«Eurointegration: the Power of Opportunities» – results of the information campaign summarized

The Government House hosted an event to sum up the results of the information campaign «Eurointegration: the Power of Opportunities». The campaign, which lasted for over a year, was launched and implemented by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine with the support of a number of partners. It aimed to clarify and popularize the practical advantages and opportunities that Ukrainians already have or will soon obtain as a result of the European integration policy of Ukraine.

Within the framework of the campaign, large-scale conferences were held in 10 Ukrainian regions to elucidate the opportunities opened up for business, education, science, culture, public activities, provided as a result of cooperation with the EU and the implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. The participants of the campaign were 30 Ukrainians – entrepreneurs, artists, scholars, students, whose success stories were told in hundreds of publications in the media. The Ukrainians saw videos and posters with their images on the trains, in the offices of the branches of partner banks, public places and educational institutions.

«We told about European integration opportunities on specific examples of our heroes, showing their success stories. In fact, the format we have chosen is quite simple. It was plain to see – the advantages offered by the European integration course through case stories. And we were practically the first to launch it. We are happy that our idea was picked up by various media and public organizations, who also engage in similar projects. The point was in a good sense to infect as many people as we could with European integration», said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, during a meeting dedicated to the completion of the information campaign.

Moreover, the Deputy Prime Minister thanked everyone involved in the organization of the project. «I am proud and appreciate the efforts of everyone engaged in the information campaign «Eurointegration: the Power of Opportunities». I express my gratitude to the heroes of the campaign, partners and, of course, my Eurointegration team. While illustrating the success stories of Ukrainians who skillfully use the opportunities of cooperation with the EU, the project itself has become successful and recognized throughout the entire Ukraine. We are winding it up in such format, but we prolong our activity – we have more major governmental information campaigns on promoting the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine ahead», emphasized Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.

Liudmyla Kosar, the key communication expert of the EU project Association4U, who helped in the campaign, noted that «The Power of Opportunities» is not just about the European Union’s assistance, it is not only about the steps the Government is taking towards European integration. This is primarily about the people who, promoting their European choice, exert every effort to bring about irreversible positive changes in our State».

«I have been an entrepreneur since 2002, and until recent years the authorities had acted only contrary to what the business needed … Most enterprises in our country had had such a situation. However, in recent years we have experienced dramatic changes in the relations between the Government and business, and finally, something has happened to support. I express sincere gratitude for this support», said one of the heroes of the information campaign director of Omnipharma Oleh Kurchenko.

Apart from that, an exhibition of posters depicting heroes of the information campaign was opened on the fifth floor of the House of Government.

Background

The information campaign «Eurointegration: the Power of Opportunities» has been implemented during two years by the Office of Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic integration with the support of the Non-governmental union Foundation for Support of Reforms in Ukraine and the Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) within the framework of the project Raising Awareness about the Impact of the Association Agreement with the EU and the EU project Association4U.

The Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, the Foundation for Support of Reforms in Ukraine, the International Renaissance Foundation, the Ukrainian side of the EU-UA Civil Society Platform and the Ukrainian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, The Civic Synergy Project, New Europe Center were engaged to participate in the project in various periods. The campaign partners were the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, EBA, Ukrzaliznytsia, Pryvatbank, Oschadbank, The Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting, The Kyiv Dialogue.

The information partners of the campaign were the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine, the online-resource European Pravda, the Fakty newspaper, IA Ukrinform, the UATV channel, The Point online-magazine.

Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) is a $150 million regional fund, a pioneer in Ukraine and Moldova with more than two decades of successful experience in investing in small and medium-sized companies. WNISEF was funded by the U.S. government via the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Since its inception, WNISEF’s cumulative investments total over $186 million to 130 companies employing around 26,000 people and made it possible to unlock $1.8 billion for companies in Ukraine and Moldova.

In 2015 WNISEF has launched a $35 million legacy program focused on export promotion, local economic development, impact investing and economic leadership. WNISEF is funding innovative, high-impact, reform-focused programs and aims to support Ukraine and Moldova at this critical period by developing sound economic policy and leadership.