In the Face of War: History Competition and Educational Programmes in Ukraine

The Körber-Stiftung’s partners in Ukraine continue to pursue their projects even under the most difficult conditions.

NOVA DOBA

NOVA DOBA, the All-Ukrainian Association of Teachers of History, Civic Education and Social Studies in Lviv, is one of the founding members of EUSTORY. Since 1997, the organisation has been implementing a history competition and other projects on historical-political education in Ukraine – over 17,000 students in Ukraine have taken part in the competition so far.

Cooperation between NOVA DOBA and DVV International Ukraine

Since 2017, the Ukrainian History Competition has been organised under the umbrella of a cooperation project initiated by the Körber-Stiftung and DVV International. Since then, the project has received funding from the Federal Foreign Office. The competition organisers, the national country office of DVV International and NOVA DOBA, continued the history competition together with dedicated teachers and students even after the outbreak of war. The start of the next round of the competition is planned for autumn 2023.

Körber-Stiftung supports additional programmes since the outbreak of the war

To support the educational work of its partners, Körber-Stiftung has been providing additional funds after the outbreak of the war. NOVA DOBA was thus able to set up an education and integration programme for internally displaced persons in Lviv, which is primarily aimed at children, young people and their families. In 2023, NOVA DOBA’s activities in their youth programme will focus especially on media education. Since the beginning of the war, NOVA DOBA has already reached more than 700 refugee children and their relatives with these offers. In winter and spring of 2022/23, NOVA DOBA also conducted an intensive hybrid teacher training programme for politics and history teachers from all parts of Ukraine.

In addition, Körber-Stiftung has also been supporting activities of the Lviv Center for Urban History after spring 2022. The Center initiated research projects through various scholarships for Ukrainian scientists, which collect and evaluate everyday experiences of Ukrainians with war, flight and occupation with the help of interviews.

Körber-Stiftung also supported its partner organizations in Lviv to invest in their work infrastructure.

Further links

• Petro Kendzor, founder of NOVA DOBA, shared his reflections from the first year of the war in Ukraine (March 2023): “Ingenuity, Courage, Humanity”
• Insights into NOVA DOBA’s ongoing teachers’ programme (in Ukrainian language): https://komanda.novadoba.org.ua/
• More information about the Ukrainian History Competition: Headlines – EUSTORY | Understanding Differences, Overcoming Divisions
• Interview with Sofia Dyak, director of the Center for Urban History (in German language), on the impact of the war on her work (March 2022): »These days I often think of Lviv in 1939«