NUJU launches training cycle based on SFJ’s experience

The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) held its first online meeting with the international secretary of the Swedish Union of Journalists (SJF), Victoria da Silva. Her presentation How the SFJ Works opened a joint project of the two organizations, which is being implemented with the support of the Swedish Institute. The goal of the project is to adopt the experience of Swedish colleagues in order to make the NUJU an even more modern and effective organization that meets the needs of its members.

Opening the event, NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko emphasized its significance for the Union.

“Today is a truly important event for the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. We are publicly starting a major stage of NUJU’s transformation – a cycle of adopting the experience of the SFJ. We must be a modern, effective organization that protects the interests of journalists and all media workers,” said Sergiy Tomilenko.

He emphasized the high standards of Swedish colleagues in protecting labor rights, uniting journalists and upholding freedom of speech, and also recalled the long-standing partnership: the Swedish side provides direct financial support to 25 local newspapers in front-line territories. The President of the NUJU called the launch of the joint training program an “international victory” for the Ukrainian media community.

Victoria da Silva told how the SFJ is organized and works. She noted that the organization was founded in 1901 – in September it will be 125 years old – and today it unites about 13,000 members: full-time journalists, freelancers, students and retired journalists. Swedish colleagues care about labor rights, freedom of speech, copyright, professional ethics and protection of sources, and the basis of their system is the so-called “Swedish model” of collective agreements.

“It is very important for us to be part of this project together with the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. We ensure the rights of journalists and authors, professional ethics and journalistic integrity are our fundamental foundations,” emphasized Victoria da Silva.

Journalists from different regions asked the speaker many questions – about the conditions and termination of membership, the amount of contributions, the involvement of students and youth, journalistic ethics and self-regulation, the protection of journalists’ rights and the digitalization of the Union’s work.

The meeting was the first in a series of planned webinars. As the moderator of the event, First Secretary Lina Kushch, noted, online training will continue in August, and the topics of the next meetings will be broader: participants will learn more about collective agreements, working with freelancers, the media system and their support policy in Sweden, youth involvement, artificial intelligence and other aspects.

Read more about the meeting with Victoria da Silva on the NUJU website later.

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The partnership of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine with Swedish colleagues has been ongoing since the first days of full-scale aggression. It was the Swedish colleagues who were among the first to systematically support Ukrainian media after the start of the russian invasion: among the first aid that the NUJU received in the spring of 2022 were bulletproof vests from the Bonnier News publishing house, the Gazeta Wyborcza Foundation and Swedish friends.

Over time, this support grew into broader initiatives. In 2022, the Ukrainian Media Fund was established, uniting media companies and media associations from the Nordic countries — Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. Together with the Swedish Media Publishers Association (Tidningsutgivarna, TU), the NUJU is implementing the Frontline Press program, which helps 25 frontline newspapers in Ukraine continue their work during the war.

A separate area of ​​cooperation is supporting the network of the NUJU’s Journalists’ Solidarity Center (JSC), which have been providing journalists in frontline regions with emergency assistance, protective equipment, and safe workplaces since April 2022. The SJF joined the emergency assistance to Ukrainian media professionals with its donations after the invasion.

The ties between the two organizations are also strengthening at the leadership level. In March 2025, NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko attended the Congress of the Swedish Journalists’ Union in Saltsjöbaden near Stockholm as a guest, where immediately after the opening of the meeting, SJF President Ulrika Hyllert launched a special session of solidarity with Ukrainian journalists. As a token of gratitude for the support, Sergiy Tomilenko presented the SJF with a special NUJU award. During the same visit, a presentation of the work of the Ukrainian Union was held for the Swedish National Commission for UNESCO. Ukrainian journalists perceive the Swedish experience of building a free media system as a guideline. As Sergiy Tomilenko noted, six decades ago, the Swedish state created a unique system of subsidies for the print press, designed to support pluralism and free competition of the media, which later became the basis of the logical press support systems in other European countries.

A logical continuation of this friendship was the joint project of the NUJU and the SFJ on the reform of the Union with the support of the Swedish Institute. It was within its framework that a webinar with the international secretary of the SJF, Victoria da Silva, took place.

NUJU Information Service