How self-organization helps Ukrainians to save their villages and support the army

This is exemplified by groups of people united by common goals and interests. They feel the potential for joint action and mutual support more acutely because they are more often confronted with such a need.

As illustrations, let us give two examples. The first is agricultural service co-operatives, where people were able not only to unite to protect their own interests, but also to take an active part in the life of the community. The second example is the inhabitants of a small village who managed to keep their school, which was achieved thanks to the support of others. Read more in our article.

How co-operatives revive villages

With the decentralisation reform in the state began to actively promote the creation of agricultural service cooperatives. One of the main ideas is the development of entrepreneurship in territorial communities. To what extent this has been achieved is another question. At the same time, the undeniable advantage of co-operation is the development of people's interest in teamwork. A simple example. Members of the co-operative have different education and experience, so they share knowledge among themselves and can provide support if necessary. In short, it's good neighbourly relations.

Oleg Zhuravinsky, head of the Ecom cooperative in the village of Cesniki in Ivano-Frankivsk region, specialising in cheese production, told Socialportal that he considers trust between people to be the most important condition for the functioning of a cooperative.

If there is no understanding, no agreement, co-operation is out of the question! Co-operation stimulates teamwork. After all, if everyone thinks only about themselves, nothing will happen. We have no contradictions with each other," he said.

As for the difficulties in organising the cooperative, the cooperators themselves cite the willingness of people to unite. Ecom" also went through this path. At the stage of its formation, the association had only five people. But when other villagers realised that collective work allows for higher earnings and stable milk sales, discounts on fodder purchases, and additional financial support for their members, they began to join.

Today, the co-operative has 43 households, a cultivated pasture with an electric shepherd, and a stable market.

An even more illustrative example is the cooperative "Berry Paradise" in Dunayevets United Territorial Community of Khmelnytsky Oblast, specialising in growing raspberries and other berries. Up to a hundred families from 18 settlements of the community are employed here. The peculiarity of the co-operative is that, in addition to earning money, people are actively involved in social projects of their community. As explained to us in "Berry Paradise", participation in the co-operative stimulates the residents' potential for joint activities.

People become more united. That's why many initiatives in the community come first of all from the members of the co-operative, - told us in the association.

Involvement in a serious business

The co-operative "Berry Paradise" was created several years ago on the initiative of the administration of the Dunajevets community as one of the ways to fight unemployment. As in many cases, the population was slow to take part in this initiative. Therefore, the first co-operators were some of the deputies, headmen, administration staff, in order to show by example the prospects of the co-operative movement and to interest people. Active residents were also involved, e.g. workers of cultural centres and others.

As a result, raspberry bushes were planted, and in the second or third year there was a berry crop. The sale of the produce was guaranteed by the community administration. Also, many companies began to show interest in the large, by local standards, berry producer, and they gave people big discounts, sometimes up to 30 per cent. As a result, members of the co-operative had a good income to supplement their main jobs and pensions, and gradually the number of people willing to join their ranks began to increase. "Berry Paradise" also accepts products from residents who are not members of the co-operative, among them many pensioners.

Naturally, people are attracted to the co-operative first of all by the monetary interest. After all, it is a kind of work. However, as we have told above, collective solution of arising difficulties, which is faced by members of such an association, develops the habit of listening to each other and helping.

Recently, the members of Berry Paradise have been actively involved in humanitarian issues. For the second year in a row, a part of the land plot is planted with vegetables, and the harvest is used to provide local social institutions. Thus, agricultural products, primarily potatoes, were provided to the community's cluster (multi-profile) hospital and some educational institutions. As Mykola Ostrovsky, a representative of Berry Paradise, who is also the head of the Department of Social Protection and Labour of Dunaivets City Council, told us, this initiative came from the cooperative members themselves.

At the same time, people did not receive anything for their work, as they worked at their own will. Nikolay Ostrovsky believes that the residents were encouraged by the idea of being involved in a socially important cause.

It was necessary to see how the residents came to the field with their whole families. For them it was a holiday, a sense of involvement in something important. Unfortunately, we are used to such impressions, everyone lives with their own problems," he told our publication.

Members of the co-operative regularly participate in supporting the army, as well as the regions affected by the war. In addition to vegetables, they also help with the purchase of equipment. Last time they bought a motor pump for the residents of Kherson, who suffered from the blowing up of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station.

Mykola Ostrovsky assures that if there is any initiative in the community, they are first of all guided by the opinion of the co-operative members.

The question came up that this year we need more products for our hospital. Everyone looked in the direction of the representatives of the co-operative. We - no question, we will do it. We need to collect 10 tonnes of potatoes - please. The co-operative is an association of serious people who do not need to explain the need for social assistance. If someone has voiced a problem, they need to join in and solve it," he concluded.

Similar humanitarian initiatives are practised in other co-operatives. For example, in "Pokrov" of the Zabolottsivska community in Lviv region, where people also collect and send products to the regions affected by the war, as well as to servicemen. As the head of the community Maria Diskant told our journalists, since the beginning of the war, the co-operative has not reduced the turnover of the collection of products, and every week there are shipments of two to three cars that go to the front line with products.

Rallying around an idea

In Ukraine there are other examples of cohesion and selfless work on the part of ordinary citizens when it comes to socially important issues. A good illustration of this is the story of the small village of Tsepki in the Poltava region, which is home to several hundred residents. When people learnt that their school (now Tsepki Gymnasium), which had 21 pupils, was going to be closed as a small school, they organised a demographic boom and saved the educational institution in a matter of months. And today the village continues to demonstrate solidarity in social initiatives.

Residents recall that the news of the decision to close the school came as a shock to them. Especially for the parents of the students, who were worried that their children would have to travel to another village every day, which is an additional burden for the children. But most of all, the villagers were saddened by the thought of the forthcoming decline of the village, which they associated with the closure of the school. Then five local mothers spoke at the meeting and promised to increase the number of pupils to the required 25. Evgenia Filina, one of the active mothers, recalled that their idea was met with a sneer by representatives of the district administration.

This encouraged us even more, as well as the fact that none of our fellow villagers believed that we would succeed," she told Socialportal.

The women sprang into action. Their plan was to invite large families to live in the village permanently. To do this, they needed to interest people, create housing conditions, help with food supply for the first time, and assist with work. Looking ahead, it should be noted that later the experience of the Tzepchans was used by residents of other villages, where the local authorities also intended to close schools.

Active mothers spread their invitation to large families through social networks. But the real flurry of calls came after journalists from one of the Ukrainian TV channels came to the village at their invitation and then showed the story on TV.

As soon as the story was over, a mum of seven children from Melitopol called. She lived in a flat, but expressed a desire to move to the village. We met them and put them up the next day," Yevgeniya said.

Later on, parents with two to five children came. All the newcomers were assisted in obtaining housing. Even before their information campaign, the mums of schoolchildren identified houses that were for sale. After that, together with their husbands they made cosmetic repairs in some of them. The houses were subsequently purchased from the owners. The costs were borne by the village council, which at that time was headed by the chairman Vadim Bilyak. The village council allocated UAH 5 thousand from the budget for each newly arrived child. The money was not given to the parents, but was used to buy the house, which cost between 30 and 50 thousand hryvnias. Subsequently, the village council changed the scheme a bit and started to buy houses in order to take them on the balance of the village and then to settle large families in them. The village also provided assistance with work. The newcomers had an opportunity to get a job in a kindergarten, school, on a local farm, etc. The demographic problem of the school could be solved by the school.

One family with seven children could solve the demographic problem of the school. However, the enterprising mothers decided to take with reserve, so that the authorities would not have the idea to close the school because of the lack of pupils.

Noble initiatives drag on

The other villagers quickly realised the prospect of inviting large families and actively got involved. They began to help with the improvement of houses. They also brought clothes, bedding and furniture to the new residents. Food was provided for the newcomers for a year in advance, as many villagers had surplus vegetables and preserves. Products were brought either directly to the families or left in the shop, where parents of large families could come and take what they needed. By 1 January, when it was time to close the school, the school already had 46 pupils. Naturally, there was no talk about any closure. And today the number of students is 51.

A few words should be said about the gymnasium itself, which Tzepchany are now very proud of. Not only because they managed to preserve it. It's all about the teaching staff, which in a way continued the "tradition" of a collective approach to solving problems, initiated by parents. This is manifested in volunteer activities. Thus, in autumn and winter, almost all teachers during breaks, as well as in the evening at home, were engaged in knitting woollen socks for the military. Before doing so, they applied for a charity competition and won a grant to buy woollen thread. And today the school has a surplus of socks, which they are preparing to send to soldiers to the front when needed. Also one of the teachers together with children and parents organised a collection of herbs for making tea for the soldiers. And this initiative people are engaged in more than a year.

The administration of the gymnasium supports the initiatives of parents and teachers in every possible way. Director Nazar Rakityansky believes that any public initiatives - unite. And this is useful in work.

Otherwise we'd be on our own. And we would not be able to overcome the problems that arise even within the school. My task is for our team to be united," he told our publication.

Understanding the need to support people not only on an individual, but also on a collective level, speaks of positive manifestations in our society. It is the attentive attitude towards people that should become the foundation on which the further development of society will be based. And our people have the potential for this.