In 2017, the non-formal education project “Getting down to business” took place in Kovel, lasting more than 6 months. There were more than 20 trainings and meetings from the NGO “Volyn prospects”, where the participants talked about the basics of accounting, learned business English, communication and the basics of running their own business.
When the project was coming to an end, Lyudmila Zubareva invited the participants to join the initiative and hold a children’s festival “City of Professions” with a team of graduates. Together with the organizers of the All-Ukrainian project for children “City of Professions”, they held the first children’s festival in Kovel, which gathered a record number of over 3,000 participants at the time.
It was then that the idea to officially register the Public Organization appeared. And the name? The name was invented collectively – it all started with an idea!
The organization developed, created many projects at the local level, the name of the NGO “Great Idea” became a recognizable brand among young people in Kovel.
At that time, for the first time, we cooperated with US Peace Corps volunteers in Ukraine, who contributed to the sustainable development of the organization by training team members in project management, taught and helped implement the first youth projects with the support of USAID grant funds.
In Kovel, the “Great Idea” NGO together with the Kovel City Council, with the support of the United States Peace Corps in Ukraine and USAID, are opening the first Youth Space in the city – the communal institution “Kovel Youth Center “Ideas City”. The center is still working successfully.
The “Great Idea” team wins an open competition of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the State of Israel to attract a non-profit organization in Ukraine to promote the dissemination of an information campaign about the possibility of legal temporary employment of Ukrainian workers. This became a good chance to promote changes in labor migration and an opportunity to help people, including young people, from all over Ukraine to avoid the trap of illegal employment by consciously choosing temporary employment abroad.
The organization was engaged in the development of volunteerism. After establishing the “Marlog” project, together with partners, they attracted more than 950 tons of humanitarian aid for residents, hospitals, and hospitals of the front-line and de-occupied regions of Ukraine.
We also devoted this year to the institutional development of our organization.
This year, we contributed to the start of a partnership between the cities of Kovel (Ukraine) and the city of Chambly (USA). City mayors signed a partnership agreement. This is a historic event for both cities, because this cooperation will remain for years.
As a result of enemy shelling of the energy system of Ukraine, in the fall of 2022, a power plant in our native city of Kovel was completely destroyed by the arrival of a missile. At that time, residents had access to light for 3-4 hours a day and were looking for places equipped with a generator so that they could work and study online.
This situation prompted our team to develop the concept of the city’s first social CO-WORKING.
Ironically, it was at this time that the mayor of Chamblee, Brian Mock, came to us to conclude an agreement between our cities on cooperation. Having experienced the challenge that Ukrainians faced, he was the first to support the initiative of creating a social co-working space, which was later called the International Youth House “CollabZONE”.
The basis of the “CollabZONE” concept is an American co-working space, which is located in the hall of the city council of the city of Chablis, USA. The first $10,000 to develop the design, partially cover the rent and begin renovations in the space was provided by the residents of this sister city. And even then, the local chain of coffee shops The Spiceroom Kovel became our partners, so that our visitors in the coworking space always had the most delicious coffee and snacks
What followed were months of work by the NGO “Great idea” team: finding funding, improving the concept, collecting the best experience of colleagues from Europe, the USA and Ukraine — that was another challenge! We thank all partners from international organizations, Ukrainian business, thanks to whom all this became possible. Read more about partners here.
CollabZONE — your coworking space in Kovel.
With the support of The European Endowment for Democracy (EED), we develop the civic activism of the youth of Volyn, organizing events where we educate young people and shape a democratic society.
The main project of the organization is the International Youth House “CollabZONE”. This space works as a social enterprise based on the NGO “Great idea”. There is always light and internet here, you can work in a co-working space, hold your own event or come to one organized by us. CollabZONE has its own business library and gift shop with products from socially responsible businesses.
This year, we became partners with the Association of Youth Workers of Ukraine and USAID “HOVERLA”, with whom we promote the development of youth policy and advocate for changes in 5 communities of Volyn: in particular, in Vyshnivska, Rozhyschenska, Shatska and Lyubeshivska communities, we help in the development of Youth Development Strategies for 2025 – 2027 years, and in Kivertsivska hromada — Regulations on the participation school budget.
