The Donbas Media Forum team, founded by DII-Ukraine, held its traditional partners’ meeting ahead of this year’s Forum. The event brought together 75 participants in both in-person and online formats, including representatives of civil society organizations, media outlets, international partners, donor organizations, educational institutions, and research initiatives contributing to the development of the DMF 2026 programme. This year’s theme is “I_MEDIA: Human — for Human — about Human.”
During the meeting, the Forum team — Liubov Rakovytsia, Kateryna Zhemchuzhnykova, and Mariia Vereitina — presented the key outcomes of last year’s Forum and introduced the concept for Donbas Media Forum 2026. Participants learned about the launch of a dedicated track on war journalism, the expansion of partnership formats, and the growing number of business partners supporting the Forum.
A distinctive feature of these meetings is that partners do not simply learn about the concept of the upcoming Forum — they actively contribute to shaping its programme. This year, the Organising Committee received 184 programme ideas from 60 organizations and individual contributors through a dedicated submission form as well as during the meeting itself. The most frequently proposed topics focused on human rights and inclusion, the role of media in society, Ukraine’s recovery, and social cohesion.
“This has been our traditional pre-Forum meeting since the very beginning. We bring our partners together because we understand that each of us has our own professional ‘tunnel vision’ and cannot fully grasp every process taking place across the media landscape. That is why every year’s Donbas Media Forum programme is built on the principles of maximum inclusivity and broad partner engagement. This is especially important now that the Forum has long outgrown its regional roots and has become a national platform for the entire media community,” said Liubov Rakovytsia, Chair of DII-Ukraine and Head of the Donbas Media Forum Organising Committee.
According to Rakovytsia, the number of proposals received demonstrates the high level of engagement among partners and their willingness not only to participate in the Forum but also to help shape the agenda for professional discussion.
“To me, these 184 ideas show that people genuinely care. They don’t just want to attend and listen to discussions — they want to propose their own topics and bring important issues into broader professional debate. It shows that Donbas Media Forum continues to be a space created by and for the media community together,” Rakovytsia emphasized.
In the coming weeks, the Organising Committee will review all submitted proposals and continue consultations with partners to consolidate related topics and sessions into a coherent programme for Donbas Media Forum 2026.
Donbas Media Forum is Ukraine’s largest media conference. It was founded in 2015 by journalists who were forced to leave Donetsk and Luhansk following the start of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The Forum is organized by DII-Ukraine. This year’s Donbas Media Forum will take place in Kyiv on 8–10 October 2026.
