An Idea Cultivation Workshop took place as a part of the TOLOCAR project on January 19th. Ukrainian makers were invited – those who already identify themselves as such and also those who know these activities by another name: technology enthusiasts, engineers, craftsmen, inventors. People from all over Ukraine took part in the hybrid event. Among the markers, there were representatives from various sectors of civil society, from environmental protection to IT to legal and humanitarian support for women and their families.
Ideas for reconstruction and social cohesion
The prerequisite for participating in the Idea Cultivation Workshop was to bring your own idea for reconstruction in Ukraine or for social cohesion - regardless of whether it was still the stage of conception or already a fully developed idea.
To further develop these ideas, three facilitators provided participants with tools that helped the makers identify challenges at societal, national and global levels – and find sustainable solutions to the pressing problems. The makers support themselves; thanks to the exchange, they can make new contacts, find like-minded people and help each other.
Don’t wait for a miracle, but do it yourself
The participants formulated the following guiding principles based on their findings: “Don’t wait for a miracle, but do it yourself.”, “First you have to imagine it.”, “We are made of the same dough.” The Makers came to the conclusion that doing something together brings more impact and uniting is not a threat!
Inspiration is the key word that the participants took away: “We are different, but we work together.” This also applies to the work on the ideas with which they can register for the project competition, which runs until February 9th. Finally, 15 project ideas will be selected from the submissions and will compete in the next round for a cash prize of 50,000 euros for implementation.
#TOLOCAR is a project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ @bmz_bund) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with support of betterplace lab gGmbH and Future Challenges e.V. in close collaboration with Ukrainian and international partners.