"Informed citizens are empowered Citizens"
In these photos, top, meeting in a corridor after being denied a room (in Kurachevka village), Sergei talking to the audience and victims. Next photo collage (above), meeting under a beer tent (Kalmykovo village), Vera and Sergei discussing (green) "Know Your Rights" booklet with aid of powerpoint presentation (lower left).
"We had our challenges," Vera Flyat, head of Victoria NGO, said, “but the ‘Know Your Rights’ project moved ahead.“ She was talking about some forms of resistance and harassment that accompanied the project along the way. Her office lease was not renewed by the city; she was denied access to information; space for meetings was promised then denied. One “Know Your Rights” meeting was held in a corridor, some 20 people packed together. Another meeting ended up under a beer tent.” I was appalled, but Vera just said “that’s the way it is."
Victoria NGO’s “Know Your Rights!” project is winding down, but not the need for it. It’s been a good project, an important project, made possible by a Small Project Assistance Grant from the Peace Corps with USAID support. Vera organized several public meetings and training sessions in Starobelsk and in small villages around it to educate citizens about their rights. Project lawyer Sergei Anatoly explained the laws and counseled grateful citizens whose rights have been violated and who needed advice. Many more people have come to Victoria’s office, now equipped with computers, supplies, and legal publications and books, to talk to him and to get information. It's a new community resource center. Victoria NGO also created a helpful “Know Your Rights!” booklet and powerpoint presentation for ongoing civic education, with Sergei’s invaluable input.
The public meetings were critical. Vera introduced the project and talked about the need for knowledge and action. I presented a brief talk about the ”Rule of Law” and “Balance of Power” in America, with handouts in Russian and translation help from Victoria volunteer Tonya. Sergei, a committed and accessible attorney, so important to this project, reinforced the message about knowing your rights and getting legal advice.
Audiences were patient and interested. They studied the booklet and listened intently as Vera and Sergei reviewed the material and used the powerpoint presentation to emphasize key points. What are the laws? What are your Rights? How do you get information? How do you get help? People said it was important information and they were glad to have it.
Audiences also enjoyed the brief American history session about the Rule of Law. There were questions about gaps between theory and reality, our sorry history of slavery, and how we change bad laws. I talked about the process of legislating, enforcing and reviewing laws, and about what kinds of social reforms have advanced the American ideal of “equal justice under the law.”
The “Know Your Rights!” project had its difficult moments. For me it proved more challenging than I anticipated, not the project itself, but the climate in which it evolved. The denial of Victoria’s office lease in the park necessitated a move and reorganization, which slowed down our action plan and forced some rescheduling. Deliveries of equipment, office furniture and supplies from Lugansk, where Vera could get better prices, were slow and cumbersome. Annoying harassments in the form of difficulties in getting documents and access to information cropped up. It's a time-consuming, relentless process of asking and requesting, phone calls and meetings, usually ending in failure. Village councils in some towns offered then refused rooms for meetings, as noted above. Vera and Sergei even managed, with help from Kwestya Flyat, to set up a powerpoint presentation under a tent (the photos don't do it justice). I was amazed and impressed.
For me the lesson is difficult but clear: The need for the “Know your Rights!” project, and for other civic education projects like it, is greater than ever, and Ukrainian NGOs, and their directors, need all the support they can get. If change does not happen from the bottom up, it may never happen.
A recent feature article, "The Secret State," in the Kyiv Post (5 November 2010) affirmed this lesson. Local municipalities, it argued, still operate in secret, without transparency, without accessibility or accountability to the people, “a holdover from Soviet times.” The frank article, by journalists Mark Rachkevych and Yuriy Onyshkiv, continued: “Democracies need openness to flourish, while autocracies thrive on secrecy. By that standard, Ukraine—nearly 20 years into national independence—is stuck in the Soviet past, with leaders denying citizens essential information.” The article quoted my friend Vovo Shcherbachenko, head of the East Ukraine Center for Civil Initiatives, who said "the vast majority of municipalities" stamp public documents, even including their entire City development plans, which are legally open to the public, 'for internal use only,' thus denying access to them. Such “essential information” includes "what are the rights of citizens." Without knowledge, without information, and without transparency, confusion and corruption reign, and also abuse of power and denial of human rights.
After working with Vera’s Victoria on the “Know Your Rights!” project, this article resonated on a profound level. I have seen Vera and other citizens bear witness to some of this secrecy and its sad effects. I have seen victims confused and in turmoil because of it. I have attended seminars with Vera in Lugansk, led by Vovo and Yulia of the East Ukraine Center for Civil Initiatives, on transparency, rule of law, and accessing information. There's no question that projects that support change from the bottom up are absolutely critical to Ukraine’s future.
Victoria NGO’s “Know Your Rights!” project is winding down, but not the need for it. It’s been a good project, an important project, made possible by a Small Project Assistance Grant from the Peace Corps with USAID support. Vera organized several public meetings and training sessions in Starobelsk and in small villages around it to educate citizens about their rights. Project lawyer Sergei Anatoly explained the laws and counseled grateful citizens whose rights have been violated and who needed advice. Many more people have come to Victoria’s office, now equipped with computers, supplies, and legal publications and books, to talk to him and to get information. It's a new community resource center. Victoria NGO also created a helpful “Know Your Rights!” booklet and powerpoint presentation for ongoing civic education, with Sergei’s invaluable input.
The public meetings were critical. Vera introduced the project and talked about the need for knowledge and action. I presented a brief talk about the ”Rule of Law” and “Balance of Power” in America, with handouts in Russian and translation help from Victoria volunteer Tonya. Sergei, a committed and accessible attorney, so important to this project, reinforced the message about knowing your rights and getting legal advice.
Audiences were patient and interested. They studied the booklet and listened intently as Vera and Sergei reviewed the material and used the powerpoint presentation to emphasize key points. What are the laws? What are your Rights? How do you get information? How do you get help? People said it was important information and they were glad to have it.
Audiences also enjoyed the brief American history session about the Rule of Law. There were questions about gaps between theory and reality, our sorry history of slavery, and how we change bad laws. I talked about the process of legislating, enforcing and reviewing laws, and about what kinds of social reforms have advanced the American ideal of “equal justice under the law.”
The “Know Your Rights!” project had its difficult moments. For me it proved more challenging than I anticipated, not the project itself, but the climate in which it evolved. The denial of Victoria’s office lease in the park necessitated a move and reorganization, which slowed down our action plan and forced some rescheduling. Deliveries of equipment, office furniture and supplies from Lugansk, where Vera could get better prices, were slow and cumbersome. Annoying harassments in the form of difficulties in getting documents and access to information cropped up. It's a time-consuming, relentless process of asking and requesting, phone calls and meetings, usually ending in failure. Village councils in some towns offered then refused rooms for meetings, as noted above. Vera and Sergei even managed, with help from Kwestya Flyat, to set up a powerpoint presentation under a tent (the photos don't do it justice). I was amazed and impressed.
For me the lesson is difficult but clear: The need for the “Know your Rights!” project, and for other civic education projects like it, is greater than ever, and Ukrainian NGOs, and their directors, need all the support they can get. If change does not happen from the bottom up, it may never happen.
A recent feature article, "The Secret State," in the Kyiv Post (5 November 2010) affirmed this lesson. Local municipalities, it argued, still operate in secret, without transparency, without accessibility or accountability to the people, “a holdover from Soviet times.” The frank article, by journalists Mark Rachkevych and Yuriy Onyshkiv, continued: “Democracies need openness to flourish, while autocracies thrive on secrecy. By that standard, Ukraine—nearly 20 years into national independence—is stuck in the Soviet past, with leaders denying citizens essential information.” The article quoted my friend Vovo Shcherbachenko, head of the East Ukraine Center for Civil Initiatives, who said "the vast majority of municipalities" stamp public documents, even including their entire City development plans, which are legally open to the public, 'for internal use only,' thus denying access to them. Such “essential information” includes "what are the rights of citizens." Without knowledge, without information, and without transparency, confusion and corruption reign, and also abuse of power and denial of human rights.
After working with Vera’s Victoria on the “Know Your Rights!” project, this article resonated on a profound level. I have seen Vera and other citizens bear witness to some of this secrecy and its sad effects. I have seen victims confused and in turmoil because of it. I have attended seminars with Vera in Lugansk, led by Vovo and Yulia of the East Ukraine Center for Civil Initiatives, on transparency, rule of law, and accessing information. There's no question that projects that support change from the bottom up are absolutely critical to Ukraine’s future.
That’s why the ”Know Your Rights!” project must not end. Vera and I are now writing a “Democracy grant” to the U.S. Embassy to continue and expand the project. I will feel a lot better about moving forward, and Starobelsk and this far-eastern region of Ukraine will be much better off, if Victoria NGO has the capacity to sustain this critical project and its powerful message: “Informed citizens are empowered citizens.”
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