“How to Become a Freelancer: From a Business Idea to Co-Working”: training for women IDPs in Lviv and Drohobych

On September 12-15, Drohobych and Lviv hosted two-day trainings “How to Become a Freelancer: From a Business Idea to Co-Working”. Coordinators of the event include the NGO “East European Cooperation” (Lithuania) in partnership with the NGO Areket (Drohobych), and Lviv’s Crimean Tatar Women Club (Lviv).

“After their forced departure from Crimea and East Ukraine, IDPs not only found themselves in a different social environment, but also faced problems produced by the relocation and economic crisis. Unemployment, lack of demand for their profession at a new place, and loss of their business led to the need to find alternative sources of income. The situation was particularly hard for women with commitments to their families, which makes full-time employment impossible. Therefore, we believe that the training will give the participants an impetus to start their own business as freelancers. Successful self-employment improves the social status of women IDPs, has a positive effect on their self-esteem, and facilitates their integration into new communities – people feel that they may be useful to their families and society,” said Beatriče Beliavciv, EEC Director.

One possibility to improve the financial situation, to start their own business and to develop a sense of belonging to a professional community is freelance. For a successful start of own business, people need some knowledge that facilitates the period of formation, helps prioritise and organise work and find optimal sales channels.

During this two-day training, the participants acquired basic knowledge and received practical guidance concerning the opportunities offered by freelancing. Major efforts focused on the components of realisation of a viable business idea – from generation to promotion and formation of co-working spaces for joint implementation of business projects. The main invited trainer was Julija Kubova, a well-known business coach from Lithuania. “Everything depends on the will of the participants themselves, but the training is a good start to reconsider their activity or start doing something extra. The impetus gives the participants the opportunity to develop their business by doing what they love. This ensures sustainability of the project,” said Ms. Kubova.

Nataliia Kazonnova, founder of the Creative Studio BeePR, held a module on promotion of business ideas and PR in social media. Besides, Svitlana Zakrevska, business trainer, shared her successful experience of creating co-working spaces.

The participants of the event evaluated the training highly in terms of the benefits obtained. “We have no idea of the internal resources we possess. We have ideas, but often we lack understanding of how to put them into practice. Now it is becoming clear, you come to see the hidden obstacles that prevented you from realisation of ideas. The training gave us an opportunity to leave obstacles behind and tap into new resources. We’ve got an opportunity to move on, our goal has become more visible and clear. This is a really useful event,” said Lilia Ipchy, member of Lviv’s Crimean Tatar Women Club.

Another important part of the training was the meeting with Adas Jakubauskas, poet, writer, Head of Lithuania’s Tatar Association. One of the problems Crimean Tartars faced after leaving Crimea was the preservation of their national identity and culture in the new environment. Tatars in Lithuania have had to preserve their identity for over 620 years, they are the oldest diaspora community of the country, and therefore, this experience is useful for Crimean Tatars.

All in all, the training was attended by about 40 women, most of whom are representatives of the Crimean Tatar community who after the annexation and occupation of Crimea moved to Lviv region.

Note: The project Self–Employment and Social Activity are the Guarantees of the Success of Integration and Social Involvement of IDPs from Eastern Ukraine and Crimean Tatar Communities is implemented to facilitate integration of IDPs into local communities in Ukraine and social adaptation of vulnerable groups.

The project is implemented by the NGO “East European Cooperation” (Lithuania) in partnership with the NGO Areket (Drohobych), and Lviv’s Crimean Tatar Women Club (project of the NGO Crimean Institution for Civil Society) (Lviv).

The project is funded by the Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. 

Information partner – ATR TV-channel.