On 14 September, the annual opinion exchange festival DumkoFest was held at the Taras Shevchenko Park in Kyiv. DumkoFest 2019 was organised by EUACI together with NABU. For the second consecutive year, the event has brought together more than 1000 people: anti-corruption experts, civic activists, investigative journalists, opinion leaders and all concerned citizens to discuss the most relevant issues for Ukrainian society.
“The EUACI aims to bring people together so that they can speak about the issues, be open for debate. They can think themselves how they can contribute to anticorruption, what they can do in their everyday life. So, that it becomes a real different way of living. It’s very important that we all understand that we contribute to our own well-being. ,” said Elena Konceviciute, EUACI Senior Anti-Corruption Adviser, in her opening speech.
Artem Sytnyk, the Director of NABU, reminded everyone about the main goal of the festival: “Fight against corruption starts with nurturing public opinion. Shall we not change the mentality of our people and help them to develop zero tolerance to corruption, we wouldn't be able to solve this problem solely by using repressive methods.”
"This festival conveys the idea that we should change our way of thinking, start fighting against corruption and taking part in events like this one", the participant of the DumkoFest, Yulia shared her experience.
Fighting corruption was not the only topic of discussion at DumkoFest 2019. This year’s festival was also focused on such topics as: filter bubbles, fact-checking, e-government, public budgets, student emigration and other subjects. Hundreds of Ukrainian citizens, representatives of EUACI, NABU and non-governmental organisations interested in the development of the country, took part in the public dialogue.
In addition to the discussion panels, guests of the festival took part in themed quests, quizzes, games, and the interactive TV project "Geometry L" video shooting. During the final part of the event, NGO “Touch Point” and the “Black Square” improvisation studio presented their social art-performances.
DumkoFest (from Ukrainian “думка” – an opinion, a thought) is the Ukrainian analogue of Democracy Festivals that are conducted throughout the Scandinavia and the Baltic States. The idea of such festivals is to organize the platform for a constructive dialogue between people with different opinions and of different age, gender and social hierarchy. DumkoFest brings together public activists, journalists, government officials, entrepreneurs and citizens to exchange ideas and opinions in order to find the most efficient and effective ways of making Ukraine the best place for each of its residents.