The Adapterra UA competition is organized by the NGO “Ecoclub”. The NGO “Ecoclub” is a member of the PAABS consortium. PAABS stands for “Support to Ukraine in the Implementation of the Paris Agreement and Adaptation to Climate Change Impacts in the Black Sea Region”. PAABS is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) under the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The project is supported and coordinated by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The competition aims to identify, recognize, and disseminate already implemented climate change adaptation measures in Ukraine within settlements (cities, villages, and towns).
The goal of the competition is to collect best practices that demonstrate effective, sustainable, and innovative approaches to adaptation and make them visible to communities, municipalities, businesses, and all stakeholders.
Participation in the competition is an opportunity to raise awareness, share experience, and inspire others to act responsibly regarding climate change.
Participants from all over Ukraine are eligible to participate in the competition, except for temporarily occupied communities and communities located in active combat zones.
Participation in the competition is free of charge.
Applications are accepted until June 12, 2026 (11:59 PM).
Competition Categories
The competition has three categories.
Applicants must select one category that most accurately corresponds to their project:
- Climate change adaptation measure implemented by a municipality.
This category includes projects that were initiated, implemented, or coordinated by local government bodies (city, settlement, village councils, communities, municipal enterprises, etc.).
- Climate change adaptation measure implemented by a civil society organization or initiative group.
This category considers projects implemented by non-governmental organizations, local initiative groups, civic activists, or other non-profit entities.
3. Methodological materials related to the implementation of climate change adaptation measures and climate vulnerability assessment.
This category pertains to developers of manuals, methodological guidelines, educational products, or analytical materials that help other communities or organizations implement climate change adaptation measures.
Competition Registration
Applicants must register by completing the electronic application form on the competition website. The registration form must include the following information:
- Full project name;
- Applicant’s surname, first name, patronymic, or organization name;
- Contact details (phone, email, postal address);
- Selected competition category;
- Brief project description (up to 800 characters);
- Implementation date (or start date if the project is ongoing);
- Geographic location of project implementation;
- Photo and video documentation confirming implementation (not mandatory but desirable);
- If available—links to the project website or media publications;
- Agreement with the competition terms, including personal data processing and copyright.
- All form fields must be completed in Ukrainian. The organizers reserve the right to reject incomplete or inaccurate applications without explanation.
Project Requirements
Only those projects are accepted for participation that:
- are implemented within settlements (cities, villages, towns);
- are already implemented or are in the final stage of implementation at the time of application submission;
- are aimed at climate change adaptation and, preferably, comply with the principles of nature-based solutions (i.e., those that restore or support natural ecosystems while reducing climate risks);
- do not contradict the legislation of Ukraine and the norms of good practice.
Projects that have already participated in other competitions may also be submitted, provided this does not violate their terms of participation in other initiatives.
In all three categories, participants from the 2025 Adapterra UA competition are allowed to participate; however, they may only submit new or significantly updated/revised versions of previous projects. Winning projects in categories 1, 2, and 3 of the 2025 Adapterra UA competition may not be submitted to the competition again.
Copyright
Copyright for materials submitted to the competition remains with the applicants. Participants agree that the competition organizer may publish the submitted materials (description, photos, videos, etc.) for informational and communication purposes with attribution of authorship.
In case of plagiarism or appropriation of others’ materials, the application will be disqualified.
Personal Data Protection
Personal data provided in the registration form is processed in accordance with the current legislation of Ukraine on personal data protection. The data will be used exclusively for the purpose of administering the competition, informing participants and donors, and implementing the communication campaign. All participants provide consent to the processing of their personal data when submitting an application.
Selection of Finalists and Winners
“Ecoclub” forms an independent expert jury consisting of at least three specialists—representatives of environmental organizations, the municipal sector, scientists, urbanists, landscape architects, etc.
Jury members and the organizations, institutions, or initiative groups to which they belong have the right to apply for participation in the competition but do not have the right to participate in the evaluation of their own applications.
The competition organizers conduct a preliminary technical assessment of applications for compliance with the formal requirements of the competition (completion of all fields, relevance to the topic, availability of necessary materials). Applications that meet the requirements are submitted to the expert jury for review.
The jury evaluates each project according to defined criteria corresponding to the category in which it is submitted.
Evaluation is conducted individually by each jury member using a scoring scale.
The overall score for each project is formed by summing the scores of all jury members and dividing by the number of judges who participated in the evaluation (at least 3 judges).
| No. | Evaluation Criteria for Categories 1 and 2 | Description | Weight in overall score (%) |
| 1 | Innovation | Novelty of the solution, creative approach, uniqueness for the community or country. | Maximum 5 |
| 2 | Environmental impact | Real impact on the environment: ecosystem improvement, risk reduction, biodiversity enhancement. | Maximum 5 |
| 3 | Climate resilience | The measure’s ability to counteract the effects of climate change in the long term. | Maximum 5 |
| 4 | Sustainable impact | Duration of benefits, possibility of replication in other communities. | Maximum 3 |
| 5 | Community engagement | Active participation of residents, partners, volunteers, interaction with local authorities. | Maximum 3 |
| 6 | Quality of submitted materials | Clarity of description, comprehensibility, quality photos/videos, visual presentation. | Maximum 3 |
| No. | Evaluation Criteria for Category 3 | Description | Weight in overall score (%) |
| 1 | Innovation | Novelty of the solution, creative approach, uniqueness for the community or country. | Maximum 5 |
| 2 | Climate and environmental impact | Potential contribution of materials to environmental conservation and climate change adaptation (through their application). | Maximum 5 |
| 3 | Scalability and usability | Can be used or adapted to other regions/communities in Ukraine | Maximum 3 |
| 4 | Feasibility of described measures | How the presented material can be used by the target group. | Maximum 3 |
| 5 | Quality of submitted materials | Clarity of description, comprehensibility, quality photos/videos, visual presentation. | Maximum 5 |
If the jury considers the quality of submitted projects insufficient, it may select fewer finalists or none at all. The jury’s decision is final and not subject to appeal.
The organizers reserve the right not to announce finalists in a category if the jury determines that the submitted projects do not meet quality criteria.
All applicants will be informed of the results of the first selection stage no later than August.
Finalists of the first stage will receive an invitation to the next stage—preparation of a detailed project description (with photos, diagrams, implementation explanation) that will be published on the voting platform. All finalists of the first stage will be invited to participate in the finalist award ceremony event.
Applicants who advance to the second stage of the competition are obligated to cooperate with the competition organizing committee and participate in the preparation of an expanded description of the project submitted to the competition. The competition organizers will provide selected projects (finalists) with photography of the implemented climate change adaptation measure (if needed) and writing of an expanded description-article for publication on the Adapterra.org.ua platform.
Finalists will be selected from among the winning projects of the first stage through public online voting on the “Adapterra UA” website, which will be announced separately. The winner will be determined by a majority of votes from voting participants. One winner will be determined in each of the three categories.
Winners will receive the “Adapterra UA” award during the award ceremony and a prize in the form of support for the further development of adaptation solutions within the initiatives they implement.
Other Provisions
Submission of an application signifies full agreement with these rules. The organizer has the right to make changes to these rules but is obligated to notify participants in advance through the official competition website and email.
The organizers reserve the right to change the project category subject to prior agreement with the applicant.
For all questions and additional information, please contact the following email address: a.yakhniuk@ecoclubrivne.org