In the spring of 2022, when the All-Ukrainian Nongovernmental Organization Association for Community Self-Organization Assistance in Kropyvnytskyi first raised the topic of supporting volunteers, no one was up to it. “We analyzed that the only group of people who had not been helped after the invasion were volunteers. Those who worked very hard, selflessly investing their personal resources,” says Alla Voloshyna, head of the organization. She could have foreseen that without support, volunteers would burn out, and therefore they would need to be “taken care of.” With this in mind, the organization launched a program to support volunteer centers in Kirovohrad region.

It was about active and creative people who united at the beginning of the full-scale Russian war to organize the production of food and ammunition for the Army on their own and to start delivering the necessary supplies to the front. However, volunteering in 2014, in the first months after the escalation, is different from the present-day activism, says Alla Voloshyna. In 2023, volunteer activities have expanded and are taking on the form of social entrepreneurship. In fact, to support this process, the Association for Community Self-Organization Assistance held Volunteer Craft, an exhibition and fair of volunteer centers in Kropyvnytskyi. It was attended by 14 volunteer centers from eight communities in Kirovohrad Oblast.

This is the third such event of the Association, and it is planned to be held on a regular basis. The first fair was held in cooperation with local businesses, where volunteers could meet craft entrepreneurs. The next fair was a joint effort, and the volunteers began to learn business skills: how to package products and present them nicely. The third fair held within the framework of the Spilnodiia Program, which is implemented by East Europe Foundation in partnership with the Ukrainian Independent Center for Political Research and the Together Against Corruption nongovernmental organization with funds from the European Union, was the promotion of the region’s communities.

“The Volunteer Craft will allow us to maintain constant communication between volunteer centers throughout the region. In addition, volunteers from our region and the de-occupied territories need to establish contact and support each other,” says Ms. Voloshyna. There was everything from food and trench candles to beads and toys. The fair was attended by 300 people, and at the end of the event, representatives of the volunteer centers signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to Unite and Coordinate Further Actions in Addressing Important Social Issues.

Now the Association is already planning the fourth fair and is working on creating an online platform where volunteer centers will be able to exhibit their products. “We had never done anything like this before the full-scale war, so this is all new to us. We are moving forward by trial and error,” said Alla Voloshyna.

Community Experience

For Volunterra NGO, it was the first time ever they participated in a fair like this one. “We hadn’t sold anything until then, we did everything only for the guys at the front. That’s why it was a great opportunity to show ourselves in a new way and become more visible,” says Oksana Kyrychenko, head of the organization.

From the very beginning of the invasion, Volunterra wove camouflage nets. Later, they started making dry soups, borsch, and energy bars for the military. Now they also have a sewing shop to make the most necessary things: from underwear to fleece sets. “We started to do everything the guys asked for,” says Oksana Kyrychenko. The organization has 58 volunteers working seven days a week and in three shifts. There are also pensioners who have been helping since 2014. And with their “What would the guys do without us?” they inspire others to continue working tirelessly.

The team at the Chornolis Volunteers NGO is ten times smaller. It employs five people who are determined to improve and strengthen their production. The organization presented its bread and pastries at the Volunteer Craft Fair. “It was very useful and important for us to participate to showcase ourselves and see what others are doing. In addition, it is a good way to find out what is currently in demand,” says Halyna Kushchova, the organization’s head. In her opinion, doing such a thing during the war is not easy, but necessary: “We need to think about how to develop further, to raise our economy. And we really want our children to eat better and more organic food.”

Such volunteer centers have all the potential to become social enterprises. Alla Voloshyna notes that the legislation still does not define a social enterprise, so the Association is working on advocacy and implementation of a program to support such initiatives in communities. “Recently, we held a three-day training for volunteers on social services and entrepreneurship and announced a mini-grant program,” said Ms. Voloshyna. Currently, there is only one organization registered in the register of social service providers in Kirovohrad region. Therefore, the Association intends to advise volunteer centers on how to develop procedures, policies, and amendments to the charter required for registration: “They are already doing everything they need, the system is set up, we just need to formalize it.”

Although few people thought about supporting volunteers at the beginning of the full-scale war, the Association managed to advocate for it and offer volunteers the opportunity to try their hand at entrepreneurship. Alla Voloshyna said: “In the wartime, we need to overcome challenges that we did not have before. We need to preserve human resources and provide people with not just survival, but life.”