On June 2, 2020, the team of the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations, Lviv Polytechnic National University, held an online meeting with Bishop Stepan Sus, Bishop of the Curia of the Kyiv-Halych Supreme Archbishop, Head of the Pastoral Migration Department of the UGCC.
The meeting was a precondition for the start of a new stage of cooperation between IECDR and the Pastoral Migration Department of the UGCC, which today covers almost a decade of effective cooperation at various levels, partnerships in numerous events and projects.
Iryna Kliuchkovska, IECDR Director, opened the meeting, stressing that Bishop Stepan’s motivational appeal to start every morning with the words «I can!» is as consistent as possible with the daily work of the Institute. After all, despite all the challenges, IECDR always has ambitious plans, and works to help the Ukrainian diaspora and labour migrants.
Iryna Kliuchkovska stressed the longevity of cooperation between IECDR and the PMD of the UGCC in the past and the relevance of cooperation in modern conditions. Director of IECDR invited Bishop Stepan to get acquainted with the projects of the Institute and discuss future areas of cooperation.
Bishop Stepan Sus stressed that world Ukrainians today impress with the scale of activity of Ukrainian communities in the world. They managed not only to express themselves across different cultures, systems and civilizations, but also to unite representatives of other national communities around Ukrainian values.
According to Bishop Stepan, the key tasks of the PMD of the UGCC are to take care of Ukrainian communities outside Ukraine, their life and activities. In this context, according to the Bishop, the implementation of joint research projects with IECDR to study Ukrainian communities abroad is relevant.
The participants of the meeting discussed joint future steps, in particular in the field of education within the cooperation in the IECDR project «Ukrainian Educational Universe Portal» (interactive map and forum of Ukrainian Saturday Schools), who became partner of the Pastoral Migration Department of the UGCC. Employees of the Institute – Oksana Piatkovska, Olena Mytsko, Oksana Trumko and Andrii Yatsiv – told about key activities and projects of the Institute.
The parties agreed to continue communication and implementation of new ideas and plans to overcome current challenges and meet the needs of world Ukrainians.
