World Council of Ukrainian Social Services

About the Committee

The World Council of Ukrainian Social Services under the Ukrainian World Congress has been active since 1969. The Council’s main task is to coordinate and guide assistance initiatives in all countries where Ukrainian communities are established.

It promotes the development of charitable work in the diaspora and supports the Social Service of Ukraine and its projects, conducts training programs, and coordinates initiatives to assist those in need.

Acting Chair Lesia Panko, Canada [email protected] 1-416-738-1763

Mission and goals of the World Council of Ukrainian Social Services

Let us do good together and help those in need

Coordinate the charitable work of women’s and national organizations
Cooperate with and support the UWC in its work
Initiate and assist in setting up social services in the countries of Ukrainian settlement
Build ties with relief organizations of global and international scope
Initiate and coordinate special relief campaigns
Collect and distribute materials and information related to charitable work

History of the World Council of Ukrainian Social Services

The World Council of Ukrainian Social Services of the UWC was established in 1969 as the Congress continued to build out and expand its structures; Mr. Zenovij Duda was elected its chair. The Council set out to coordinate charitable work and to run individual campaigns for those in need — Ukrainian institutions, organizations, orphanages, homes for the elderly, churches and students.

In 1986, after the Chornobyl disaster, the Council’s chair Zenon Duda initiated the creation of the “Chornobyl” Commission to help the victims and to study the consequences of the catastrophe. In 1987 its members published the collected data as a position document in the pages of Visnyk SKVU, the herald of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians, and circulated it, which played an important role in informing the world about the aftermath. Also in 1987, the “Kontakt” relief and organizing commission was created within the Council to maintain ties with the countries of South America and to raise awareness of Ukrainian political prisoners in the USSR.

In 1992, on the initiative of and coordinated by the Council, the Social Service of Ukraine (SSU) was founded, with Bohdan Fesiuk elected as its head. A network of branches followed, along with a programme of activities and a twinning programme, which helped build active contacts between Ukrainian organizations in Canada and the USA and the SSU and its branches in Ukraine.