Like every Ukrainian I have a rather painful, but very useful experience of

how young people can unite and by their social position not only solve local
problems, but also decide about the political fate and the vector of development of
the country. By the Revolution of Dignity Citizens of Ukraine have shown the
whole world that our country has chosen the democratic path, European values for
itself and future generations and shown the willingness to be truly developed and
legal state. I want to share this difficult experience and gain experience of other
countries in skills of leadership, active participating in social life, non-formal
education and peacebuilding.

At the same time, studying at law university and being a public activist, I
have repeatedly faced with the problem of low participation of young people in
civic life and the formation of its democratic principles. One of such examples was
my volunteering at the local elections in 2015, when being a supervisor, I clearly
saw that in the whole city the situation was like that young people were under 30
percent of the accounted from the absolute minority of all voters at the polling
station. However, I support the agreement that active citizenship is more than the
duty to vote every 4 or 5 years. For me, active citizenship is when instead of
looking to the semifinal of the EURO 2016, you write motivation letter for a
project that will help you to develop personally and get priceless experience and
thus will give you the opportunity to transmit this experience to friends and
colleagues after returning home and trying to change the society for better.

Being the student of the international law faculty, I always study and analyze
the role of civil society in building prosperity of the state democratic system, major
political and social factors of reducing public activity in society, the impact of the
integration of European values into society. It is very important for me to get to
know how young people of different cultures understand the importance of civil
society, principles of equality, unity, solidarity, to find out their relation to other
countries and to analyze their views, values and opinions. So, the theme of this
training meets both my professional and personal interests.

Also, a very strong motivation to participate in this project is the wish to

present my country worthy. I'm ready to share my already acquired skills and
knowledge, and the skills of active recreation and teach how to dance our national
dancing Gopak, prepare national dishes, including 'borshch', and drink vodka from
the elbow.