Initiator: Oksana Rybaruk, participant of the School of Dialogue, historian, wife of an OCU priest, rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Where: village of Kryvorivnya, Verkhovyna district, Carpathians

During the dialogue process, we identified the main pain of the community, which was the cause of the conflict: the lack of prospects for youth, along with the preservation of heritage. Therefore, our work was aimed at finding common ideas and solutions among the dialogue participants.

Result: Creation of a network of tourist attractions in Verkhovyna, formation of the NGO "Hutsulyky", increase in the number of jobs, growth of external interest in the historical and cultural heritage of the village.

Cooperation details: The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was one of the central points where almost all residents of the community gathered and could communicate. Therefore, at the invitation of Father Ivan Rybaruk, not only parishioners but also representatives of business, the village council, active youth and other caring local residents joined the facilitated dialogue. During the dialogue, we heard the following from the residents:

• Kryvorivnya is a village that has an extremely rich cultural heritage.
• There is no infrastructure, there are not enough jobs.
• Young people go abroad to "pick strawberries" and don't return due to lack of prospects

At the same time, representatives of the returned youth, Ruslan Boychuk and Roman Mizuniuk, shared that they would like to stay and develop the village's tourism potential, cherish its historical and cultural heritage, but do not know where to start this process.

So, our further work during the following meetings consisted of developing a strategic plan, facilitating the interaction of the young activists with other community representatives, and helping them find grants. As a result, the youth initiative “Hutsulyks” was created. It gave rise to subsequent, larger-scale processes. Thus, the local initiative of the young people was transformed into a full-fledged network of tourist attractions “YO, Verkhovyna”. And “Hutsulyks” is currently an active public organization. They also hold festivals, youth parties, fairs, and invite famous bloggers. Thanks to this, local youth became interested in village life, additional jobs appeared, the flow of tourists increased, and Verkhovyna became more visible not only in Ukraine but also abroad.

This story highlights the importance of the true needs of the community, which can be lost in conflict.

We are inspired by the cooperation of generations, the development of public activity together with business, the rapid personal growth of participants, the realization of the ambitions of young people. We are pleased to observe the active activities of "Hutsulyks" and the tourist portal "Yo, Verkhovyna" and wish them further development and inspiration.