“Responsibility is already in each of us and at the same time what we continue to strive for” – about the celebration of Human Responsibility Day.

On October 19, on the occasion of Human Responsibility Day and the 95th birthday anniversary of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, friends and partners of the Foundation gathered at the Ukrainian House in Kyiv. 

There was music, greetings, personal stories, memories of Bohdan Dmytrovych, and a lot of talks about responsibility through action. We mentioned the basic principles enshrined in the Declaration of Human Responsibilities and summarized what was done and announced new projects. 

Democracy is a gift, democracy is work. Democracy is not only a right, it is also a responsibility. We are very proud that our father decided to emphasize that rights without responsibility do not exist. We are all aware of that. You are all aware of that, ” said Christine Hawrylyshyn-Batruch, president of the foundation and Bohdan Hawrylyshyn’s daughter. 

“All of us were once united by the figure of Pan Bohdan, his ideas and values. We continue to put them into practice, we continue to “dream big”. And one such dream came true this summer – the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted to establish Human Responsibility Day in Ukraine – an initiative we have advocated for since last year. For us, responsibility is action. This is what we do. These are our non-formal educational programs for young change agents, for active Ukrainian youth, who create these changes every day in the capital and in the regions. We, as a foundation, provide tools and opportunities for such young people to do more, do better, be more professional, ”– Olena Bekreniova, Director of the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation. 

Together with the graduates of the program “Young Generation Will Change Ukraine”, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada Solomiia Bobrovska, Maryna Bardina and Dmytro Lubinets shared the way from the idea to the adoption of the resolution on the Human Responsibility Day at the state level.

Probably, for the last two years, I personally do not remember any resolution of the Verkhovna Rada, which absolutely all factions would vote for. 308 votes in favor of this resolution. And probably, in this way our Ukrainian parliament has shown that it has responsibility towards people, and first of all we have responsibility towards Bohdan Dmytrovych Hawrylyshyn,” said People’s Deputy Dmytro Lubinets.
It seems to me that even if there were no books written about signposts, about how important and possible it is to live this life with dignity, it would be clear just talking to Bohdan Dmytrovych. Because he is a signpost himself,” said People’s Deputy Maryna Bardina. 

Family stories from Bohdan Hawrylyshyn’s daughters and MPs’ reflections on responsibility as a value were complemented by our international speaker – Harry Jacobs, CEO of the World Academy of Art and Science.

The youth part of the program was presented with a special project by students of Pechersk School International, who chose different points of the Declaration of Human Responsibilities and voiced them in different languages, as well as a cool video with young people and for young people “I am responsible”. 

The director of the Foundation Olena Bekreniova presented the multimedia project “I remain a Ukrainian” dedicated to the 95th anniversary of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn – a live book with a three-dimensional portrait of a man of the era.

This is a book of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn’s memoirs written in 2010. We republished it, supplemented, and added many QR-codes, which lead, for example, to documentary archival family footage from his life. There you can see and hear Ukrainian men and women reading excerpts from this book… We tried to make the portrait of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn very voluminous and “revive” this book, because thanks to his ideas, Bohdan Dmytrovych seems to live further, ” said Olena Bekreniova about the multimedia project.

The book can be read in an updated edition from Publishing House Starogo Leva; you can listen to the audio version, which is in the process of preparing by Gwara Media; you can scan the QR codes leading to materials and videos created during Bohdan Hawrylyshyn’s life and after 2016, thanks to director Vladimir Kuznetsov. And you can also immerse yourself in the music of the era of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn and listen to the audiobooks in special programs of radio “Culture”.

Radio Kultura, famous for being the radio of cultural premieres, wanted to join this initiative, and that is why we have created such a “cloud” of additional programs and dimensions of this book,” said Iryna Slavinska, executive producer of Radio Kultura. “On the radio, we always take a little more responsibility – and give a little more than others to our actions. Therefore, when we were invited to join the multimedia project of republishing Bohdan Hawrylyshyn’s book, we decided to surpass ourselves. That’s how a series of music and literary programs about the whole day – these 95 years – appeared.” 

Is responsibility always easy? Obviously not. As Roman Vintoniv (Michael Schur) noted: “Responsibility is difficult. It doesn’t make people’s lives easier. It is always harder for responsible people than for irresponsible ones: such a person will not drive to a red light, jump the queue, throw garbage, park anywhere, but will drive around to find a parking lot. ” But this is the only way to a civilized society! 

But, at the same time, we know that all the heroic pages of the history of Ukraine are directly related to the responsibility shown by Ukrainians in the most critical moments for the existence of statehood to preserve their own identity, freedom and independence. The responsibility of Ukrainians was particularly strong during the Revolution of Dignity and the opposition to occupation and armed aggression by the Russian Federation. Individuals, the public sector, and Ukrainian business have actively shown and continue to show their responsibility for the country’s transformation.

Therefore, on the Human Responsibility Day, the team of the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation presented the Responsibility Award 2021, the responsibility award for civil society organizations. Learn about the award, organization selection criteria, prizes and deadline for submission at responsibility-award.com.

Together with Kacho Group partners, we also announced the release of the third collection of accessories # bh15, the proceeds of which will go to the organization of a training program for young people in the fashion industry.

At the company, we have decided that every year we will choose one item of the Declaration of Human Responsibility and we will work with it. This year is  about building an effective community. In our case, building a fashion community,” says Alina Kachorovska about the idea of ​​learning. “For me, I felt the fullness of life only when I realized and accepted the whole deep history of the topic of responsibility.  It’s about the fullness of life, without which it’s not. And I’ve realized that responsibility is a positive story, a happy one, with a sense of wholeness.” 

Read about the collaboration with the Kacho Group, how to support the future program and where to buy accessories in our article “The Kachorovska brand is an inspiring responsibility”. The idea of the training program for women was also supported by the publishing house “ZORIA and BOOKS”, which created a creative interpretation of the Declaration of Human Responsibility – a book for writing “My thoughts”, which you can buy to support the charity. Read more about cooperation in our article.

To feel the atmosphere of the event, we suggest watching the recording of the online broadcast: 

We thank cordially everyone who picked up the mood of the day and shared it with us in Kyiv and all corners of Ukraine. We saw every tag of the Foundation, posts with hashtags on social networks. From personal stories to events at the level of government agencies. We have many more steps to go. But we have already done the first one.

Many thanks to the sponsors and partners of the event B&H Film Distribution Company, Ukrainian Society of Switzerland, Aurora Multimarket, National Center “Ukrainian House”, Belkastrelka, International Renaissance Foundation, ISAR “Yednannia”, Kacho Group, “ZORIA and BOOKS”, Gwara Media as well as to our information partners, in particular, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Radio Kultura, the Ukrainian Association of the Club of Rome, Rotary District 2232, the Center for Democracy and the Rule of Law, the Poltava Business Association, KyivPost, WikiBusiness, Ukrainian Radio.

Special thanks to the Ambassadors of the Foundation – you are our inspiration, our strength and support throughout Ukraine. Thanks to you, Ukraine has learned about Human Responsibility Day in cities and towns from East to West, from North to South of our country, and even beyond.