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Made with Switzerland

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Olha ZAIARNA

[ region ]

Kyiv

Masters’ graduate, “Conflict resolution and mediation” programme, Kyiv

Peace, Justice And Strong Institutions

Conflict resolution and mediation belong to the tools that are necessary to build peace, to promote social cohesion and to prevent conflict.

Switzerland has contributed to capacity building in the sphere of peacebuilding in Ukraine, inter alia, by developing and promoting human capital specializing in Conflict Resolution and Mediation.

I belong to the generation that took part in both the 2004 orange revolution and the 2014 revolution of dignity. I am historian by education and I may say that I have been civically active all these past few years. A friend recommended me this masters’ programme on conflict resolution and mediation and I was interested at once. This was a first in Ukraine. These fields were simply not taught before despite the war in the east.

The program was a first in Ukraine. Despite the ongoing war, conflict resolution was not studied before.

Olha ZAIARNA

It was also unique that the programme articulated these two concepts into one degree. It was an extremely intense experience: I attended a complete course on sociology that was coupled with practical learning based on international cases of conflict resolution. I did not know at first but it is the programme that made me understand what I was looking for: to pursue academic research and to look for practical implications that may support developments in the east.

#StandWithUkraine

Since 24th February 2022 My boyfriend Dmytro volunteered at once to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I and my parents, who are pensioners, went to Germany as refugees. There I regrouped and found enough strength to travel back to Ukraine within two weeks. At the border crossing I witnessed scenes of despair that will haunt me forever. I also experienced the tremendous help from our European neighbours, namely Poles. Later I learned that a former classmate in conflict resolution Artem Klimov died in the battle for Ukraine. In my opinion, one of the ways to pay tribute to our heroes is to keep on living and dreaming and making plans. In short - not to give the war a chance to take away your present nor to deny us our future. My life has changed. We married with Dmytro on March 19, 2022. I dived deeper than before into the practical world of peacebuilding. I now work as a regional representative of the network in Eastern Europe for the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC https://gppac.net/). Also, since the beginning of the Russian invasion, I have been providing specialized advice to the Secretariat of the Partnership for Ukraine. I will continue to invest my knowledge, skills and energy in processes that will contribute to the strengthening of Ukraine and Ukrainian society through the project potential of peacebuilding. This is very important for me because Ukraine is my home.

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#MadeWithSwitzerland puts the spotlight on Ukrainians who share their experiences of their vibrant and dynamic country

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Halyna DZHULAI

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Tetiana NALEZHYTA

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Mykola OVCHARENKO

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Valentyna PANASIUK

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Andrii PINCHUK

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Oleksii RIABOKON

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Liudmyla ROSTETSKA

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Valerii SELISHCHEV

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Vladyslav SEMENIUK

Citizen, Vinnytsia

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Leonid TSENTYLO

Farmer, Head of the “Kolos” company, Pustovarivka, Kyiv Region

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Alla VNUKOVA

Internally Displaced Person, Entrepreneur, head of company “Edelweiss”, Kramatorsk, Donetsk Region

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Yevhen YAROVYI

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Yuliia ZAIKA

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Oleksii ZELIVIANSKYI

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Tetiana ZIATIKOVA

Head of the department of infrastructure projects, energy efficiency and promotion at the municipality of Zhytomyr

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Yuliia ZEMETSKA

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