Communication has an essential say in the area of peacebuilding in Ukraine. Creative communication, moreover, may facilitate dialogue building around societal sometimes hot topics. Thus, comics, vivid and dynamic, can literally draw complex issues in understandable ways for everyone. For example, comics can show how armed conflict in eastern Ukraine changes the lives of the youth, who live in the areas along the ‘contact line’, or tell about the lives of returning to civilian life ATO and JFO ex-combatants. Or comic books can tell about domestic violence as one of the most important hot societal topics in the world, to which children are most vulnerable.
However, to talk about complex societal topics is no easy task. Especially when the stories depict real people and describe familiar to many of us real-life situations. The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme has created 4 comic book stories about the reality that is hard to find words to describe, but which touches everyone:
“Heroes of light” – a comic book about combating domestic violence against children of younger school age, and “New start” – is about combating domestic violence against older school-age children. Both comic books show us situations that anyone can encounter. Both books give the reader the necessary information about where to go to get help and how to do it if domestic violence occurs.
“Sounds of peace” – a comic book about the young people who live in the areas along the ‘contact line’, about their achievements, dreams, and about such a close reality of the armed conflict changing their whole life.
“On the other side” – is a graphic story about returning to civil life ATO and JFO ex-combatants. This story is about people trying to bring sense to their past, trying to find themselves in the present life and make a worthy future for themselves and their close ones.
This graphic stories project aims to disseminate digital and printed comic books for each book to find its audience among children, the youth, and the adult population. The comic books are based on real-life stories or on real personal stories.