Kyiv, 17 May 2019 – Do you have innovative ideas about how to change your community? Do you want to learn more about democratic processes and how can you influence them? Then come and take part in U-Inn 2.0: RELOAD, a youth innovation development programme to promote integrity and inclusiveness!

On May 16, 2019, in Kyiv, community activists together with other activists learned about the launch of a programme to develop youth innovations and technological and creative solutions to promote integrity and inclusiveness in Ukraine’s regions -- U-Inn 2.0: RELOAD. The initiative brings together lots of partners from the public and civil sectors who will provide mentoring, organizational and financial support for social innovations proposed by young people.

"We carried out a study that analyzed the integrity and inclusiveness of democratic processes in Ukraine,” explains Nadiya Babinska, U-Inn 2.0’s coordinator. “And they found basic challenges at the regional level. This prompted us to organize the U-Inn 2.0 competition again: RELOAD Restart Local Democracy. In communities, it’s worthwhile introducing values like having effective and transparent governance systems, and letting vulnerable groups participate in decision-making. And you have to involve young people in this process."

This is the second time this programme of youth innovation support is being implemented: The first pilot competition for youth innovation for democracy and human rights was held in 2017. More than 600 young people participated in it, 90 teams submitted their ideas to the competition, and six teams received funding and mentor support for the implementation of innovative projects.

Innovative solutions for U-inn 2.0: RELOAD, besides having a technical and creative component, has also to include communication with citizens, and their involvement and interaction -- with a particular focus on young people. An IT solution could be a web service, a site, a platform, an application, a portal, a chat bot, projects using artificial intelligence or data analysis, online games, etc. Creative, non-standard solutions using inter-sectoral, interdisciplinary approaches, methods and tools can include interventions, artistic, gaming and social projects, and more.

"Our main task is to put flesh on the proposed ideas,” Deputy Minister of Youth and Sport of Ukraine Oleksandr Yarema said at the presentation of the competition. “Young people must realize that their voice is important, and their ideas should be realized. This will be a measure of our joint success – when as many of these initiatives as possible are implemented."

Registration for the competition is already open. As part of the initiative, there are plans for trips around the regions, meetings with local young people, summer youth innovation camps, webinars, and U-Incubators for the best initiatives.

For more information about how to participate, innovation topics, competitions nominations and progress in the main stages, see the initiative’s site.

U-inn 2.0: RELOAD is an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine, in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine as part of the project "Civil Society for the Strengthening of Democracy and Human Rights,”, which is implemented with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.