Mykolaiv Water Hub (MWH)

🌍 Resilience Amid Adversity: Mykolaiv’s Water Story 💧 What does daily life look like when water is no longer a given? In Mykolaiv, Ukraine, residents like Hanna Montavon, LL.M. face challenges few of us can imagine. Since April 2022, when a bombing severed the city's water transmission main, half a million people have had to adapt to a new reality. From queuing daily at tap stations with plastic bottles to enduring brackish water that damages appliances and is undrinkable—even boiled—Mykolaiv’s story is one of resilience, ingenuity, and hope. 🎥 In this segment, Hannah, a lawyer and mother, shares her experience of balancing family life, professional responsibilities, and the realities of a city on the front line. This is more than just a story of survival—it’s a testament to the strength of communities, the critical need for sustainable water infrastructure, and the importance of global support for those in crisis. 👉 Watch the full video to hear Hannah’s story and gain insight into the true impact of water security in conflict zones. #WaterSecurity #Resilience #Mykolaiv #Ukraine #InnovationInAdversity Piers Clark 

Please join us for our January edition of our Monthly Webinar Series “War & Business: Investing in Ukraine” on Thursday, January 30th at 15:00 EET / 14:00 CET / 13:00 GMT / 8:00 EST! UBN Network has launched our monthly webinar series in collaboration with the Danish Industry. In our January webinar “Opportunities and Risks in 2025”, we are happy to have Oleksandr Syenkevych, Mayor of Mykolaiv, join us and discuss the reconstruction process thus far in Mykholaiv and provide investors with a better understanding of investment procedures and next steps for businesses. Aside from the Mayor’s presentation, we will also address the top issues investors here in Ukraine are focused on currently, including: ➡️ What will negotiations look like once Trump takes office? ➡️ Will the war end and the investment environment open up in 2025? ➡️ What are the primary risks to businesses in the coming months? ➡️ What is Ukraine’s macroeconomic outlook for 2025? ➡️ What is the latest update on the security situation? We will also share our macroeconomic forecasts for the economy and insights on business sentiment here in Kyiv based on our daily interactions with the top investors in the country. Bright Bird will then provide a briefing on the security situation currently, including commentary on travel within Ukraine, air strike trends, and the latest from the battlefield. Please register here and join us so you can stay up-to-date on the investment environment in Ukraine! As always, thanks to our loyal sponsor Piraeus Bank in Ukraine! Andrew Pryma, MBA, Ukraine Business News John (Yannis) Kyriakopoulos Ilias Mouzakis Peter Helk Rasmus Aagaard Ulfeldt Kaare Stamer Andreasen Tetiana Nikitenko

Global Water Summit 2025: Early Bird Registrations Are Open! The world has crossed the 1.5°C threshold, putting unprecedented pressure on global #WaterSecurity. The challenge requires an immediate and sharp increase in #capital deployment into our sector. The theme at #GWS25, Accelerating Investment, will drive the action needed to make this happen. Our Opening Session will feature Lord Nicholas Stern, whose Economics of Climate Change report revolutionised #RenewableEnergy investment, driving a sixfold increase in funding. Hear his transformative insights for the future of water.   The agenda is live and packed with opportunities to connect, innovate, and learn:   • Exclusive networking for 1,000 senior water leaders • Finance-focused discussions unlocking billions in public and private water funding. • Breakthroughs in #AI, reuse, and #desalination. • Resilience strategies for utilities and industries.   📅 12-14 May 2025 | Paris, Paris Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel & Conference Center Early bird registrations close 31 January 2025. 🇫🇷 Paris is calling - secure your seat today!

Exactly two weeks ago our CEO Hanna Montavon, LL.M. visited worlds largest water recycling facility - Orange County Water District She enjoyed the tour and gained insight into the innovation happening in the region and efforts of OCWD to ensure a reliable water supply for their community. This facility is the largest of its kind in the world and they can recycle 100% of Orange County Sanitation District, their project partner’s, reclaimable wastewater flows.   GWRS produces 130 million gallons (approx. 500.000 m3) of ultra-pure, high-quality water (and it tastes good!) that is recharged into the Orange County Groundwater Basin and serves as a protective barrier from seawater intrusion. Have you seen the ponds around Walt Disney World in Anaheim? That's THE water! Huge thank you Megan Plumlee and Kira Erquiaga for the tour! The accumulated knowledge will be transferred to Ukraine and will help us to rebuild Ukrainians water sector. The visit was organised with amazing support from Leading Utilities of the World. In October this year, Leading Utilities of the World and Mykolaiv Water Hub (MWH) has launched the Exchange for Ukraine Program to facilitate peer-to-peer knowledge sharing between American and Ukrainian water utilities. Leading Utilities can offer vital support in the reconstruction of Ukraine’s water infrastructure, enabling senior engineers and utility leaders to exchange advice through moderated online and in-person meetings. If you want to learn more about the Program, please feel free to contact: Hanna Montavon, LL.M., Sam Dennis, Tallulah Lutkin.

Exchange for Ukraine Program: peer-to-peer knowledge sharing program for Ukrainian and American water utilities was launched this autumn! One-third of Ukraine’s freshwater storage was destroyed since February 2022. The damage to the WASH sector is estimated at nearly $4 billion and the total reconstruction and recovery needs at $11.1 billion for 2024-2033. Not only funding and equipment is needed for the reconstruction of the sector, but also expertise and knowledge! Leading Utilities of the World and Mykolaiv Water Hub (MWH) facilitate peer-to-peer knowledge sharing for Ukrainian water utilities by launching “Exchange for Ukraine Program”. Leading Utilities can offer vital support in the reconstruction of Ukraine’s water infrastructure, enabling senior engineers and utility leaders to exchange advice through moderated online and offline meetings. If you want to learn more about the program, become its participant, sponsor or partner, please contact Sam Dennis and/or Hanna Montavon, LL.M.

This week Hanna Montavon, LL.M. was at University of Florida where she had an opportunity to learn about innovations at the university, industry engagement, how collaborations between educational institutions and private partners can be structured. Special thanks to the team of Prof. Erik Sander for organising a presentation of Mykolaiv Water Hub (MWH) for the students of the University of Florida as part of L3Harris Seminar Series.

2nd Workshop on the participatory process of space planning for Mykolaiv Water Hub (MWH) took place at Marienpark Berlin in Berlin District Tempelhof-Schöneberg (Bezirksamt Tempelhof-Schöneberg von Berlin) Mykolaiv Water Hub (MWH) together with German and Ukrainian architects are uniting their forces and expertise to create a flagship project on green, sustainable renovation of the building with implementation of best available water and energy technologies: - Anna Marchenko from Alanus Hochschule für Kunst und Gesellschaft and - Kambysia Karl Hakim-Meibodi from IF Architecture, Wasser Hannover WH e.V. (Zentrum für nachhaltiges Wassermanagement) supported by DBU Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, German Water Partnership and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH have already conducted the second workshop in Berlin and now approaching the final phase of construction design. The building allocated by the City Council of Mykolaiv (supported by Oleksandr Syenkevych, Mayor of Mykolaiv) is a 150 years old former boy school. We are delighted that with this project we will be able continue the educational history of the building and push the reconstruction forward into the innovative future of the city. Conference rooms, research labs and co-working spaces will receive new home in Mykolaiv. The site behind the building will be used for the demonstration purposes of rainwater harvesting technologies. Watch the video that was kindly prepared by Roman Doroshenko and Olena Krasnokutska Get inspired and join us in our journey! https://lnkd.in/dSG3pjTQ

Mykolaiv Water Hub (MWH) hired its first local team member! We got registered in Mykolaiv on October 7th, on October 15th our fresh team member: Diana Hostieva has already joined our local team as Scholarship Program Coordinator “Girls in STEM for Mykolaiv”. Diana is a PhD student at Admiral Makarov Shipbuilding University in Mykolaiv. She will support as by managing and coordinating communication with our scholarship holders: school girls and Bachelor students that are doing research in technical and natural sciences in Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kherson regions. Last week Diana had her first visit to Berlin to participate in HUB RE:construction project and to get onboarded with our Berlin colleagues: Roman Doroshenko, Lily Nabochenko, FCCA, CFE 🇺🇦, Hanna Slobodyanyuk-Montavon. One of the unbeatable advantages of working with us - being a German-Ukrainian project (with German-Ukrainian team) we want all our team members experience the best parts of both countries. Berlin is a part of our puzzle with its amazing biking infrastructure, architecture, buildings that were rebuilt after the war and are standing examples that it WILL get better… rainwater harvesting projects, inclusive urban planing. We are glad we can share our Berlin with our team members, inspire them, make them think, and develop Mykolaiv Water Hub with us. Thank you Diana for joining us! Scholarship Program “Girls in STEM for Mykolaiv” is supported by: enercity and Startup Colors.

Now it's official: Cafe Kyiv is coming back in 2025! Save the date: March 11, 2025, in Berlin. And apply with your contribution to the programme. You can download the form here and submit your ideas for the program by November 5th: cafekyiv.kas.de #freedommustwin #cafekyiv #cafekyiv2025 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

Second delegation trip of German and French investors and innovation experts to Mykolaiv successfully took place on October 3-6, 2024! One of our goals at Mykolaiv Water Hub (MWH) that we set this spring is to turn Mykolaiv from "frontline city" into a flagship city of the South of Ukraine for German-Ukrainian cooperation in the fields of innovations and human capital development. No matter whether our partners are from water sector or not. It's all about common values and visions. Mykolaiv is open for mutually beneficial cooperations on eye level with partners from industry, science and municipalities. We are creating an ecosystem where growth of all partners is boosted by interactions, exchange of ideas and coordination of common actions. It was an honour for us to be able to open up our home town to 8 participants of this delegation trip: 🇺🇦 Maren Lesche, Pauline Bewerunge 🦦, Thomas Brömme, Sebastian Schwenke, Stefan Schandera, Michael Hübner from Germany and Sylvie Chin from Paris! Special guest was Eva Majewski, the city district councelor from Bezirksamt Tempelhof-Schöneberg von Berlin. With amazing 24/7 support of local team of Oleksandr Syenkevych, Mayor of Mykolaiv we were able to meet representatives of respective city departments (Health, Education and Municipal Utilities), hospitals, local business and universities: - Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding  - ⁠⁠Mykolaiv State Agrarian University - ⁠⁠Petro Mohyla Black Sea State University Thank you very much for a warm welcome! Thank you also Marc R Hofmann for dedicating an article at Berliner Morgenpost about this delegation trip. Thank you 🇺🇦 Maren Lesche from Startup Colors for setting the accents correctly of the new vision of Mykolaiv this spring. Thank you Pauline Bewerunge 🦦 and Maren again for pushing through the FinTech Hackathon this summer! More info on Hackathon winner Sylvie Chin will follow in the coming posts. The next delegation trip organised by Mykolaiv Water Hub (MWH) is being planned for the next spring. The waiting list is already open and being filled in. Please contact Hanna Slobodyanyuk-Montavon for more info. And the elephant in the room: our security is our highest priority. This is also the highest priority of the welcoming team of Mykolaiv City Council. We are in permanent contact with our local partners and keeping an eye 24/7 on any possible threats to be able to react promptly. Also our partner Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is supporting us with their alert system.