018.
- Since January 2018, Democracy House has been implementing the project Ukraine at Glance (own contribution which covers printing, translating, editing and designing costs). The project is aimed at sharing in-depth analysis of current political, economic and security development in Ukraine with foreign stakeholders. Within the project, experts of Democracy House prepare monthly publications U at Glance and weekly publications Week at Glance. Moreover, Democracy House conducts monthly briefings for foreign stakeholders at various Embassies where experts present Glance at Glance editions. As of June 2018, Democracy House presented 6 U at Glance editions (in the Embassies of Poland, Switzerland, Estonia, Latvia, Netherlands and Germany) and disseminated 27 Week at Glance editions among foreign stakeholders (around 400 addressees in the mailing list).
- The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (EUR 5,000) within the project Facilitation of the decentralization reform in Vinnytsia region (February 2018 – September 2018). Experts of Democracy House conducted three consultations with local stakeholders (local officials, businessmen and civic activists) and facilitated the elaboration of the Strategic Development Plan of the Bratslav United Territorial Community.
- Since July 2018, Democracy House has been implementing the project «Promotion of respect for international humanitarian law by Ukrainian military servants». (Project supported by MATRA program Embassy of Netherlands – 50 000 EURO). The project will promote the respect for human rights in armed conflict, including the protection of civilians living in the combat zone in Eastern Ukraine, the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs) held by Ukrainian combatants as well as the rules and customs of warfare. Raising awareness of human rights in armed conflict by means of specific trainings for Ukrainian military servants will encourage the protection of vulnerable groups in armed conflict. In turn, such measures will help prevent massive war crimes and other gross violation of human rights from the Ukrainian side in the future. Finally, many Ukrainian combatants will manage to avoid accountability with regard to warfare in Eastern Ukraine.
- Democracy House established partnerships with the following international institutions: Atlantic Council, Bellingcat, Freedom House and the Forum Civil Peace Service (forumZFD) and Geneva Call.
- Democracy House experts promotes and disseminates publications by the Atlantic Council and Bellingcat (Minsk Monitor project).
- Experts of Democracy House participated in professional events organized by other organizations. In April 2018, an expert of Democracy House Yevgeniy Yaroshenko participated in the workshop “Systemic Conflict Analysis”, organized by forumZFD in Odessa. In June 2018, an expert of Democracy House Vasyl Povoroznyk took part in the conference “Shaping the Social Dimension of the EU Association Agreements with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine”, organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Brussels.
- Members of Democracy House give consultations to members of diplomatic corps on current political and economic situation in Ukraine (over 20 consultations have been conducted since January 2018).
- Experts of Democracy House regularly make TV and Radio appearances, commenting and analyzing latest developments in Ukraine’s domestic and foreign policy (since January 2018 experts provided media with around 240 professional commentaries).