Iryna Shchoka

Communication, Tourism, Protected areas and Project management, Youth Programmes specialist, based in the Austria

I am a creative and experienced project manager and educator, dedicated to my job.

I have joint European Wilderness Society team in 2016 and currently working on Horizon Europe and Erasmus + projects as well as support European Wilderness Network.

I started my career at the bank system in 2002 as an economist and finished in 2011 as a branch office head.

In 2006 I coordinated for the Ukrainian NGO FORZA a Cluster analysis of the forest sector of the Carpathian region of Ukraine which also included sustainable tourism and local communities wellbeing issues, supported SMEs in marketing and in state-private partnership activities, implemented climate change mitigation and adaptation measures project. Later I become also an internal expert of the forestry women support project.

Since 2013 I implemented the project “Cross-Road Connections” which aimed to improve environmental situation of small Ukrainian cities and educated adults and teenagers. From 2012 until the end of 2014 I worked as a project manager and developer at the “Agency of Regional Development and Cross-Border Co-operation “Transcarpathia” of Zakarpattya Oblast Council”.

Since 2016 with European Wilderness Society I am working on sustainable tourism, communication, nature conservation and educational projects as well as on youth involvement. Since 2020 I am also regularly attending advanced courses of the State Ecological Academy of Postgraduate Education and Management of Ukraine. In 2022 I also completed Online Course “Women’s Leadership in Conservation” by Center for Protected Area Management Colorado State University.

One of my favorite work directions is Respect Nature further implementation in Europe.

Since March, 2022 I continue my work from the main office of the European Wilderness Society in Tamsweg. Beside Wetlands protection, Tourism, Wilderness and Educational projects, together with my colleagues I also support Ukrainians in Ukraine and in Austria.

I am fluent in Ukrainian, English, Hungarian, Slovakian, Russian and started to learn German language.

My Wilderness Motto:

Only Wilderness makes us really free on this planet; free from day-today routine, temporary hardships and banal bad mood. Only intact nature empowers us, provides unique exiting feeling and gives us special inspiration! Therefore, the more Wilderness we will have, the more really free and happy people will be on the Earth!

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