On November 25–27, 2018, the XI Ukrainian World Congress took place in Kyiv under the motto of strengthening Ukrainian statehood in the wake of the threat posed by the actions of the Russian Federation for Ukraine and the entire world.
Representatives of the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations of Lviv Polytechnic National University, namely Iryna Kliuchkovska, Director, and Andrii Yatsiv and Oksana Piatkovska, Deputy Directors, took part in the work of this year’s Congress.
Within the festive event, the Ukrainian World Congress awarded Iryna Kliuchkovska, Director of the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations of Lviv Polytechnic, the highest honour of the organization – the Medal of St. Volodymyr the Great. The reason for the award was the special contribution of the IECDR Director in promoting Ukrainian World Congress, developing Ukrainian community life in the diaspora and supporting Ukraine.
On November 26, 2018, the first sessions of the XI Ukrainian World Congress took place in the Kyiv President Hotel. Participating in the meeting were 248 delegates from 26 countries – representatives of numerous organizations belonging to the UWC, as well as the guests. The Ukrainian World Congress included a range of sessions and roundtables. The IECDR team also joined the UWC sessions, in particular, Iryna Kliuchkovska – joined the discussion group on Development of Ukrainian Communities in Western and Eastern Europe, and Andrii Yatsiv took an active part in the roundtable discussion Development of Ukrainian Communities in South America. The same day, XI UWC Congress summed up the work of the Ukrainian World Congress for the period 2013–2018 and developed guidelines for its activities for the next four-year period.
On November 27, IECDR participated in sessions the key topics of which include international support for Ukraine on economic development, defense, reforms and humanitarian assistance; policy of Ukrainian national remembrance in the global perspective; diaspora’s role in promoting the positive image of Ukraine and Ukrainians around the world; credit unions, community foundations and fundraising in the Ukrainian diaspora; the development of Ukrainian communities in different regions of the world; the Ukrainian youth movement and cooperation of Ukrainians in the diaspora with ethnocultural and religious communities in countries of the world. Oksana Piatkovska made a presentation «Steps to Return Ukrainians from Abroad. Quo Vadis?» at the session «Issues of Ukrainians living outside Ukraine: steps to facilitate return to Ukraine»
Iryna Kliuchkovska was the key speaker at the session «Formation of a conscious Ukrainian through the prism of education, youth organizations, cultural and art associations, etc.», which was moderated by Anna Kisil, the newly appointed Head of the WFUWO, Chair of the UWC World Council for Cultural Affairs.
After the sessions, the UWC delegates adopted proposed amendments to the UWC By-law, resolutions of the sessions and the budget for the next year. After that, there were elections of the President and UWC governing bodies, including the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors and the UWC Advisory Committee.
Paul Grod was elected President of the UWC, First Vice President became Stefan Romaniw, Second Vice President – Anna Kisil, and Third Vice President – Andrew Futey.
Photos by Ruslan Telipskyi
