On 28 November 2024, a meeting of the Steering Committee of the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III" was held in Kyiv in a hybrid format.

The Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III" was launched within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine "Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction" for 2023-2026. The project builds on the results and experience of the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine" in 2020-2022 and expands the systematic impact by strengthening participatory youth policy and strengthening youth work during the war and in the post-war context, taking into account the needs of young people.

The meeting was opened by Maciej Janczak, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine. Welcome speeches were made by Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, and Andriy Chesnokov, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports.

The participants of the meeting discussed the project’s results, the current state of youth policy in Ukraine and the youth sector of the Council of Europe plans for 2025 and beyond.

Members of the Steering Committee underlined positive effects of the third phase of the project and stressed the critical need to continue the project in 2025-2026 to facilitate the implementation of policies based on youth participatory approaches and to strengthen youth work taking into account the devastating effects of war on young people.

Andriy Chesnokov emphasized the achievements of the project, in particular: support for youth centres and organisations, introduction of innovations to the state programme “Youth Worker programme”, and advanced training on participatory youth policy for civil servants.

"By joint efforts, we are creating the basis for reforms that meet the needs of Ukraine's youth and European standards. I am confident that co-operation within the framework of the Project will allow us to further develop tools to support the youth sector in the time of war," said the Deputy Minister.

The long-term capacity building programme “Access to youth work” for ten newly established CSOs working with young people is being implemented in 2023 and in 2024. Maksym Mikhalkov, Head of the CSO “Go out to play”, presented the results of the project on strengthening civic participation of young people in Buchanska community. Diana Mazurok, Project Manager of the CSO “Youth sails”, presented the results of the project on mobile youth work in remote rural area in Novovolynsk community.

Mykola Kobysia, Director of the Ukrainian Youth Foundation, presented the achievements of the project, supported by the Council of Europe, on development of selection, monitoring and evaluation criteria under a grant awarding scheme of the UYF in line with the Council of Europe standards and principles, to ensure youth participation both in the decision-making process and implementation of activities.

In 2024, to respond to the needs of key national and local partners in Ukraine, the Council of Europe projects "Facilitating access to human rights and essential services for internally displaced persons and returnees at the community level" and "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III"  launched a one-year capacity-building programme “Trauma-informed approach in the context of access to human rights and essential services for internally displaced persons and persons,  returning to Ukraine." Svitlana Butenko, Senior Project Officer, the Сouncil of Europe Office in Ukraine, the project “Facilitating access to human rights and essential services for internally displaced persons and returnees at the community level”, underlined the positive outcomes of the joint programme to strengthen competencies of youth workers and representatives of CSOs working with internally displaced people to implement educational and awareness-raising activities on the application of a trauma-informed approach.

More information about the achievements of the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III", news, youth resources of the Council of Europe are available below:

Within the component "Participatory Youth Policy " in co-operation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service, the Ukrainian Youth Councils Association, the Project:

• Translated into Ukrainian:
• Recommendation CM/Rec(2023)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the participation of Roma youth - https://rm.coe.int/rec-on-roma-youth-participation-upd-2774-6711-4760-v-1/1680abf18f;
• Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)6 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of youth civil society and young people and support for their participation in democratic processes - https://rm.coe.int/rec-on-youth-civil-society-upd-2764-3898-5224-v-1/1680abf191. 
•  Conducted a study of the needs and state of activities of local, regional and national authorities in the field of youth policy, as well as local and regional youth advisory bodies, in particular, taking into account the needs and realities of young people in the war and post-war period.
•  Developed  the Model training programme on participatory youth policy approved by the order of the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service No. 149-23 of September 18, 2023.
•  Developed a training manual and conducted  a training for trainers  for  teachers of entities providing vocational training educational services for civil servants and local government officials (providers). 21 professional development programmes have already been implemented for 600 civil servants, local government officials, scientists and educators in 2024.
•  Conducted a training seminar on social cohesion and inclusion, civic participation and democratic citizenship, non-discrimination and equality for young activists.
•  Strengthened competencies of forty – three young activists to participate in democratic processes and contributed to discussions on the concept of the State Programme “Youth of Ukraine” for 2026-2030, which is being developed.
•  Created five videos of local practices of youth participation and three videos on the experience of youth work in wartime for the Council of Europe Summit in particular.
• Members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, competent ministries, young people, representatives of youth organisations, as well as Council of Europe member states and international partners took part in the round table “Youth, Ukraine, Europe: Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction”. The round table was organised by the Council of Europe, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe. The roundtable provided a platform to incorporate visions of young people in the context of Ukraine's recovery efforts and to support the Ukrainian authorities in developing comprehensive policies for young people in Ukraine today and after the end of the war.
• Explored with 350 young activists the current situation in the youth field in Ukraine and Europe, resources and opportunities of the Council of Europe, and contributed to the development of the new State Programme “Youth of Ukraine” at the Ukrainian Youth Forum.
•  Developed a youth-friendly educational board game on youth participation “Solution exists!”.

As part of the project’s component "Recognition of Youth Work in Wartime":

•  Thanks to the expert support of the Council of Europe, the participation of young people has become part of the newly adopted occupational standard "Youth Specialist (Youth Worker)".
•  The Project, in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the All-Ukrainian Youth Centre, developed a curriculum and conducted a series of specialised trainings  "Trauma-Informed Youth Work" within the framework of the  State Programme "Youth Worker". 25 trainers on trauma informed youth work were certified within the state programme “Youth Worker” in 2024.
•  On 26-30 June 2023, in co-operation with partner youth centres, the Project organised the All-Ukrainian Week of Networking for Psychological Support of Young People "Youth Work for Resilience", which was attended by 61 organisations working with young people. This experience became a background to develop a new referral mechanism for youth centres and spaces in 2024.
•  The project conducted a series of five five-day training seminars on social cohesion and barrier-free environment in the youth sector, in particular in implementation of the National Strategy for a Barrier-Free Environment in Ukraine until 2030. The specialized training “Barrier-free environment in the youth sector” was approved as a part of the state programme “Youth workers” in 2024.
• Developed the competencies of 28 youth workers, youth trainers, young activists on maintaining the quality of non-formal education and training activities in the war and post-war period, and enable young people to actively support, protect, promote and benefit from the core values of the Council of Europe: human rights,  democracy and the rule of law. Among participants of the long-term training course are representatives from 16 regions of Ukraine.
•  The project conducted a mapping of educational  practices of higher education institutions of Ukraine in the field of youth work based on the approaches, educational resources and standards of the Council of Europe.
• Co-organised the Forum for national minority youth “United in diversity”. The Forum was organised by the joint project of the Council of Europe and the European Union "Supporting the implementation of European standards on anti-discrimination and the rights of national minorities in Ukraine" and the SCO “Council of National Minorities of Ukraine”.
•  Translated T-KIT 6 "Training Essential".
• Collected and described the experience and practices of youth work in the context of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine in the period after 24 February 2022.
• Updated and  published in Ukrainian   the manual on human rights education with young people "Compass".
• Developed and published the visual tool "Stars. Stars. Les Étoiles." for the education and training of young people and professional communities on human rights, democracy, non-formal education, youth participation, environmental protection, cultural heritage, artificial intelligence, anti-discrimination and social cohesion.

Within the framework of the project’s component "Support to Youth Centers and Youth Organisations as Platforms for Civic Engagement and Democratic Participation":

•  The project, in co-operation with the Lviv Regional Youth Centre, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the Department of Youth and Sports of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, implemented a long-term training programme for the newly established youth centres of the Lviv region  "Youth Work Based on Council of Europe Standards and Values" in 2023.
•  The project conducted the second stage of research on the needs and state of activities of local and regional youth centres and spaces, in particular, taking into account the needs and realities of young people in the war and post-war periods. On 27 November 2023,  the results  of the study were presented  at the All-Ukrainian Forum "Youth Centers in Ukraine: Best Practices for Working with Youth in Wartime".
•  The project has launched a new page on the official website of the Council of Europe Office - Cooperation with youth centres with the Council of Europe Quality Label.
•  The project ensured the participation  of youth workers in the 14th Platform of Youth Centres with the Council of Europe Quality Label on  9-10 May 2023, Strasbourg (France) to strengthen international co-operation of youth centres in a peer-to-peer format.
• The project ensured the participation  of youth workers in the 15th Platform of Youth Centres with the Council of Europe Quality Label on  7-8 May 2024, Budapest (Hungary) to strengthen international co-operation of youth centres in a peer-to-peer format.
•  Ten representatives of youth centres from Donetsk, Volyn and Zhytomyr regions strengthened competencies taking part in a study visit to the Marttinen Youth Centre with the Council of Europe Quality Label, Wirrat (Finland) in 2023.
•  Nine representatives of eight youth centres in Ukraine strengthen competencies taking part in a study visit to the youth centre in Killarney (Ireland) with the Council of Europe Quality Label in 2023 .
• Six representatives of five youth centres in Ukraine strengthen competencies taking part taking part in a study visit to the Lisbon youth centre (Portugal) with the Council of Europe Quality Label in 2024.
•  2636 young people in Ukraine have joined open youth work projects of CSOs supported by the Council of Europe. The long-term capacity building programme of the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine for ten newly established CSOs working with young people “Access to youth work” is being implemented in 2023-2024. The teams of ten CSOs from nine regions and Kyiv improved their skills to ensure high-quality financial and project management, as well as to ensure the participation of young people both in the decision-making process and in the implementation of activities with expert and grant support of the Council of Europe.
•  The project held an information sessions and provided expert support for the submission of applications to the European Youth Foundation.