Activists plan to open a social family cafe in Mykolaivka in Donetsk Oblast. Now the town of 15 000 population has only a restaurant for loud companies and those who want to drink coffee or eat cakes with their families and friends have to travel 20 kilometres by bus to Sloviansk.

“We live in the small town of Mykolaivka in Donetsk Oblast,” the initiative’s co-founder Kseina Rodionova says. “For the last two years, our team has been nurturing the idea of creating a cafe where people can not only come to rest, but that unites young people and the community, and where people can come up with initiatives. Imagine that on the one hand it’s a Provence-style cafe which is homely and cosy and which cordially invites families over for tasty cakes and fragrant coffee, while on the other it’s a hub for those who opt for healthy socializing and exchanges of thoughts.”

The activists believe the hub will be a place that unites like-minded people, where people can discuss socially important topics, and where initiatives are developed and realized.

“We want people who are united around common goals to learn how to act together in order to develop their community. The Family Cafe & Hub will be a community of people from different areas who generate new ideas, share their practices for creating useful projects, and launch and strengthen socially important initiatives.”

The team of the future hub – volunteers from I Believe in Ukraine, an NGO – is already implementing social innovation projects. The team works together with various organizations, partners, and earns profit from providing educational services for children. Profits are used to implement social initiatives.

Within the Crowdfunding Academy, implemented by the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme with financial support from the European Union, activists have launched a Spilnokosht (crowdfunding platform) campaign to raise funds for a hub cafe. You can support the project and help Mykolaivka residents create the first community space for relaxing recreational activities here.

The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Twelve international partners support the Programme: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland.