In April–May 2025, a series of webinars took place as part of the international project “Community Archiving in Ukraine”, implemented by the Dobra Wola Foundation (Fundacja Dobra Wola, Kraków) in partnership with the Center for Community Archives in Warsaw (Centrum Archiwistyki Społecznej), the Ukrainian Oral History Association, the NGO “Stereotime”, and the National Council of Women of Ukraine. The webinars focused on key topics related to organizing and managing community archives.
The first webinar, held on April 28, explored the role of oral history in Polish community archives. The speaker, Adriana Kapała from the Center for Community Archives in Warsaw, discussed how community archives engage in educational activities, preserve local heritage, and collaborate with local communities. The session sparked lively discussion among Ukrainian participants, including museum professionals, educators, archivists, and activists.
The second webinar, which took place on May 6, addressed the legal and institutional foundations of community archiving in Ukraine. The speakers were Oleksandr Lashko, Deputy Head of the State Archival Service of Ukraine for Digital Development, and Olha Bazhan, Director of the Central State Archive of Public Associations of Ukraine and Ukrainian Studies.
The third webinar on May 13 focused on the formation and structure of community archives. Speakers included Tetiana Pryvalko (NGO “Stereotime”), Halyna Bodnar (Ivan Franko National University of Lviv), and Oksana Ferents, who shared insights on topics ranging from archive structure to the use of oral history sources and material culture in archiving practices.
The final event in the series was the webinar “Photography in Community Archives: Preservation”, held on May 19. It featured a presentation by Maria Przybyło from the Center for Community Archives in Warsaw.
The project “Community Archiving in Ukraine” has established itself as a vital platform for knowledge exchange between Ukrainian and Polish professionals, peer learning, and collaborative problem-solving in the field of historical memory preservation. Its core mission is to strengthen and connect grassroots community archiving initiatives in Ukraine, and to support the digitization and safeguarding of cultural heritage currently under threat due to the ongoing war.
Recordings of the webinars are available on the Dobra Wola Foundation’s YouTube channel.