On 14-17 May 2024, trainers of the "Trauma Informed Youth Work" programme from 9 youth centres in Chernihiv, Zakarpattia, Donetsk, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Poltava regions took part in the Third Training of Trainers of the Programme in Lviv.
The Trauma Informed Youth Work programme was launched in 2022 as part of the Council of Europe projects "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase II" and "Internal Displacement in Ukraine: Building Solutions. Phase II" in response to the needs of young people and youth workers in the context of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. The Programme included training for trainers, implementation of educational and training activities in communities in line with the content of the newly developed manual for the training course on trauma minformed youth work.
The purpose of the third training was to strengthen the competencies of the trainers of the educational and practical Programme to implement educational and awareness-raising activities in the context of trauma informed youth work. The programme is implemented by the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III" in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Youth Centre, in particular as a specialized training of the state programme "Youth Worker" since 2023.
Erlend Falch, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, addressed the participants of the programme "Trauma informed youth work" and took part in a session dedicated to the long-term co-operation between the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine. The Deputy Head expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine for co-operation in strengthening youth policy and youth work in Ukraine in line with the standards and approaches of the Council of Europe, in particular, within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan "Resilience. Recovery. Reconstruction" 2023 – 2026. Erlend Falch showed appreciation to the trainers of the Trauma Informed Youth Work programme for fruitful co-operation with the Council of Europe. He stressed that the role of the Programme's trainers team is irreplaceable and very important to help youth workers to support young people in Ukraine in the war time.
Natalia Radchuk, Head of the Department for International Co-operation and European Integration, Ukraine's representative in the Steering Committee on Youth of the Council of Europe, presented the history and experience of co-operation between the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the Council of Europe, in particular in the context of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine. She thanked the Council of Europe Office for fruitful co-operation and emphasized the crucial need to continue implementation of the project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine" in 2025-2026.
Ivan Sapsa, Director of the Lviv Regional Youth Centre, presented the current project " Youth Resilience Laboratory", which has been implementing with the support of the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe. The project was supported within the framework of a special call to support young people from Ukraine. At the invitation of the Director, Erlend Falch, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, visited the Lviv Regional Youth Centre and met with the centre's team and Roman Khimiak, Head of the Youth and Sports Department of the Lviv Regional Military Administration. During the meeting, they discussed the current activities and the role of the Council of Europe's long-term training programme for newly established youth centres in the Lviv region to implement on community level non-formal education and youth work based on Council of Europe approaches.
Together with Lesya Mukoseeva, co-ordinator of the State Programme "Youth Worker", All-Ukrainian Youth Centre, the participants of the training discussed feedback and plans to conduct specialized trainings on trauma-informed youth work within the framework of the state programme "Youth Worker".
Maksym Mikhalkov, head of the NGO "Come Out to Play", presented the experience of implementing sports-based youth work in Bucha and Irpin. Football events and trainings do not involve competitions, but contribute to the development of practical skills, socialization of boys and girls, restoration and building of new friendships. The organisation's project "Increasing Youth Civic Participation in the Bucha Community" has been implementing with the financial and expert support of the Council of Europe within the framework of the project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III".
During the four-day training, the participants improved their trainers competencies, explored the relationship between humor and human rights, analyzed their own training activities, including co-operation in trainers pairs and teams. As a result of the training, the participants created their own plans for the development of trainer’s competencies and further steps in the development of the programme. During the training, the trainers emphasized the need to create an educational programme for young people to strengthen resilience.
The project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III" is implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2023-2026 and is based on the results and experience of the projects "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine" in 2020-2022. The project expands the systematic impact by strengthening youth participation policies and strengthening youth work during the war and in the post-war context, taking into account the specific needs of young people.
