Open Nations is on a mission to transform division into social cohesion by fostering trust, belonging, and resilience in communities that are divided. We are experts in community-building that heals families and unites society in times of crisis.

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2500+

individuals participated

image-203

Geography

12

Lithuanian cities

6

Ukrainian cities

2

Norwegian cities

TRUST
0 %

of participants reported increased trust in people they had just met (attendees – Lithuanians and Ukrainians) 

BELONGING
0 %

of Ukrainian attendees felt a stronger sense of community and belonging

RESILIENCE
0 %

of participants reported improved mental health and resilience

Full impact
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Our key focus areas

  • fostering integration
  • building trust
  • reducing social tensions
  • enriching cultures
  • advancing community development.
  • supporting trauma recovery
  • providing mental health support
  • enhancing sense of belonging
  • creating safe spaces
  • promoting mutual understanding.

Hello, my name is Svitlana Zaluzhna.

Before the full-scale invasion of the Russian army in Ukraine, I successfully established a social enterprise focused on strengthening and supporting families. Over the past 2.5 years of war, our team at “Open Nations” has implemented family and resilient community programs in Lithuania, impacting thousands of families, facilitating healing from war trauma, and fostering mutual integration and cohesive living of Ukrainian refugees while actively engaging host communities in these essential human processes.

Our experiences and qualitative results we’ve achieved have enabled us to develop a human-centered, family-oriented, scalable, and adaptable methodology that contributes to the prosperity of nations, societies, businesses, and families. Families are fundamental building blocks of society; they instill values, norms, and ethics that create societal stability and reflect the behavior of individuals.

Meet our team
Saving people's relationships – humanity’s greatest challenge

We are committed to enhancing emotional stability, reducing anxiety, and promoting resilience among families by providing practical coping strategies and tools to navigate the challenges of migration, displacement, low levels of trust, and cultural differences. Together, we can foster a sense of belonging, strengthen interpersonal connections, and build a more supportive communites.

Supported and partnered by

We offer solutions for

Government and Communities

Solutions for integration, social cohesion, trust bulding and community development.

We implement Family Programs and Community Network Development Programs

Enhance social cohesion and integration, enabling better interaction and understanding between refugee and host communities. These efforts aim to build trust and cooperation that reduces tensions among European and refugee families affected by conflicts and crises.

The programs build emotional stability and resilience, leading to quick job placements and increased productivity. This initiative aims to increase employment, improving economic stability and personal well-being.

We organize train for trainers program and Transfer Methodology

We offer a comprehensive methodology for program implementation to enhance the scalability and generalizability of our human-centered and family-based approaches to integration and social coexistence. We also provide training for teams working in the field.
Download the open-access methodology here

We facilitate Public Dialogue and Dialogue in Conflict

In response to requests from institutions, communities, and organizations, we create spaces and facilitate group dialogues—such as conflict resolution, thematic discussions, and public dialogues. Our adaptable dialogue method is designed for diverse contexts, promoting mutual understanding and fostering trust.
Partner with us

Сorporate sector

Solutions for trust bulding, people engagement and productivity.

We implement corporate Family and Community Development Programs

Boost productivity and focus by offering targeted support programs that reduce employee and family burnout and stress. We work with families in business because a strong, supported family foundation directly enhances employee well-being, focus, and loyalty. By addressing the needs of employees and their families, we foster a deeper connection to the workplace, reducing stress and burnout while building a resilient, engaged workforce that thrives together.

Build a stronger company culture with community-building activities that create a sense of belonging and shared values, enhancing trust and loyalty among employees and their families.

Improve communication and collaboration through programs focused on interpersonal skills and acceptance, promoting harmony and cooperation in family-inclusive teams.

We organize train for trainers program and Transfer Methodology

We offer a comprehensive methodology for program implementation to enhance the scalability and adaptability of our human-centered and family-based approaches to nurture the company’s well-being and productivity. We also provide training for teams working in the field.
Download the open-access methodology

We facilitate Public Dialogue and Dialogue in conflicts

 Our adaptable dialogue framework is designed to fit various contexts, helping to drive mutual understanding and strengthen trust.

We organize and facilitate group dialogues at organizations' requests, including conflict resolution, thematic discussions, and public dialogue.

Partner with us

Families

Solutions for family well being.

We organize Family camps in Ukraine

We organize Family camps in the EU

Empower families with new energy and resources to thrive by addressing and overcoming crucial individual challenges, and restoring human relationships to find stability/serenity.

Increase emotional intelligence and empathy among families to strengthen connection and overcome parenting issues, fostering a community that shares wisdom and supports each other.

Equip families with new tools and knowledge to find common solutions, resolve conflicts more quickly, and prevent divorces, ultimately creating stronger, more unified family units.

Partner with us

Explore our Cases

Family programs for Ukrainian refugees in Lithuania

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, our team has quickly developed and implemented over 20 family programs in 12 cities in Lithuania. These programs were a rapid and effective response to the challenges of war trauma, the stress of being in a new country, integration, cohesive living

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Resilient Community Architect program

An innovative six-month program was implemented with three partners: Ukreate Hub (a civic platform in Lithuania), social incubator Domus Solis, and the Ukrainian Higher Folk School “Vovchok.” Seventy community leaders from Ukraine and Lithuania and their families attended the program, funded by the European program, the EEA, and Norway Grants.

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Cross-cultural gatherings with facilitated dialogue

Culture and education in times of war and crisis are powerful tools for healing the trauma of war, challenges of adaptation and integration, and, at the same time, a source of post-traumatic growth. The methodology of cross-cultural meetings involves cultural meetings between Lithuanian and Ukrainian families and youth to strengthen

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Nordic-Baltic cooperation program to support Ukrainians

The Nordic–Baltic Cooperation Program is an initiative by Open Nations aimed at strengthening long-term partnerships between Nordic and Baltic countries in response to the humanitarian impact of the war in Ukraine. The program connects civil society leaders, educators, facilitators, and peacebuilders through reciprocal learning visits, dialogue facilitation training, and immersive

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Presentation of the approach to Euro Parliament, Brussel

Our organization and its leader, Svitlana Zaluzhna, participated in the #OurStories project organized by the EEA and Norway Grants, which was highlighted at an exhibition at the European Parliament in Brussels in 2023. At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Svitlana, who was in Lithuania with her 3

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Presentation of the approach to Crown Prince of Norway

We are proud of our NGO’s achievements, which have been widely recognized among international organizations due to its implementation of human-centered and family-oriented approaches in creating programs to support Ukrainian refugee families. One of the most important events was the spring visit 2024, when our team was honored to welcome

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Family programs in Ukraine

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, our founder, Svitlana Zaluzhna, successfully managed the social business Zorelovy and later moved into the field of family development. Her mission is to preserve and strengthen the Ukrainian family. A family built on human values lays a solid foundation for the society in which it lives.

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Working with Ukrainian business

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, our founder, Svitlana Zaluzhna, successfully managed the social business Zorelovy and later fully moved into the field of family development. Her mission is to preserve and strengthen the Ukrainian family. A family built on human values lays a solid foundation for the society in

Read More »

Performance & Public Dialogue: “Uoda kava. Welcome Anyway”

Art as a Bridge Between Communities In 2025, Open Nations together with the creative team Lekuči, supported by the EEA and Norway Grants, brought to life a unique performance project — “Uoda kava. Welcome Anyway” — a creative response to the complexities of integration, identity, and belonging in today’s changing

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Interested in working together or learning more about our initiatives? Contact us with any questions, partnership ideas, or ways to get involved in promoting social cohesion and resilience.

All Right Reserved - 2024

I love seeing the moment someone’s shoulders drop — when the body feels safe enough to be itself. In our spaces, people find warmth, rhythm, and the kind of joy that doesn’t ignore pain, but makes space for it gently.

Mariia Dormidontova

Since 2022, I’ve been part of Open Nations, where I co-create spaces for connection, emotional safety, and shared experience — especially for communities affected by war and displacement. I design and facilitate camps, workshops, and rituals that bring together children, teenagers, and adults in moments of presence, laughter, reflection, and trust.

My work blends psychology, applied theatre, embodiment practices, and a deep attention to group dynamics and nature. I often use music, playback theatre, and somatic exercises to help people reconnect with themselves and each other. I care about creating moments that feel real — where people can breathe out, feel held, and remember what it means to belong.

Since 2022, I have joined the project. During a rather difficult period in my life and the life of my country, the project became a place where I could fulfill my need to be useful and help both myself and others. My role is to be a photographer, but I also often take an active part in events, supporting project participants and becoming part of their lived experiences. Direct involvement helps me better capture genuine human emotions and create a space of trust between the camera and the participants.

Tata Lark

Over these three years, I have become grounded in my values and have grown more confident in carrying my philosophy not only into the project but also into my life.
Humanity and love. Mutual respect and trust.
The importance of simply being human for others, giving love, serving in order to expand the space of love and trust around us, and spreading kindness and respect.

The core values of the project for me are trust, openness, and readiness for change. In addition, all project participants are like a large family that share boundless love.

Iryna Bila

I am a teacher, historian, museum educator, author of educational programs and games, and curator. Together with Open Nations, we launched family camps and created cultural evenings and events. Currently, I work as an education specialist with children aged 9-12. My key skills are event organization, creation, and development of educational and cultural programs, and games. With children, I practice non-violent communication and empathetic listening. I love watching how children gradually open up and become a team.

The most important thing is to keep together in the process of finding inner resources for healing trauma, finding in contact with others the joy of creating space, acting for common goal and supporting the desire to live. Also, very important for me was the common passion of our team to take care of our camps participants with kindness and tolerance.

Marichka Koreneva

Marichka is a theatre director, performer, and certified Gestalt therapist with a focus on shadow work.
She creates documentary and physical theatre grounded in personal narratives of displacement, resilience, and survival.
Maria was born and raised in Kharkiv, Ukraine, studied theatre creation and performance in London, UK, practiced her art for some time in the USA, returned to her native Kharkiv to play an active role in local cultural movements, and studied to become a Gestalt therapist. With the beginning of full-scale invasion, she found her shelter in Vilnius, Lithuania, where she co-founded Lekuči Collective — a cross-cultural initiative dedicated to embodied, politically and socially engaged performance. Also, she became an applied theater practitioner in family camps where she led workshops for adults and teenagers.
In her creative and psychological practice with groups and individuals, she creates specifically charged spaces where the possibilities and resources for healing become noticeable and available.
Key expertise: Facilitation of applied theater groups, community theater, especially musicals, PlayBack, and Storytelling

I will not change the course of the war. But what can I change and give to people here and now? Warmth, love, compassion, support, material support, my knowledge and expertise, my time. No matter what, life goes on and we have to live it - to plan, to create, to do good deeds and to believe that our children will live in a better world.

Laura Jasinskaite - Baranauskiene

In the project, I was responsible for the preparation of documents and communication with stakeholders: the Central Project Management Agency, project implementers, suppliers, and others. In this context, it was particularly important to ensure that all documentation complied with the Fund’s requirements and rules. Later, I joined the team working in the camps as a group facilitator. I took part in the development of the camp programme, facilitated familiarisation sessions, was responsible for creating and maintaining a safe space throughout the camp, helped to solve misunderstandings, and ensured smooth cooperation between the team.

I know how to work with what is invisible at first sight – group dynamics, emotional atmosphere, moments of tension; having completed a 3-year body-movement therapy course, I can use different movement practices to warm up the group and to maintain a good mood and energy; I can keep a cool head in case of conflicts in the group.

Support, unity, mutual assistance, team integrity, beauty of interaction

Olena Gavrylenko

I have a pedagogical education (National Pedagogical University named after Dragomanov). Work with kids from newborn to 3 years old and older and their parents (caregivers) by the International creative early development programs through music, movement and art Kindermusik and ART Music since 2010. Practice conscious movement and free dance meditation since 2011, I am a teacher of the International freedomDANCE school since 2014. Work at family and kids studios, kindergartens as an Educator of early development via music, movement, art, and as an English Teacher. I have been practicing physical and alternative theatre since 2017, am a performer, actress, and singer of Lekuci Theatre (Lithuania-Ukraine). I am a master of harmonious communications. Practicing dance meditation, we get used to listening to the body and switching off the endless flow of thoughts. Movement helps to awaken the intuitive wisdom of the body and teaches us to act spontaneously according to our true interests. We are awakening – again and again – in our live body, and in our life.

This is a project that has changed not only the lives of many people, but also mine. It opened up for me the depth of humanity, the strength of the spirit and how music can heal the heart and bring hope even in the darkest moments.

Alla Cheres

Three years ago, I became a part of this incredible project called Openations, which helps Ukrainians find themselves and their place in Lithuania. I play the bandura, sing Ukrainian songs and try to convey all the depth and emotions that we, Ukrainians, are experiencing at this time. Music for me is a language that speaks for me. Through the bandura, I express what is impossible to express in words: feelings, thoughts, mood, state of mind. This instrument is a part of my identity, it connects me with culture, with history, with something deeply real.

Trusting relationships between the following individuals: child-teacher; child-parents; teacher-parents.

Roman Honcharenko

I am a primary school teacher by education and currently work in Vilnius at the Ukrainian-Lithuanian school “Gravitas,” teaching younger grades.

Since joining the Open Nations team, I have been working with children aged 9–12 — a truly inspiring experience. I’m fascinated by how children develop communication, social, and adaptive skills through games and interactive activities.

My work focuses on art therapy, adaptive communication, and inclusive practices. In our sessions, we don’t just play — we teach children how to negotiate, find common ground, and work as a team, even when each child is different.

I feel happy when I see smiles on the faces of our participants. In the space we create, people can relax, regain their strength, and find the inspiration to keep living and acting. Adults get a chance to let go of control for a moment, be themselves, speak about what hurts, and receive genuine support and care. And children — they find friends, feel free, create, and play without fear.

Iryna Pashkevych

Since November 2022, I’ve been part of Open Nations, where I manage day-to-day operations and help design programs that connect people across different life experiences. I believe our key goal is to build trust, resilience, and a sense of belonging through shared stories and experience.

My strengths lie in turning ideas into action and making sure everything runs smoothly — from budgets, surveys and reports to public events and international exchanges.

In this project, I’ve organized and managed cultural events, three-day integration camps for Ukrainian and Lithuanian families, study visits to Norway and Lithuania, and rehabilitation camps for Ukrainian families from frontline cities, and the Resilient Community Architects program. I also facilitate public dialogues that foster mutual understanding.

Grounding, Giving and receiving, trusting Body Wisdom, Healing in Nature and Community

Raima Drąsutytė

I am an artist and an Integrative Bodywork & Movement Therapy practitioner. I work with adults and neurodivergent children. Somatic movement practices help people to find better connection with themself and other people, can help to regulate the nervous system, accept all feelings, and be more resilient and more grounded. In Open Nation camps, we often do those activities in Nature, so people can relax, explore, and share their experiences in a safe, supportive space. Integrative body movement therapy and education, bodywork, dance movement therapy practices, sculpture, land art.

I would like to think and believe that: trust, responsibility, sincerity and ACCEPTANCE (this is the main thing)

Tetiana Liuta

At first, I thought that the Open Nations project was just a club — a “small school.” But I quickly realized: it’s a space of opportunities for the children and myself. I started listening more to the kids and to my own feelings, seeking answers not in manuals, but in real experience.

It became a journey of growth, insight, and understanding children with PTSD — even after 20+ years in education! Now I know for sure: just give the child space to be themselves, and you’ll grow too. Freedom of choice, dreams, trust — that’s what true learning is.

What I love most are the week-long camps — that’s where real connection is born. A life “in flow,” filled with closeness, laughter, and farewells. And afterwards, no one is the same. That’s what we call a new life.

I have supported stable and efficient processes that enabled both the team and participants to work with clarity, creativity, and motivation. Ensuring alignment at every stage — from planning to execution — allowed each participant to explore their potential within a safe and supportive environment. Personally, I deepened my understanding of the importance of trust, transparent communication, and emotional engagement in intercultural and cross-sectoral collaboration.

Tetiana Vasylkevych

I coordinate projects at Open Nations, overseeing communication with participants, partners, and technical teams, as well as ensuring deadlines and quality standards are met throughout all stages of project development and delivery. My role focuses on creating a comfortable, effective work environment and a safe space for participants by paying close attention to process, context, and team dynamics. With over 15 years of experience in project management and creative communications, I bring together structure and inspiration in every aspect of the initiatives I lead. Project management, large-scale event organization, event direction, creative strategies, and digital communications. Experienced in hosting public and cultural events as a stage presenter and moderator