Tolocar/Makers Empowerment Hubs

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The Makers Empowerment Hubs program aims to empower seven makerspaces in Ukraine to realize their full potential to contribute to local development within their communities. The program supports the selected makerspaces with the necessary resources, networking, and skill development over the course of one year.

In the beginning of 2025, seven makerspaces were selected based on their application for the program. The applications were evaluated by GIZ's Tolocar team, based on the following criteria:

1. Legal status: The makerspace should be operated by a registered NGO or other non-profit organizations which comply with all relevant laws and regulations in Ukraine.
2. Makerspace: The makerspace is already established and operating, meaning that there is a dedicated space with making equipment and some activities already took place there. The space has been operating for at least one year. However, the makerspace is still in a developmental stage.
3. Monitoring and communications: The makerspace team has the ability and willingness to monitor and report on their activities and impact transparently and effectively.

1. The team of the makerspace is highly motivated to develop the makerspace sustainably.
2. The makerspace is eager to contribute to local development within the makerspace’s direct surrounding and aims to develop their partner network to support this. The suggested project for development aligns with that goal.
3. The makerspace is open to contribute to Ukrainian’s maker community and their values align with Tolocar’s fundamental principles of open knowledge sharing.

The selection also considered a geographically balanced distribution of makerspaces to support makerspaces across the country. Preference was given to makerspaces located within smaller Ukrainian towns and villages.

In the heart of Truskavets, the NGO Initiative Center “Toloka” is turn innovation into opportunity. Originally founded by internally displaced persons from Donetsk, the organization continues its mission of resilience and empowerment! With the help of Tolocar, the organization created a makerspace in a lyceum: Fab Lab Truskavets. As part of the Makers Empowerment Hubs program, Fab Lab Truskavets is expanding its infrastructure and programming to bring STEAM education and digital fabrication to local and displaced children and youth. Within the program, they update the makerspace with new tools for digital fabrication, host workshops on robotics, game design, 3D printing, and upcycling, foster intergenerational learning and inclusive maker events, conduct teacher trainings to bring hands-on tech into classrooms and create open-source guides and curricula for educators everywhere. With a strong focus on community building, inclusion, and innovation, Fab Lab Truskavets stands for future-ready education.

Powered by the local NGO Ridne Misto, the makerspace in Berezhany blends hands-on creativity with community transformation. With a long-standing commitment to local development and psycho-social support, Ridne Misto is operating a modern makerspace for youth and entrepreneurs where technical skills and social change go hand in hand. Within the Makers Empowerment Hubs program, the organization upgrades their makerspace with woodworking & metalworking tools, redesigns public spaces in Berezhany together with the community, conducts technical trainings in pottery, metal, and wood crafts for students, veterans, and IDPs and especially puts a strong focus on inclusion and accessibility. Through making, the Maker Empowerment Hub in Berezhany is shaping futures, connections, and opportunities.

At the intersection of rehabilitation, creativity, and inclusion, the NGO RE:Textile Group is transforming lives through craft and community. Their makerspace, Veteran-Civilian PETROS, is a safe and inclusive space where veterans, people with disabilities, and IDPs come together to heal, learn, and reconnect through meaningful hands-on experiences. As part of the Makers Empowerment Hubs program, they launch a mobile makerspace (in this case it is not a converted van, but a portable unit delivering craft-based rehabilitation workshops directly to hospitals, rehab centers, and outdoor spaces), conduct inclusive workshops for both veterans and civilians and provide continued programming at the stationary PETROS space, reinforcing its role as a trusted community hub. Whether stationary or mobile, PETROS brings tools, healing, and human connection wherever they go.

In the city of Konotop, the NGO STEM-MAKER builds resilience, inclusion, and opportunity for everyone. With years of experience supporting education and social adaptation, STEM-MAKER has created a vibrant makerspace where technology meets purpose. Now, as part of the Makers Empowerment Hubs program, they’re taking their impact to the next level: They provide hands-on workshops and seminars for youth, women, veterans, IDPs, and people with disabilities, host inclusive trainings that challenge gender stereotypes in STEM and promote social integration and upgrade their makerspace for better learning conditions. Konotop’s makerspace is where skills are built, barriers are broken, and communities come together to create a more inclusive future.

In a historic building pulsing with modern ideas, Creative Platform Mlyn brings together artists, engineers, makers, and changemakers to shape the future of Zaporizhzhia’s creative scene. As part of the Makers Empowerment Hubs program, this vibrant space is strengthening a local ecosystem of collaborative creation, rooted in culture, craftsmanship, and community action. Within the program, they host maker workshops in woodworking, plastic recycling, and linocut printing open to all skill levels, support participants in launching microprojects that tackle social and cultural challenges in their communities and organize a public Maker Festival featuring exhibitions, a handmade goods market, lectures, and an evening gathering to celebrate the power of making. From tools to transformation, Mlyn is proving that maker culture is a force for social change.

In Stryi, the charitable foundation Ridnya shows what happens when technology, community, and creativity come together. Through their inclusive innovation lab, Ridnya is empowering people from all walks of life to collaborate, learn, and launch ideas that strengthen the local community. As part of the Makers Empowerment Hubs program, they turn this space into a launchpad for entrepreneurial development and social innovation. They conduct rainings, hands-on courses, and seminars to help active, creative people turn ideas into real projects, provide mentorship and support for aspiring entrepreneurs at every stage, host a public Innovation Forum, where one project will receive a special prize and local recognition and organize events and community outreach to anchor the innovation lab as a permanent part of Stryi’s development ecosystem. They showcase that innovation isn’t just a buzzword but a path to self-reliance, connection, and hope for the Stryi community.

Nestled in the Carpathian mountains, the NGO "Tourist Association Hutsuliya" is a public organization and was founded in 2003 by an initiative group of local residents of the town of Kosiv. The NGO operates a makerspace located in the Kosiv Lyceum No. 1, where the makerspace is located. Here, traditional Carpathian crafts meet 3D printing, laser cutting, and digital design. The workshop creates an innovative space where cultural identity is preserved while opening new economic opportunities for the community. Within the Makers Empowerment Hubs program, they develop a unique map of community crafts in Kosiv, which will be installed in the city center of Kosiv, provide lectures, workshops and excursions in 3D modelling, crafts and woodworking for children and students, and eventually organize a craft festival, where the children and local artists demonstrate their work.