Оn 26-27 January 2022 the planning meeting of the Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase II” took place in Kyiv in a hybrid format. The project is built on the results and experience of the project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” and extends the systematic influence by strengthening youth work provision and extending youth policy reform at the local level.
Miguel Angel Garcia Lopez, International Project Consultant, presented an overview of the result of the evaluation of the capacity building activities of the Project, in particular the pandemic’s impact on the learning outcomes of the Project’s participants and young people’s participation and civic activity level.
Maryna Popatenko, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, outlined the positive results and impact of the project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” on the development of youth policy and youth work at all levels in Ukraine. The Deputy Minister highlighted the importance of the second phase of the Project in 2022 and 2023 to strengthen the implementation of youth policy and youth work in Ukraine in line with standards and approaches of the Council of Europe in the field of youth. Maryna Popatenko mentioned that good practices and initiatives of the first phase of the Project should be implemented and replicated in other oblasts of Ukraine.
Rui Gomes, Project Coordinator, Head of the Education and Training Division of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, presented the main news in the youth sector of the Council of Europe, including a new youth campaign to revive democracy. This campaign will run from March to November 2022 and will rely on issue-based actions at the local and regional levels on a monthly basis. According to the Joint Council on Youth’s October 2021 decision, the campaign aims to increase the role of young people in the process of reviving participatory democracy in the Council of Europe and restoring mutual trust between young people and democratic institutions and processes. The centerpiece of the campaign is to be a youth event/festival to be held in Strasbourg from 27 June to 2 July 2022, which will also mark the 50th anniversary of the Council of Europe’s youth sector.
The second phase of the Project stresses the importance of the Council of Europe youth sector strategy 2030 and reflects the current youth policy reforms in Ukraine, notably the National strategy of the State Youth Policy 2030, the State Target Social Programme “Youth of Ukraine” 2021-2025.
The Project will comprise the capacity-building activities, support measures for the youth policy and youth work fields based on existing policy standards and tools at the Council of Europe youth sector. The Project will cover work with the representatives of the local, regional and national authorities and youth work providers (youth workers, librarians, youth leaders, youth activists). As an overall result of the implementation of the Project young people in Ukraine will benefit from participatory youth policy and youth work to exercise their human rights and freedoms, meaningful participation, and democratic citizenship.
The Steering Committee meeting of the Project is preliminarily scheduled for March 2022.
