On 26–29 August 2021, Kyiv hosted a training seminar on preventing and combating discrimination in youth policy and youth work aimed to promote the prevention and counteraction to discrimination in youth policy and youth work at the local, regional and national levels involving young people faced with such discrimination.
The training seminar is organised by the Council of Europe Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
Training seminar objectives included the promotion of awareness of the values of diversity and equality and review of the Council of Europe tools and standards to counteract discrimination of young people.
With the professional performance of the training and research team of the project – Nazar Boyarskyi, Yuliia Liubych, Yana Salakhova and Tetiana Storozhko – it was possible to create an environment for researching the issue of discrimination against young people and analyse gaps and good practice in the field of counteracting discrimination in youth work and youth policy through experience exchanges. The training seminar methodology provided the possibility to research based on its model how to involve various groups of young people faced with discrimination in the development of programmes and projects
On 28 August 2021, Iryna Bieliaieva, Director of the Department of Youth Policy at the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, met with participants of the training seminar. Iryna Bieliaieva presented participants the history of the development of the National Strategy for Creating a Barrier-Free Environment in Ukraine until 2030 and encouraged them to develop during the training practical recommendations for training programmes for those working in the field of youth policy and youth work, particularly, for the youth centre staff at the national, regional and local levels in Ukraine and within a framework of the “Youth Worker” State Programme. The Strategy is aimed at creating a barrier-free environment for all population groups, ensuring equal opportunities for every person to exercise his or her rights, receive service on equal footing with others by integrating physical, informational, digital, social and civic, economic and educational barrierlessness in all spheres of state policy.
The training seminar programme has been developed under the “50/50” model where everything is based on co-management. “50/50” is the ability to create an atmosphere of cooperation between authorities and organisations representing the interests of diverse groups of young people and feel the spirit of partnership that prevails in the Council of Europe youth sector. The programme of the training seminar was focused on the way to increase the involvement of young people from diverse backgrounds who are faced with discrimination in the shaping of youth policy and youth work at the central and local levels and in promoting the best practices in preventing and combating discrimination.
During the training seminar, participants had a chance to learn and discuss legislative norms, new initiatives and best practices for preventing and combating discrimination with a focus on the youth sphere. Following the training seminar results, they were also offered to prepare a collection of practices to prevent and combat discrimination in youth work and youth policy for the promotion of experience exchange in the field of youth in Ukraine.
In the context of preventing and combating discrimination of young people, participants of the training seminar researched the contents of basic Council of Europe documents related to the youth policy, such as the Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life and Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers to Member States:
- on the access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to social rights, CM/Rec(2015)3;
- on young people's access to rights, CM/Rec(2016)7;
- on youth work, CM/Rec(2017)4.
On 27 August 2021 participants met with Oksana Vasyliaka, First Deputy Director at the Coordination Centre for Legal Aid Provision. During her presentation, Oksana Vasyliaka dwelled on the activities of the free legal aid (FLA) system in Ukraine and stressed the openness to cooperation with organisations and institutions working with youth from different regions of Ukraine.
During the training seminar, participants researched the Council of Europe standards and educational resources in the field of youth and counteraction to discrimination, including the Compass Manual on Human Rights Education. The revised edition of the Compass Manual on Human Rights Education with Young People was edited and published in Ukrainian within the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine”.
Participants received brochures from the series “Protect yourself from discrimination” to later use in their work with young people and those who work with them. Brochures were prepared as part of the project funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in the Eastern Partnership countries” within the framework of Partnership for Good Governance II.
Moreover, participants of the training seminar received copies of the education pack “All Different – All Equal” with ideas, resources, methods and exercises for non-formal intercultural education of young people and adults. The edition was first prepared and published in 1995. The 2016 edition was revised, translated into Ukrainian and published in 2020 as part of the “Schools for Democracy: Supporting Education Reforms in Ukraine” programme with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway.
Following the results of the training seminars, practical recommendations for training programmes and those working in the field of youth policy and youth work, specifically, staff of youth centres at the national, regional and local levels in Ukraine and in the framework of the “Youth Worker” State Programme will be reviewed by the Project team in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
As a reminder, the training seminar on preventing and combating discrimination in the field of youth policy and youth work is organised by the Council of Europe Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
The Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” is implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018–2022 and is based on previous experience and efficient bilateral cooperation between the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine as part of the Framework Programme on Cooperation between the Council of Europe Rights Education and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine in the Field of Youth Policy in 2016–2020.
Read more about the Council of Europe's project and resources in the field of youth at: https://www.coe.int/uk/web/kyiv/youth-for-democracy-in-ukraine
