Ukraine Crisis Media Center (UCMC) is a non-governmental organization that provides information about events in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, challenges and threats in the national security, in particular in the military, political, economic, energy and humanitarian spheres. UCMC assists international media representatives, in particular with an objective to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty and its national interests in the global information space.
History
UCMC was founded in March 2014 with the efforts of leading Ukrainian experts in the sphere of international relations, communications and public relations. It was established to help Ukraine amplify its voice on the international arena about the events connected to
annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War.
The events in Kyiv th ...
.
Following the election of President
Volodymyr Zelensky
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...
in 2019, some of whose actions the UCMC strongly disagree with, the UCMC with the support of many Ukrainian NGOs issued a statement of an extensive list of "red lines not to be crossed" by the new administration, asserting if they were it "will inevitably lead to political instability in our country".
Funding
The activities of UCMC are enabled with support of its partners: Public Affairs department of the
Embassy of the United States, Kyiv
The Embassy of the United States of America in Kyiv is the diplomatic mission of the United States to Ukraine.
History
The United States recognized the independence of Ukraine on December 26, 1991, and opened an embassy in its capital, Kyiv, on ...
,
USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
,
International Renaissance Foundation
The International Renaissance Foundation (IRF) (Ukrainian: Міжнародний фонд "Відродження") is a Ukrainian NGO founded by George SorosInternational Renaissance FoundatioAbout organizational web page, accessed November 15, ...
,
National Endowment for Democracy
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is an organization in the United States that was founded in 1983 for promoting democracy in other countries by promoting political and economic institutions such as political groups, trade unions, ...
(USA), Ukrainian World Foundation (Canada),
European Endowment for Democracy
The European Endowment for Democracy is a European non-governmental organisation with the stated purpose of promoting democracy, particularly in the European Neighbourhood, Turkey and the Western Balkans. It was established in 2013 following a p ...
(EU), Matra Programme (Embassy of the Netherlands in Ukraine), Internews Agency,
Mondelez International
Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, holding and drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an ...
, the
Institute for Statecraft
The Institute for Statecraft is a pro-democracy think tank founded in 2009 by Christopher Donnelly and Daniel Lafayeedney, based in Fife, Scotland. Its stated objects are to advance education in the fields of governance and statecraft, and to adv ...
(UK),
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
and others.
Departments
Press Center
Press Center of UCMC provides opportunity for civil activist
experts, national politicians and representatives of the government as well as representatives of diplomatic mission
to inform society about the events and processes that take place in Ukraine and around it. Since July 2014, UCMC has hosted daily briefings on military developments in Ukraine
by a government representative – Presidential Administration spokesperson on ATO related issue
following them up with press releases in all its working languages.
Over two years of its activities, UCMC held over 2500 press briefings engaging in total over 6000 speakers. Among the most well-known speakers there were visits by the U.S. Senator
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State
Victoria Nuland
Victoria Jane Nuland (born July 1, 1961) is an American diplomat currently serving as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Nuland, a former member of the foreign service, served as the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eura ...
, EU Ambassador to Ukraine
Jan Tombiński, OSCE SMM Principal Deputy Chief Monito
Alexander Hug Odesa region governor
Mikheil Saakashvili
Mikheil Saakashvili ( ka, მიხეილ სააკაშვილი ; uk, Міхеіл Саакашвілі ; born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist. , Minister of Finance of Ukraine in 2014-2016
Natalie Jaresko
Natalie Ann Jaresko ( uk, Наталія Енн Яресько; born 24 April 1965) also known as Natalia Ivanivna Yaresko ( uk, Наталія Іванівна Яресько) is an American-born former U.S. State Department official and Ukrain ...
, and many members of Ukrainian parliament, ministers and other government officials.
International Outreach
International Outreach Department aims at spreading information about Ukraine abroad and ensuring presence of Ukraine in the Western media discourse. This department provides assistance to the journalists who cover Ukraine from abroad, drafts its own analytic material
infographic
and translates press releases of UCMC into English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. International Outreach cooperates with the western academic and political circles to promote positive attitude towards Ukraine, organizes press tours of foreign journalists to Ukraine, ensures Ukraine’s representation at various international conferences and informs foreign audiences about the situation in Ukraine through mailing and social media profiles in different languages.
*
2016 Dutch Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement referendum, In the light of the referendum on Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine on April 6, 2016, UCMC participated in the information campaign about Ukraine in the Netherland
organizing various debates on Ukraine in the Netherlands and also arranging press tours of the Dutch journalists to Ukraine. The aim of the project was to deliver objective image of Ukraine to the Netherland
and likewise present the Netherlands as objectively as possible to Ukraine.
National Outreach
The work of the National Outreach department is aimed at supporting information activities in the regions of Ukraine, integration of eastern and southern regions into all-Ukrainian information context. The department organizes meetings with local journalists, representatives of the local governments, non-governmental organisations, civil activists and volunteers, experts and key opinion leaders in order study the needs of the regions, identify topics for joint work and center the efforts on solving issues of a certain region in the previously identified spheres.
* Newspaper ''Mir v Donbasse'' (English – “Peace in Donbas”) – is an information product, produced by UCMC with the support of Germany’s Foreign Federal Office. This was a free bulletin with the most up-to-date information for the residents of the area near the contact line in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The newspaper was circulating in the eastern Ukraine for 6 months in 2015.
* Pilot project “Spokesperson of peaceful life
- is a project that organizes communication with each city on the Ukraine-controlled territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions in a form of press conferences over Skype. This project is ongoing.
Arts Department
Main push to establishing Arts Department at UCMC was a desire to shift focus on covering the life in Ukraine towards more peaceful events. This department provides organization and information support of Ukrainian culture projects. The department also creates and implements its own culture initiatives and projects within the premises of UCMC and across the whole Ukraine.
“Culture diplomacy between the regions of Ukraine” – is a UCMC complex program aimed at establishing dialogue and reconciliation between the residents of East and West Ukraine with tools of modern art. Among the implemented projects: Religious Icons Exhibition by Lev Sko
exhibition of artist Lilia Teptyaieva and a series of workshops “Colored paper
media play “il Camprese”: letters of krainian writerMykhailo Kotsyubynskyi
Mykhailo Mykhailovych Kotsiubynsky ( uk, Михайло Михайлович Коцюбинський), (September 17, 1864 – April 25, 1913) was a Ukrainian author whose writings described typical Ukrainian life at the start of the 20th centur ...
from the Capri islan
arts and culture residence “Upon Boh” – place of culture in the context of decommunization processes, workshop “DE”: revitalizing public spaces and building communication between the local communities and local governments, photo exhibition of Sergey Loiko “Airport” and many more.
Ukraine Reforms Communications Taskforce
This project of UCMC was launched in July 2014 with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation as a platform for dialogue between the public institutions and the expert communities and non-governmental organisations. The aim of this project is to shape common attitude towards the directions and strategies of reforms. Ukraine Reforms Communications Taskforce (URCT) also acts as advocate and promoter of reforms in the country by means of drafting and spreading all kinds of information products as well as holding its own events that facilitate shaping public opinion towards reforms and understanding reforms processe
Main activities of URCT
* Interaction with experts and civil activists;
* Interaction with central executive authorities and their press offices;
* Holding public and expert discussions, round tables on the topic of strategies and implementation of reforms;
* Creating information products about reforms for traditional and social;
* Maintaining relations with media;
* Organising workshops for media in Kyiv and the regions of Ukraine;
* Holding explanatory sessions with media concerning reforms and providing expert commentaries;
* Promoting reforms over social media;
* Monitoring and analyzing reforms coverage in the traditional and social media;
* Supporting special projects that cover reforms progress in media.
Energy reform communication campaign
This was a separate activity of the URCT, carried out in the course of 2015 with support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden. The aim of this communication campaign was to explain the reform in the energy sector of Ukraine involving civil activists into public discussions with the representatives of government.
Reforming government communications
This is an ongoing UCMC project with the aim to promote systematic and effective communication of the central authorities by coordinating and synchronizing information, strategic planning and analyzing communications. The project is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine
References
External links
Official website{{Authority control
News agencies based in Ukraine