Where do the grants go or Quadrivium's success story

Donors, bastards, Western agents, people who have never worked anywhere... - as recently as activists, experts working in the field of civil society development, its institutions, protection of basic human rights and freedoms. activist, expert - acquired a negative rather than a positive assessment of their professional activity. Is this attitude stereotypical or does it correspond to reality?

Some boring formalities

Memory "About public associations" defines two organizational and legal forms of association of citizens of Ukraine: public organization and public union. The first form is certainly more interesting for the continuation of the context of our analysis. Public organization (hereinafter - NGO) - association of citizens to protect their legal rights and freedoms, economic, social, cultural, etc. interests Public organizations are legal entities, their activities should not bring profit. In practice, the successful functioning of any socio-political system requires interaction and feedback between the public, its associations and state authorities. Speaking about the world experience, such associations are called - non-governmental or non-governmental organizations (hereinafter - NGOs), English. NGOs are legal subjects of legal relations created separately from the state.

Conventionally, the following can be distinguished in the world models functioning and financing of NGOs/NGOs: corporate, Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, Mediterranean models.

Corporate model (Germany, Austria, Benelux countries): NGOs of this type have their own history, a well-established organizational structure, are integrated into the structures of civil society by professional orientation, and closely cooperate with state authorities. They are financed mainly by the state or social security bodies according to the principle of subsidiarity.

Anglo-Saxon model (USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia): completely built on public foundations, NGOs are independent and private, compete for state funding with each other, have large charitable and private contributions (tax preferences for benefactors), the phenomenon of volunteering plays a big role.

Scandinavian model (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, countries of Central and Eastern Europe): NGOs are united more around the field of activity, not ideology, the organization is at the service of its members, not the public, the NGO has direct state funding with protected budget articles and indirect state support tax benefits and full exemption from taxes.

Mediterranean model (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece): public associations are underdeveloped, as a strong social connection is provided through the family, the church, NGOs are financed by state subsidies and private income, priority is given to service providers.

For a long time, Ukrainian NGOs were classified as a corporate (continental) model of functioning, however, the events of 2014 related to Russian aggression in the East of Ukraine gave birth to a new phenomenon - the volunteer movement. Formally, Ukrainian NGOs still function according to the corporate model, but with Anglo-Saxon elements.

The story of a small success that started with a big desire

Number registered of public organizations as of April 1.04.2018, 81, totaled 598. Of these, in Chernivtsi region – 1535. If I, a teacher, academic secretary of Chernivtsi University in 2014, would have thought about numbers and statistics, I probably would never have initiated the foundation of Quadrivium NGO.

Sitting in the 5th building of ChNU of the Residence of the Metropolitans of Bukovina and Dalmatia in a wonderful office with a view of the park, having sorted out the main bureaucratic "backlog", every day I saw my colleagues, like-minded people who wanted to do cool scientific and educational international projects. There was only one but, which arises for all idealists - "at what cost." The answer came by itself. Given that most of my NGO colleagues are people who have had overseas study, internship and foreign language experience, we decided to take advantage of our background and create an independent non-governmental platform called Quadrivium.

The most distortions and questions regarding the activities of the NGO were always related to the name. It really was exotic, it had nothing to do with another research institute or another development center.

The name Quadrivium is definitely related to the passion and scientific direction of the backbone of the organization's members (medieval historians). The general system of exact sciences (quadrivium) in the Middle Ages included 4 disciplines: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music. An unfortunate name - you say - why not a trivium (humanities course)? It would be more logical. However, there was one nuance that influenced the choice of such a name.

Trivium could be mastered by the practical majority of students who stormed the few universities of Western Europe at that time, Quadrivium was for the chosen ones, those who looked deeply and wanted to get a "quality" education.

So, Quadrivium – public scientific organization, the main task of which is to conduct high-quality scientific research and develop innovative practical recommendations that contribute to the achievement of four main goals:

• development and support of civil society institutions and promotion of democratic values ​​in Ukraine;
• analysis of problems and opportunities of post-Soviet countries;
• management of intellectual potential of Ukrainian scientists and creation of competitive innovative initiatives;
• scientific studies of global and regional problems of the world and informing the public about the most viable ideas for the development of a democratic society. Find more information about the activities of the NGO "Quadrivium" at site

Programs and projects implemented during the reporting period.

The project "Values ​​of united Europe and Ukrainian society: problems of correlation and mechanism of transit", with the assistance of the Representative Office of the Hans Seidel Foundation in Ukraine, November 2016 - December 2019. Activities: conducting research using qualitative and quantitative methods, organizing a public discussion in the city of Mariupol, winter schools for active youth in the city of Chernivtsi with the aim of popularizing the values ​​of a united Europe among the non-conformist population of Ukraine and developing mechanisms for their transit. Conducting research is a method of expert evaluations "Dialogue of values/dialogue of generations".

Project "From inspiration to implementation: the process of Europeanization in Ukraine" with the assistance of the International Visegrad Foundation, December 2015 - May 2016. Activities: conducting research using qualitative methods, organizing public discussions and seminars with the aim of informing the public about the relationship between the processes of Europeanization and European integration, the main advantages of the implementation of the Agreement on the Association of Ukraine with the EU and providing political recommendations regarding the intensification of Europeanization processes in Ukraine and their impact on democratization, decentralization, mobility, minority rights, values ​​and identities.

Project "Bukovyna as a contact zone" with the assistance of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI (Switzerland), November 2015 - May 2017. Activity: conducting a study using quantitative methods, one of the tasks of which is to identify the perception and degree of openness of society to the idea of ​​Europe, mobility, support for European integration processes on both sides of the Ukrainian-Romanian border, writing an analytical note and political recommendations, scientific and scientific-publicistic articles

Project "Scientia est potentia: education without borders", September 2014 - September 2017. Activities: conducting research using qualitative methods, organizing seminars and trainings in order to inform students, graduate students, young scientists and teachers about the peculiarities of the academic mobility process, available grant programs, technical points of the application process, providing advisory recommendations. The project is carried out using an axiological approach, which allows to cover both theory and practice not only of the mobility process, but also of adaptation after returning to Ukraine and application of the acquired experience.

Project "ENACTED" - "The European Union and its neighbors. The network for the activation of EU participation on the eastern borders" is implemented with the support of the EU. Project start: September 2017.

Project "UrbanaFrontera", July 2018. Activities: analysis of problems and opportunities related to the phenomenon of the border town, the processes taking place in it, the identification of its inhabitants, within of the Border City Research Center will be carried out by a team of young scientists from Ukraine, France, Germany, Austria. The creation of this center is one of the stages of the implementation of the international project "Urbana Frontera. Population identification processes in border towns: past, present, future." Tasks of the project:  conducting interdisciplinary studies of the border city, its types and role in the processes of identification of border residents, preserving the specificity of regional features and forming new types of identities; studying the possibilities of the border city and the participation of its residents in strengthening border security, fighting terrorism, illegal migration and smuggling; forecasting the development of the phenomenon of the border city in the context of the socio-cultural and identification processes of its residents, the formation of the organic European identity of the border area.  

Organization of public lectures, seminars, trainings in Ukraine and abroad on the topic of European integration processes and features of Europeanization processes in neighboring countries, in particular, in Ukraine, as well as the participation of Quadrivium experts in partner events organized in Romania, Poland, Switzerland, etc. More details - in the section "News".

Publication of scientific studies, analytical notes, expert comments in magazines and mass media in Ukraine and abroad. More details - in the sections "Articles" and "Expert opinion".

A little more about grantmaking...

In order for a business or any socially important project to work, you need (simplified diagram): 1. Idea; 2. Like-minded people/team of implementers 3. Funds for implementation.

During the short period of its existence, Qudrivium implemented 7 successful projects in 5 years. Some of them receive financial support until now, there are those that continue to be carried out on their own enthusiasm. Can we be called grantmakers, people who want to benefit from the implementation of projects. Of course, but no less and no more than a businessman who expects profit or a volunteer whose wards will be helped. Our benefit lies in building a stable dialogue between the government, the public, and citizens, improving the quality of education, science, and establishing a system where institutions work regardless of the political or economic situation in Ukraine.

Inna Kubai, head of the NGO Quadrivium