Summarizing the Year: Open Space

Traditionally, the end of the year is a time to sum up the results, an integral and important stage of any endeavor. Generally, the main goal of this is to summarize experience, identify strengths and weaknesses, and plan further, more effective activities. Psychologists claim that the more consciously we conclude the current year, the more attention and perseverance we will bring into the next.

This year we decided to sum up creatively - in the format of Open Space, which allowed maximizing the potential of participants, including civic activists, representatives of educational institutions, state and social structures - participants of activities that took place in 2022.

Open Space is a democratic and creative format for conducting group discussions of 5 or more participants around a central theme or problem based on the principle of self-organization. A meeting in the Open Space format has no fixed agenda, does not contain expert speeches and presentations. Participants themselves take responsibility for the course and results of the event.

The central theme of our Open Space was chosen as follows: "How can we collectively rebuild our communities and contribute to overcoming conflicts in them".

With the help of a facilitator, participants formed an agenda and initiated 14 topics for further discussion. The results of the discussions were documented and included in the Book of Protocols, which also contains the contacts of the initiators for further cooperation. Each participant will receive the book at the end of the event.

In the second part, participants planned and presented their own developments and initiatives, sharing impressions. The Open Space format itself received many positive reviews, particularly noting that it contributed to a positive psychological climate, effective work, and maximum involvement of everyone.

It is extremely important to hear the opinions of participants of our events, see their own initiatives, as, to a certain extent, these developments are based on the knowledge gained during participation in educational activities within our project conducted in 2022. In turn, this will allow for a qualitative analysis of the organization's activities, draw interim conclusions, make adjustments, and identify vectors for further work.

The event was held in the frames of the "Peace Building and Conflict Resolution in Ukraine – Step Forward" project, implemented with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), Funding programme zivik.