About us

Our mission
Movement towards civil society, based on sustainable development principles, with young people as community proactive members, open to new knowledge, experiences and connections in the spirit of democratic values and humanistic worldview. 

Target group
Open minded young people from Kharkiv region (15-35 y.o.) eager to learn and gain new experiences, both sharing our ideas and still hesitant. 

Activities
Activities are initiated and carried out by organization members as well as volunteers, who often come up with their own great ideas (matching our Statute objectives).

Activities are subjected to three main directions: 
  • Sustainability and environmentalism 
  • Volunteering and activism 
  • Community development 
We always pay attention to non-formal education and raising awareness through volunteering camps, trainings, workshops, info campaigns, eco-parties, non-formal education fairs, street actions.

Examples of activities
1) Info campaign “Cap`s house” (organized by 15 volunteers and 2 Organization members) promoted turning trash such as bottle caps into useful resources. 70 000 caps collected at about 30 local schools, offices and universities were used to create a multicolor map of Ukraine. Later those caps were sold for recycling to purchase books for village library. 

2) Four workcamps (part of the project “National park as a center for raising environmental awareness of youth”) gathered 65 volunteers in summer 2014. Through these camps we aimed to attract more young people to eco-educational programs at the National park “Slobozhanskyi” by improving its recreational infrastructure. Camp activities consisted of cultural and eco-educational events as well as working tasks. 22 volunteers took part in more than one camp, 5 of them became camp-leaders. As a result we created:
  • campsite ready to host 30 guests for non-formal educational events; 
  • two waymarked hiking trails (12 and 4 km) equipped with info-stands, benches and gazebos; 
  • decorated expo-hall. 
3) Anti-nuclear eco-party “Ecodeya” held by our organization in cooperation with IVO “SVIT-Ukraine”, NGO “Chernobyl of Ukraine” and Modern Art Center “YermilovCenter” gathered 300+ young people (18-30 years old). Performances, speeches and video screenings informed guests about Chernobyl disaster, dangers of the nuclear power and advantages of using renewable energy sources. 

4) “Climate change week” included 12 events aiming to raise awareness of climate change issues: theater performance, street action, scientific lectures, movie screenings, tree planting, bird-house creation, designing competition, photo exhibition, etc. 20 people took leading roles and 1000+ people visited events of the “week”. 

Structure
Organization consists of a non-government organization “Communication without borders” (legal entity with a Statute) and an informal structural part - initiative group “Friend of Nature”. 

NGO “Communication without borders”
As legal entity we perform long-term fundamental projects, involving multiple partner organizations and requiring financial, material, human resources and strong management. 

The highest governing body of the Organization - General meeting of members. Any person over 14 can become a member of the Organization on the basis of the online application and interview. There are 10 officially registered members of the organization. 8 of them aged 26-29 and 2 members over 50 years old (founders of the Organization back in 1997). Activities and programs are fully initiated and carried out by young people. Older members of the Organization play advisory role in fundamental issues of democratic perspectives, philosophical approach, etc. 

Board of the Organization is an executive body currently consisting of 3 people aged 26-28 (2 females, 1 male). They are responsible for daily decisions on methods of implementation and ways to reach Statute goals and decisions of the General meeting. 

Head of the Board - Oleksandra Tsymbal (female, 26 years old) - manages the Board and represents organization in legal relations with other organizations. 

Initiative group “Friend of Nature”
Initiative group operates as a structural part of the Organization since 2011. As informal group we carry out small-scale “grassroot” projects, appearing spontaneously. Primary goal of the initiative group is to communicate and connect with young people in the community through edutainment events promoting sustainable development principles: alternative eco-parties, gift fairs, performances, etc. 

There are more than 30 volunteers (aged 18-29), who are not formal members of the Organization, but initiate and assist in projects realization. Volunteers’ propositions are to be discussed and approved by the Board or General meeting. 

When carrying out projects we aspire to solve every single issue involving our partners from different organizations and establishments (NGO, government, business, media, etc.).

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