This blog is the overview of our total time in Ukraine and in which we briefly described all our work, traveling and experiences!
In the period from the second of July till the 30st of July, we, four students of the Vrije University (VU) of Amsterdam, have done a field research in Ukraine. This was part of the International Research Project (IRP), a yearly initiative of the Marketing Association Amsterdam (MAA). After six months of acquisition we found a Dutch company that was interested in the Ukrainian market. This organisation is NEA Transportonderzoek- en opleiding B.V. from Zoetermeer. To briefly explain our research goal; we needed to investigate the current situation according to the road transport sector, with as a specific goal to improve the social dialogue between employers and employees.
We have been in Ukraine for a month, where we started our research in the capital, Kiev. After a few days of orientation we planned our first meetings. We stayed here in total for ten days in which we arranged seven meetings according to our research. These meetings were with several international and national companies, governmental institutions and embassies. This was an enormous experience, where we often sat with the highest important persons from the organisations. In general everybody was really open, willing to participate and to provide information. We often needed a translator, because English speaking persons were not that common yet.
After Kiev we left by night train to L’viv, a city in the west of Ukraine. We stayed here only for four days in which we arranged nine meetings with several organisations. L’viv appeared to be a more western oriented city and totally different then Kiev, but very nice.
Our next destination was Odessa, a special harbour city in the south of Ukraine. Odessa appeared to be thé holiday destination for all Russians and Ukrainian people, so it was pretty busy there in the middle of summer. We were too late organising tickets for the night train, therefore we had to arrange an taxi all the way to Odessa. A special experience, because the roads in Ukraine are definitely not like they are in the Netherlands! We stayed here for five days and arranged four meetings for our project. Odessa can not be compared to the previous cities, it was more Russian oriented, but a really nice city with different viewings!
After Odessa we took the night train which took seventeen hours in total to Donetsk, in the east of Ukraine. Donetsk was also more Russian oriented, but a really nice, clean and green city. Here we arranged five meetings in three days and it was a worth full visit.
After Donetsk it was time to head back to Kiev, for our final and most important meetings. We had a meeting with the first secretary of the Dutch Embassy and this meeting went really well. Everybody was excited about our findings and the hard work and that was our main goal. After a month of hard working our project was finished, many experiences, enjoying a new culture and meeting a lot of interesting persons. Ukraine appeared to be a fascinating country, beautiful nature, culture and many friendly and caring people. We also found that in Ukraine there is still a lot to be improved, especially in the transport sector. It was a really interesting experience to learn more about this country and we would all definitely recommend it to others!
All the best,
Susan, Veronique, Frank en Bianca
