“The world is helping to recover Ukraine:” Zaporizhzhia media people win a grant

The Zaporizhzhia Journalists’ Solidarity Center (JSC) of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) has hosted a meeting of media representatives with the director general and editor-in-chief of the MYH newspaper, Hennadii Derybas, and the newspaper correspondent Anna Chupryna, who presented the new grant project of their publication to local media professionals and displaced journalists and shared their experience of receiving the grant. Thanks to the grant of the Kimoniks project called Democratic Governance In Eastern Ukraine,” the Zaporizhzhia newspaper MYH received funding until the end of the year. The special issues to be published twice a month are called The World Helps Restore Ukraine: MYH Informs, Explains, Inspires.

“After the start of the full-scale war, the MYH newspaper is not published in its usual format,” said Hennadii Derybas. “Instead, the team has already implemented four projects for the publishing special issues, and in April, they started the fifth. Back in September 2023, we won the competition for obtaining a grant, thanks to which it is possible to finance the publication of the newspaper. The contract was signed on April 1. That ensures publishing two eight-band issues every month until March next year.”

Thus, thanks to the implementation of the Kimoniks project Democratic Governance In Eastern Ukraine, more than 400,000 residents and displaced people from other regions will have access to reliable and interesting information, as each copy of the special issue The World Helps To Restore Ukraine: MYH Informs, Explains, Inspires will be read by two or three people, according to Hennadii Derybas.

In the MYH newspaper, every reader will find information that will help them better understand the changes taking place in the region. According to the terms of the grant, the newspaper is not available for sale. It is distributed by Ukrposhta in the Khortytsia District and some villages. The newspaper is delivered by the editorial staff to the hubs of territorial communities, where anyone can get it.

“It is not easy to get a grant; it is quite painstaking work. We constantly receive information about the available grants thanks to the NUJU, the JSC, and the independent media union. They always support us if necessary. And then everything depends on us, on our perseverance, the ability to prepare documents in a high-quality way, to substantiate our application,” newspaper correspondent Anna Chupryna shared her experience in obtaining grants with her colleagues.

MYH journalists also attended training sessions in European grant organizations, where they learned how to write grant applications, substantiate real plans, etc.

We submitted 15 applications before winning. But we have a result. Special issues The World Helps Restore Ukraine: MYH Informs, Explains, Inspires will be published throughout the year! All the materials of the special issues will be posted in printed form on the portal https://MYH.com.ua, and additionally on the pages of the publication in social networks – Facebook, Instagram and Telegram messenger, the journalist emphasized.

“The conversation that took place at the JSC of the NUJU was undoubtedly very interesting. I also wrote applications for grants, but, unfortunately, I’ve managed to win a small grant only once. We dream of reviving the publication of the Chervonyi Promin newspaper of the Zaporizhzhia territorial community. Therefore, it is necessary to engage in grant work more persistently and seriously. Because, as they say, “whoever knocks, they open.” The experience of “MYH is convincing in this,” Nataliya Stina, the editor-in-chief of the publication, shared her impressions of the meeting with her colleagues.

Thanks to NUJU’s help and grant programs, two local newspapers, Trudova Slava from Orikhiv and Holos Huliaipole, have already resumed regular publication in the front-line Zaporizhzhia Region.

Call the Zaporizhzhia JSC at 096 277 5352 (Nataliya Kuzmenko and Valentyna Manzhura, the Zaporizhzhia JSC coordinators). The Center’s address is 152 Sobornyi Avenue.

ABOUT JSC

The Journalists’ Solidarity Centers is an initiative of the NUJU implemented with the support of the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO. The initiative is designated to help media representatives working in Ukraine during the war. The Centers operate in Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipro and provide journalists with organizational, technical, legal, psychological, and other types of assistance.

ABOUT UNESCO

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. It contributes to peace and security by promoting international cooperation in education, sciences, culture, communication, and information. UNESCO promotes knowledge sharing and the free flow of ideas to accelerate mutual understanding. It is the coordinator of the UN Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, which aims to create a free and safe environment for journalists and media workers, thus strengthening peace, democracy, and sustainable development worldwide. UNESCO is working closely with its partner organizations in Ukraine to provide support to journalists on the ground.

The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this digest do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this digest and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit to the organization.

Tamara Bort and Nina Derkach

Photo by Dariya Zyrianova