On the weekend 30 November – 1 December, two environmental groups met at the KOWO creative coworking space in the regional capital Kropyvnytskiy, Ukraine, to plan their civic campaigns. Facilitators from NESEHNUTÍ Barbora Jelínková and Martin Hyťha together with experienced campaigner Mark Fodor helped the two initiatives to develop a strategy to defend the environmental rights of local citizens.

The environmental organization FLORA works on the issue of increased radioactivity from uranium mining in the region. It also aims to advocate for a new programme to protect local citizens’ health and provide them with information about the situation.

The initiative group Ozelenenie Kropyvnytskiy protects trees and green spaces in the city that are often threatened by new construction projects, a lack of expert care care and outdated approach to cutting trees down.

These initiatives received small grants from NESEHNUTÍ and will receive further expert advice and methodological support during their campaigns.