OREANDA-NEWS. DTEK jointly with municipal authorities and civil society organizations announces a contest of projects Your Hometown in Your Hands in 16 cities where the company’s enterprises are present. DTEK will provide mini grants for implementation of the best projects aimed at improving the quality of life in these cities. The amount of one grant can be up to UAH 20,000. In total, DTEK will allocate over UAH 1.5 million for this purpose in 2013.

 The contest participants are civil society organizations, associations of apartment building co-owners (and other population associations/unions), citizen initiative groups. The participants can submit the projects for assessment by the judging panel in the following areas:
•         Social sector: work with exposed social groups (senior citizens, people with disabilities, orphaned children, handicapped children, disadvantaged children, problem families, single mothers, etc.).
•         Housing and utility sector: improving efficiency of housing and utility sector performance; application of energy efficient and energy-saving technologies in the sector, etc.
•         Healthy lifestyle promotion and popularization of sports: awareness raising campaigns among teenagers, involvement of children, youth and adults into sports, organization of leisure time for school children, etc.
•         Education, cultureandcreativeart: promotion of art through social media and innovative technologies (photo and video quests, on-line projects, laboratories for scientific and applied creativity work, etc.); creation of conditions for self-actualization of children and youth (art projects, art clubs) and other similar projects.
•         Urban improvements, including projects aimed at establishing attitude of care towards the environment and urban infrastructure, improvement of parks, yards, children’s and sports playgrounds, other similar projects.

 “Traditionally, DTEK provides financial and expert assistance to the cities and towns of its presence in housing and utility sector energy efficiency, health care, development of business environment and support of socially relevant infrastructure. We find it important that the local residents should have a possibility to participate in development of their communities, show initiative and express their creative capabilities, as well as implement their own ideas on how to improve their living standards. Therefore, we have singled out a new investment direction in our social partnership strategies signed for 2013-2015 – development of the local communities’ activity. We are supporting the Your Hometown in Your Hands contest within the framework of this investment sector and are ready to provide mini grants to implement the most socially attractive projects,” said Alexander Tolkach, DTEK’s Director for External Affairs.

 The contest is organized by the local authorities. The Local Development Agencies established with DTEK’s support are going to run the competition in Burshtyn, Dobrotvor and Ladyzhin in 2013. In other towns and cities of Ukraine,* the Association of NGOs “Local Initiative Fund of Donetsk Region” is going to implement this project.