Officially working since 2019, civil society center ‘Drukarnia’ based in Sloviansk, Donetsk region in Eastern Ukraine has become a key actor of civil society in Eastern Ukraine.

Together with young activists we opened the center in September 2019 in Sloviansk, close to the contact line, to create a social space for dialogue between active citizens from the region. Since then Drukarnia has been working on projects on local and international youth exchange, integration of internally displaced persons and their adaptation, development of local initiatives, eco-activism, and others. For example, Drukarnia has managed to implement projects to enhance the work of the city’s water utility and monitoring the quality of water in local rivers.

Due to its proximity to the front line – Sloviansk being near Bakhmut – our center Drukarnia, has been partially evacuated to Western Ukraine in 2022. In response to the new situation, Drukarnia has temporarily emerged as a support center in Ivano-Frankivsk hosting internally displaced activists from the embattled regions in East and Southeast Ukraine. The team organized a shelter and provided accommodation as well as a mentoring support to facilitate a fresh start. Nevertheless, the team also continues its work in Sloviansk in spite of the very challenging conditions.