Greeks of Ukraine
COMPETENCE AREA
Social project
Overview
The Greek Diaspora in Ukraine numbers about 100 thousand people, over 80% of whom are concentrated in the Donetsk region. The rest live across the territory of other 18 Ukrainian regions.
Greeks have very high level of national identity and solidarity. The Diaspora is engaged in vigorous social activities. By the present time the Greeks have formed two social organizations:
Federation of Greek Associations of Ukraine (FGAU) represents non-business oriented part of the expatriates. It is involved in academic, publishing, cultural and educational activities. FGAU supports the young people performances and promotes the sports tendencies. The organization also renders consulting assistance to the community, resolving issues at the international level and realizing social and other programs.
The International Association of Greeks — Entrepreneurs (IAGE) represents business oriented part of the Diaspora. Today it supports the FGAU programs, yet in future the number of its activities will increase. IAGE is planned to support the Diaspora's business activities, implement international projects, and provide entrepreneurs with assistance. It will also concentrate on marketing area expansion for its members, finding investors and on consolidating of economic relations with other countries.
Jason International Charitable Fund was created with the assistance of FGAU and IAGE and is engaged in support and realization of social programs.
Within the Diaspora's social activities provided with the support of the Hellenicare organization a new medical Hippocrates Fund was established in Mariupol to deliver medical service to the locals.
Although the Diaspora has a wide range of social activities, it still lacks a centralized body to consolidate all information flows.
Challenge
The successful development of the Diaspora in Ukraine demanded for an integrated communication center for all the Greeks, which could have possessed the function of representing the expats' community interests in future.Result
MID has developed a project named Greeks of Ukraine that would unite the members of the Diaspora. The basic idea of the project was to consolidate the Greeks not into one organization, but around an integrated official center not associated with any specific activity.
Also we have come up with the slogan «Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow» as a link between the past and the future of Greeks and in memory of their legendary heritage. This slogan defines the direction of the Diaspora's evolution: looking back to the glorious past of ancestors, live in the present and move forward to the future. In the frames of this program MID has worked out the corporate identity to emphasize the feeling of unity in the community.
As a part of this project we have designed the website named Greeks of Ukraine. Its visual design is very symbolic and indicating the cultural legacy of the ancient Greeks.
The Ministry of Ideas has created a long-term program oriented on functionality, strengthening and development of the project by means of interactive communications as well as the PR-strategy.
The project is being independently supported by greek diaspora since March 2009.
