Feb. 2015—Knowledge about family planning and reproductive health is growing in Ukraine thanks to a small former USAID grantee that has grown into an important regional change-maker.

If you attended USAID’s community information fair in Vinnytsia last year, you probably spotted local Ukrainian youth wearing T-shirts providing free family planning and reproductive health counseling. These volunteers are part of the Informational-Educational Center, or IEC VIS, a local NGO with its genesis in a former USAID project called Together for Health, which ended in 2011.

The youth, some of whom were themselves beneficiaries of the original USAID project, work within their home community of Vinnytsia to inform and raise awareness of family planning/reproductive issues.

Svitlana Dubyna, founder, director and driving force behind IEC VIS, attributes her organization’s success to large cadres of young volunteers who both sustain the Center and help it thrive. She identifies these youth as the critical backbone of her organization and cites their volunteerism as enabling the program to continue with minimal financial support. Seventy full-time volunteers support the organization, six times the number of volunteers she had only a couple of years ago.

“Young people are eager to join our organization because they understand that the issues we promote are important not only for them, but for their peers,” says Dubyna. “For them, it is an opportunity to combine the useful with the interesting.”

Dubyna began working with a USAID implementing partner in 2007 and was surprised by the huge gaps in reproductive health awareness among Ukraine’s youth. Long-standing cultural taboos hindered open discussions, while a lack of accurate information resulted in incorrect (and sometimes harmful) myths and misconceptions.

“At the time, commonly mentioned prevention methods included ‘the pull-out method,’ abortion, and even using Coca-Cola as a contraceptive,” recalls Dubyna.

Determined to influence change in her country, in 2008, Dubyna applied for a grant from the USAID Together for Health project and joined a “training of trainers” program, where she learned how to convey information to adolescents, helping them make healthier, more informed reproductive and family planning choices.

“Through the USAID program, we learned not only how to talk, but, more importantly, how to listen, which helped us build a bridge between medical professionals and people seeking information about family planning/reproductive health.” 

The organization she formed decided direct contact was the best way to reach local young people and inform them about family planning/reproductive health issues. Dubyna’s volunteers became common sights on Vinnytsia’s streets, wearing USAID-branded T-shirts, distributing pamphlets and contraceptives, and providing informal peer-to-peer counseling. The volunteers became popular resources for reproductive health information and contraceptives.

Today, the Center is part of a coalition that promotes family planning/reproductive health and gender equality throughout Ukraine.

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