Flowers, water and textiles: EU-supported project for internally displaced persons in Ukraine announces winning videos

A story about the ‘queen of flowers’ from the town of Horlivka took first place in viewers’ voting for videos in the EU-funded Big Stories of Small Businesses project of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, which promotes entrepreneurship among internally displaced persons in Ukraine. A series of short videos tells the stories of entrepreneurs from Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. Due to the war, they have left their homes in eastern Ukraine and started their own business from scratch.

The winning video, made by Ukrainian director Anastasia Kovalchuk, tells the story of Nina Radchenko, the owner of a garden centre in Oleksandrivka, Donetsk Oblast, who left with her family her native town of Horlivka due to the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. Radchenko, who grows flowers and essential oil plants, now considers gardening her calling rather than just a way to earn money.

Second place went to the story of a priest and volunteer Serhiy Kazmenko, who moved in 2014 to the town of Dobropillya from the village of Olenivka in Donetsk Oblast. Kazmenko used a UNDP grant to purchase more modern water treatment equipment to develop the production of Source of Health drinking water. He hires internally displaced persons who were forced to leave their homes.

Third place went to a video about Lidiya Khyla and her textile workshop, which she opened in her native town of Melitopol using a UNDP grant.

The campaign is already in its fifth year. Over this time, dozens of entrepreneurs have been filmed and received support in promoting their businesses. The three winners this year will also receive support to promote their business.

Find out more

Press release

Watch all of the project videos