Local Communities Support

Since the foundation of the company Corporate Social Responsibility has been an integral part of its activities and the basis of its philosophy. As a result, in 2008, Astarta joined the UN Global Compact and pursued an active social policy.

Astarta’s social impact projects are focused on:

  • improvement of rural infrastructure;
  • support of education and healthcare;
  • development of culture and sports;
  • entrepreneurship development;
  • economic and social development of communities.

Astarta supports projects with an orientation on a long-term  perspective and involves different stakeholders: entrepreneurs, representatives of local authorities, the state, the public sector, youth and older people. According to Pareto Principle, the company assumes that 20% of those involved can become the driving force for the community.

Astarta quickly responds to changes and external challenges changing the main focus to the new society’s urgent needs. For example, the company assisted the communities in the fight against COVID-19 and supported the Ukrainian army and Ukrainians who suffered due to the full-scale russian invasion.

In March 2022, Astarta, together with the charitable foundation of Mr Viktor and Mrs Iryna Ivanchyk family, “Believe in Yourself”, created the humanitarian project “Common Help UA”. Dozens of international and Ukrainian companies and organizations became partners in the project.

The project team includes almost a thousand volunteers. There are eight humanitarian aid hubs and warehouses in the Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky and Poltava regions.

Thanks to the joint efforts of all project participants, we have already delivered 29.7kt of humanitarian aid. More than 831k evacuees and residents of hot spots and 500 social and medical institutions of Ukraine received our support. Today, the estimated monetary value of the project’s charitable contributions and humanitarian aid exceeds USD32,8m.

We focus our efforts on:

  • humanitarian support for people affected by russia’s military aggression in Ukraine;
  • assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
  • development of regional entrepreneurship;
  • implementation of the Resilience Programme in local communities.

From the onset of the full-scale russian military aggression against Ukraine, Common Help UA, together with Astarta and the project, participants provided military equipment, vehicles, medicines, and foodstuff for the estimated amount of UAH479m.

Thanks to a large team of like-minded people, our joint contribution to the Victory as of 30.03.2024 is:

  • 166 vehicles;
  • 44kt of fuel and lubricants;
  • 10,000 doses of atropine;
  • 6890 C-A-T haemostatic tourniquets;
  • 2587 bulletproof vests of 4+ protection class;
  • 1885 IFAK first aid kits;
  • 800 load-bearing vests;
  • 852 sets of summer uniforms, 692 sets of winter uniforms, 604 helmets uniforms, 604 helmets, 1277 pairs of tactical shoes, 650 pairs of tactical gloves, 468 sets of thermal and antibacterial underwear.
  • 758 hydrators;
  • 245 crewless aerial vehicles and their components;
  • 315 pieces of equipment, including printers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, video cameras, TV sets, and walkie-talkies;
  • 87 thermal imagers, monoculars, surveillance devices, binoculars;
  • 7 Starlink devices;
  • 36 solar-powered charging stations;
  • 44 gas masks;
  • 10 camouflage nets with anti-drone protection;
  • 21 generator stations and other essentials
    food, medicines, spare parts for cars and other
    equipment, fleece jackets, socks, winter hats, backpacks, etc.

The “Course to Independence” project is organized thanks to the cooperation of Ukrainian business and the German development bank: Astarta-Kyiv and DEG kfw. The implementation partners are the charitable foundation “Believe in Yourself”, the charitable organization CO “Light of Hope” and the Agency of Local Economic Development of Zelenodolsk.

The total grant fund of the program is EUR1m (2022) and EUR2m (2023).

160 Ukrainian entrepreneurs received the grants of the Ukrainian-German program for the development of Ukrainian production and scaling of their business .

In total, 725 applications were submitted by entrepreneurs from the communities of the Poltava, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia and Kharkiv regions of Ukraine.

The project “Brave” is organized due to the partnership of Ukrainian businesses: Raiffeisen Bank and Astarta-Kyiv. The implementation partners are the charitable foundation “Believe in Yourself” and the charitable organization “Light of Hope”.

The project participants can become:

– self-employment category – unemployed women and men aged 20 to 55 who have a business idea and are ready to implement it (the Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Ternopil, Chernihiv, and Khmelnytskyi regions).

Preference is given to participants belonging to the following categories: combatants, war veterans, members of their families (spouses, children, parents), family members of deceased combatants.

– micro-entrepreneurship category – women and men aged 20 to 55 years, with experience in entrepreneurial activity (at least 3 months before the competition announcement, have a registered legal entity or are registered as a sole proprietor), registered/re-registered in the territory controlled by Ukraine (the Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Ternopil, Chernihiv and Khmelnytskyi regions).

Preference will be given to micro-enterprises (individual entrepreneurs, legal entities) that aim to create additional jobs for vulnerable groups of people.

1200 applicants submitted their applications, of which 97 received grants to starta or develop their businesses. The third wave of the project started in February 2024.

The project started in 2020 with joint efforts from Pact Ukraine, Light of Hope, Astarta and the Government of Canada. It is directed at women to stimulate their professional development and promote welfare. Four united communities took part in the namely: Globyne, Kozelshchyna, Bilyky, Shishaky and Poltava. To develop business start-ups, participants of the project received 79 grants. 

The project was fostered in 2019 in partnership with the Embassy of Switzerland and consulting company Deloitte in Ukraine.

The authorities of the Volochysk Community began the transformation and development of their community in close cooperation with expert partners in the field of self-government, economic analysis and sustainable development.

During the project, a comprehensive diagnosis of the community was conducted, 40 recommendations were provided, and 11 short-term recommendations were implemented. The vision vector of the community development was prepared as a result of the hackathon, which was also organized among the citizens. Twenty-four insights and 60 ideas were identified.

Currently, the process of the development of the Community Development Strategy until 2028 and the promotion of small businesses continues. For example, the business project “Pranuka” – production of natural cosmetics and procurement of raw materials and “Eco-pig” – the family farm.

The project started in 2018 in three schools in the Khmelnytskyi region. The project aims to introduce students to modern agriculture and its professions.

The programme of the project consists of two textbooks and methodical recommendations. The students study the theory of agricultural technologies and later acquire practical skills. The students practice in the specially set greenhouses, where they grow plants independently.

Eight hundred children from 25 schools in five regions of Ukraine participated in the project. Thirty-two scientific projects were developed.

In 2020 Astarta, in partnership with the EBRD, EY and Kharkiv National Agrarian University, started a partnership project to support young specialists in receiving higher education with particular attention to practical experience. The project is aimed at creating a new bachelor’s programme paying particular attention to dual education.

The University provides the theoretical part, and the practical part is realised at Astarta’s production sites. As a result of the programme, the practical part of the bachelor’s study was increased from 5 to 14 weeks, 35 persons participated in the teaching qualification improvement, and 250 persons participated in a specially developed online training course.

“Uprise” – a project aimed at the development of leadership and project management skills

The educational project was started in partnership with the Ukrainian Academy of Leadership and the Charity Foundation “Believe in Yourself”. It aims to encourage rural youth to engage in the life of their communities using leadership skills, project thinking and experience in undertaking personal projects. Almost 700 participants took part, and more than 160 projects were designed, 53 of which were implemented.

The project was started to provide IT education to children and adults in rural areas.

The project was designed for children aged 9 to 15 years and adults aged over 40 years. The adult programme includes computer literacy education. The agenda for children includes visual programming in Scratch, designed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Robotics.

Forty-one schools from 7 regions of Ukraine took part in the project. One thousand two hundred forty-six children received training in SCRATCH programming and ROBOTECH, and 673 adults completed techno literacy course.

The School of Career Adviser is an official project for professional development by the Institute of Modernisation of Education Content of the Ministry of Education of Ukraine together with the Association of Innovative and Digital Education and the company “HR YOU”. Astarta acted as a partner.

The course programme was created based on the blended learning model and was approved by the DNU “Institute for the Modernization of the Content of Education” of the Ministry of Education and Culture. The School of Career Adviser is an official programme for professional development by the Institute of Modernisation of Education Content of the Ministry of Education of Ukraine. The programme involves school students and their parents, teachers, school psychologists, and all those who want to study the basics of career advising.

In May 2020, Astarta, together with the public organisation “International Environmental Safety”, started the online project “Eco-education in communities”. The programme is aimed at promoting environmental awareness among young people. Fifteen students aged 12-13 years participated in the programme. Experts held online webinars, sharing exciting and valuable information with young listeners and organising various activities and quizzes. The participants had practical tasks, researched the possibility of reducing the use of water and electricity, and developed recommendations for sorting domestic waste.

Each participant created a video recommendation with a call to join sustainable consumption.

In 2020, the focus of Astrata social corporate responsibility shifted to the fight against becoming one of the top priorities for the company.

For the last four years, the company invested more than UAH35m in healthcare, out of which UAH27.6m were allocated for mitigating the impact of COVID-19 in 2020. Astarta kept constant contact with the medical staff in 36 hospitals in seven regions of Ukraine. The company provided support to medical institutions and equipment. The company’s prime goal is the citizens’ health in the operations areas. 

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