Ukrainian Platform

On March 29-30, an international seminar “Intercultural Cities: Ukrainian Platform” was held in Kyiv organized by the Development Centre “Democracy through Culture” jointly and with support of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and the Council of Europe.

Representatives of Ukrainian cities gathered in Kyiv to sign a Memorandum on Ukrainian Platform of Intercultural Cities (see below) and give a start to the national network. The following cities signed the Memorandum: Melitopol, Yuzhne, Lutsk, Zhytomyr, Pryluky, Nizhyn, Khmelnytsky, Vinnytsia, Kherson. A founder and a director of the intercultural centre Mondinsieme in Reggio Emilia, Adil El Marouakhi, shared the experience of the Italian network of intercultural cities and presented projects realized by the intercultural centre.

Ukrainian cities agreed that the intercultural approach is a process transforming local communities and allowing them to use their cultural diverse resources. More information about the Ukrainian Platform see on the Council of Europe website: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/culture/cities/Ukraine_en.asp

MEMORANDUM

OF UKRANIAN PLATFORM OF INTERCULTURAL CITIES

Given that:

а) global processes of cultural diversity don’t avoid Ukraine demanding new approaches in resolving social, economic and cultural problems;

b) overwhelming majority of Ukrainian cities are historically not mono-cultural but a result of interaction and coexistence of various cultures during;

c) traditional conflict-free and respectful existence of various national cultures in local communities of Ukraine could provide an effective fulcrum for building policy of intercultural activities on new level;

d) intercultural urban development strategy experienced and developed within the frames of ICC Programme (CoE/EU) allows cities to introduce new mechanisms of governance, participation, inter-sectoral interaction, project approaches for successful future development;

e) collaboration with existing networks and associations of intercultural cities in Europe, Italy opens possibilities for efficient cooperation, sharing of experience and ideas;

f) Ukraine actively supports the principle of intercultural dialogue proposed by Europe considering it as a priority of the national policy basing upon such important documents as the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue of the Council of Europe, the Agenda 21 for Culture, etc.,

Ukrainian cities signing the Memorandum are committed to:

а) set up a Ukrainian platform of intercultural cities embodying ideas of ICC Programme, following principles and approaches of this programme, using its methods, instruments and expert resources to provide successful development of Ukrainian cities and their active interaction with European networks;

b) develop and coordinate common action plan for three next years and the plan of international cooperation with networks of intercultural and creative cities of Europe;

c) propose Ukrainian Government to consider the platform of intercultural Ukrainian cities as a state targeted programme for 2012-2015;

d) develop ideas of creative projects in separate cities, joint projects within the platform and international projects with European cities;

e) encourage new cities to join the platform;

f) promote creation and support of a special website of the platform of Ukrainian intercultural cities and distribution /sharing of information and knowledge between cities in Ukraine and Europe;

g) define mechanisms of project implementation on international, national level as well as on the level of separate cities.

The objectives of the Ukrainian platform of intercultural cities are:

learning and applying of best practices of European cities in the development of successful local communities using resources of cultural diversity; introduction of new forms of efficient governance on local level which will allow interests of diverse groups presenting in a local community, unite efforts of different sectors, mobilize internal resources influencing on a community quality of life; establish close creative and partner relations between local communities in Ukraine and Europe which will further development of individual areas or local industries; make education, culture, economy and media priority partners and participants of the process.

To provide the implementation of this Memorandum the parties shall establish the Working Group which will meet no less than twice per year in one of member cities inviting to these meetings partners and experts from the Council of Europe and EU. The coordinator of Memorandum implementation will be the Development Centre “Democracy through Culture”.






		Ukrainian Platform On March 29-30, an international seminar “Intercultural Cities: Ukrainian Platform” was held in Kyiv organized by the Development Centre “Democracy through Culture” jointly and with support of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and the Council of Europe. Representatives of Ukrainian cities gathered in Kyiv to sign a Memorandum on Ukrainian Platform of Intercultural Cities (see below) and give a start to the national network. The following cities signed the Memorandum: Melitopol, Yuzhne, Lutsk, Zhytomyr, Pryluky, Nizhyn, Khmelnytsky, Vinnytsia, Kherson. A founder and a director of the intercultural centre Mondinsieme in Reggio Emilia, Adil El Marouakhi, shared the experience of the Italian network of intercultural cities and presented projects realized by the intercultural centre. Ukrainian cities agreed that the intercultural approach is a process transforming local communities and allowing them to use their cultural diverse resources. More information about the Ukrainian Platform see on the Council of Europe website: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/culture/cities/Ukraine_en.asp MEMORANDUM OF UKRANIAN PLATFORM OF INTERCULTURAL CITIES Given that: а) global processes of cultural diversity don’t avoid Ukraine demanding new approaches in resolving social, economic and cultural problems; b) overwhelming majority of Ukrainian cities are historically not mono-cultural but a result of interaction and coexistence of various cultures during; c) traditional conflict-free and respectful existence of various national cultures in local communities of Ukraine could provide an effective fulcrum for building policy of intercultural activities on new level; d) intercultural urban development strategy experienced and developed within the frames of ICC Programme (CoE/EU) allows cities to introduce new mechanisms of governance, participation, inter-sectoral interaction, project approaches for successful future development; e) collaboration with existing networks and associations of intercultural cities in Europe, Italy opens possibilities for efficient cooperation, sharing of experience and ideas; f) Ukraine actively supports the principle of intercultural dialogue proposed by Europe considering it as a priority of the national policy basing upon such important documents as the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue of the Council of Europe, the Agenda 21 for Culture, etc., Ukrainian cities signing the Memorandum are committed to: а) set up a Ukrainian platform of intercultural cities embodying ideas of ICC Programme, following principles and approaches of this programme, using its methods, instruments and expert resources to provide successful development of Ukrainian cities and their active interaction with European networks; b) develop and coordinate common action plan for three next years and the plan of international cooperation with networks of intercultural and creative cities of Europe; c) propose Ukrainian Government to consider the platform of intercultural Ukrainian cities as a state targeted programme for 2012-2015; d) develop ideas of creative projects in separate cities, joint projects within the platform and international projects with European cities; e) encourage new cities to join the platform; f) promote creation and support of a special website of the platform of Ukrainian intercultural cities and distribution /sharing of information and knowledge between cities in Ukraine and Europe; g) define mechanisms of project implementation on international, national level as well as on the level of separate cities. The objectives of the Ukrainian platform of intercultural cities are: learning and applying of best practices of European cities in the development of successful local communities using resources of cultural diversity; introduction of new forms of efficient governance on local level which will allow interests of diverse groups presenting in a local community, unite efforts of different sectors, mobilize internal resources influencing on a community quality of life; establish close creative and partner relations between local communities in Ukraine and Europe which will further development of individual areas or local industries; make education, culture, economy and media priority partners and participants of the process. To provide the implementation of this Memorandum the parties shall establish the Working Group which will meet no less than twice per year in one of member cities inviting to these meetings partners and experts from the Council of Europe and EU. The coordinator of Memorandum implementation will be the Development Centre “Democracy through Culture”.