OSCE National Dialogue Project completes field work in Ukraine

KYIV, 17 April 2014 - The OSCE’s National Dialogue Project in Ukraine completed its field work today. The project was deployed in March 2014 to explore how the OSCE can contribute to social cohesion and tolerance amid the current crisis.

Implemented by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine at the request of the Ukrainian authorities and led by Ambassador Hido Biščević of Croatia, the project was composed of a core team of five people in Kyiv and five teams each of two experts in the field. They were deployed to Odesa-Kherson, Kharkiv-Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Lviv.  The deployment locations were agreed upon with the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Over a period of four weeks, the teams spoke to a wide range of interlocutors from state institutions and civil society, gathering opinions, concerns and expectations related to the current situation. They also explored interlocutors’ readiness and interest to engage in local, regional and national dialogue on the most pressing issues in Ukraine today.

“The interviews conducted by our experts demonstrated that there is an interest in dialogue at all levels of society to strengthen national cohesion,” Biščević said. “Stability, progress and prosperity in Ukraine can only be enhanced by the willingness of people to listen and talk to each other,” he added.

Based on the input from the teams in the field, Biščević will prepare the project’s findings, including recommendations for future OSCE activities in enhancing dialogue in Ukraine.

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova, noted that the findings of the project will help streamline further OSCE assistance to Ukraine. “We have been developing and implementing projects in Ukraine in various areas ranging from elections, good governance to environmental security. We are ready to adjust our strategy to better address the current needs of Ukrainian stakeholders,” she said.

Biščević expressed his gratitude to the Ukrainian authorities for their support throughout the implementation of the project.

Note to editors

The National Dialogue Project is carried out by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, which for several years has been implementing projects in various fields at the request of the Ukrainian authorities.

The National Dialogue Project is separate from the much larger OSCE Special Monitoring Mission which is currently on the ground in Ukraine, and the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission deployed for the 25 May 2014 early presidential election. More information about the OSCE’s different forms of engagement in Ukraine can be found at: www.osce.org/home/116922