During the field module in Lutsk, participants of the program "Communities and Educational Leaders: Strategies for a Holistic Child-Centered Personality Development System" explored how understanding the environment's unique characteristics helps design solutions that leverage community potential and create opportunities for its long-term development.

We share the key takeaways from the discussion:

Local Identity

We explored how the history, culture, and unique features of a specific territory can form the basis of a long-term development strategy. When a community understands its own identity and sees its connection with broader global processes, it can naturally shape its positioning and narratives.

Responsibility for the Environment

We discussed that responsibility for the community begins with a willingness to care not only for one's own home, business, or organization but also for the surrounding space. This idea is conveyed by the image of the "Ukrainian garden": a good host tidies not only their own yard but also what surrounds it. Similarly, in the interaction between authorities, business, and the community, it is important to think not about the authorship of an individual project, but about its long-term impact.

Business and Long-Term Development

Companies that link their work to a specific region for years are interested not only in individual projects but also in the quality of the environment — education, youth, culture, and the community's capacity to develop. Therefore, such investments become part of the long-term presence of business in the territory and its development.

Education and Urban Space

We discussed school not only as a place of learning but as an important hub for community life. Its spaces and infrastructure, including sports grounds, can be open to residents and create more opportunities for interaction around the school. At the same time, children themselves should be involved in arranging classrooms and public spaces where they spend a significant part of their time. For this, it is important for adults to trust them more, rather than limiting their participation due to fear of mistakes or formal inspections.

Culture and Memory

Using the example of "Dom Pako" — the family home of Ukrainian writer, translator, and intellectual Yurko Pokalchuk in Lutsk, now a cultural space for residencies and events — we explored how working with the history and memory of a territory can become the basis for new cultural projects.

Service

The concluding topic of the module was a conversation with Archimandrite Konstantin, abbot of the Zhydychyn Holy Mykolaiv Men's Monastery, about service and a person's inner work. He spoke about how monastic life is often perceived as an escape from the complexities of the world, though in reality, this path is an enormous work on oneself: a person first deals with themselves, and only then can they give to others.

We thank the partners and speakers who helped participants see Lutsk and Volyn through various experiences, practices, and perspectives:

Adam Kharlampovich, Presidents’ MBA alumnus, co-founder of the "Algorithm of Actions" platform;
Kateryna Moisiiuk, Head of the Tourism and Promotion Department of Lutsk City Council;
Lilia Marachkanets, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Kernel Agro-Industrial Holding, Director of the "Razom z Kernel" Charitable Foundation;— Mykyta Moskalyuk, curator of programs and international projects for the "Frontera" and "Algorithm of Actions" platforms;
Kateryna Mykhailiuk, Head of Funds Department at Korsak's Museum of Modern Ukrainian Art;
Valentyna Halushchak, founder of a private school and kindergarten in Lutsk;
Ella Yatsuta, Head of the "Algorithm of Actions" platform, founder of the "Frontera" literary platform;
Lidiia Hontar, Program Director of the NGO "New Capital";
Archimandrite Konstantin, Dean of the monasteries of the diocese, Abbot of the Zhydychyn Holy Mykolaiv Men's Monastery;
Ruslana Porytska, director of the "Dohory Dryhom" theater.

We also thank the teams of "Algorithm of Actions" and "Frontera" platforms, Korsak's Museum of Modern Ukrainian Art, "Okolnyi Zamok" museum space, "Dohory Dryhom" theater, and Zhydychyn Holy Mykolaiv Men's Monastery.

Field Module to Lutsk for the program 'Communities and Educational Leaders: Strategies for a Holistic Child-Centred Personality Development System'