Empowering young people in Ukraine

Empowering young people through innovative educational approaches is the key to a sustainable and prosperous democratic society. There are few countries in the world where this lesson is more pertinent than Ukraine, where civil society is engaged in democracy building and peacebuilding at the same time.

The New Vision NGO was created in June 2010 by a team of educators and activists who have decided to use their experience and knowledge to implement innovative educational projects in Ukraine.  From 2009 to today, the organization has been hosting an International Debate Tournament Dnipro Open in 3 languages ​​- Ukrainian, English, and Russian, which is traditionally devoted to issues of democracy, human rights, and multiculturalism. It assembles 40-42 debating teams. Every year the number of participants amounts to 210-250 people. The Dnipro Open is a tournament that collects the best debate teams from all over Ukraine and welcomes guests from other countries. This event involves not only teaching and learning debate, but also inspiring communication, which has engaged debate teams in the open discussion for the 12th consecutive year. 

The organization’s mission is to promote the principles of democracy and the development of civil society through the implementation of educational projects and programs aimed at the development of civic competences, innovation in education, cooperation, and collaboration with civil society, public authorities, and local government. NGO “New Vision” develops and implements educational projects related to teaching democracy, the formation of civic competences, and endorsement of the principles of education for sustainable development through open discussion, debate, critical thinking technology, effective communication, and interaction.

The Debate Tournament for secondary and high school students “XII DNIPRO OPEN 2020” will take place within the framework of the project “Public debate for civil society & community leaders.” This project aims to raise the awareness of the young people & leaders of the communities in all regions in Ukraine, utilizing the tools for effective communication to promote democratic values and implement decentralization and local-level cooperation. 

The project is aimed at educating young people to work with information to overcome the challenges to democracy during a hybrid war, developing the ability to distinguish facts from opinions, to overcome stereotypes, identify problems and find solutions to them. The general theme of the Debate Tournament is “Democracy, human rights, and multiculturality: history and modernity.” Participation of school students in the event provides an opportunity to get acquainted with the basic concepts of democracy, to understand the nature of tolerance, and to find the means to achieve consensus in the modern world. Debates develop critical thinking, form skills of convincing arguments and public speaking, develop oral and written speech, and promote effective communication.

See you in Dnipro!