“Nothing for young people without young people.” This principle is fundamental to the development of effective youth policies in Ukrainian communities. Young people are the key agents of change who influence community development. What kind of youth policies are communities forming today, and what tasks do they set for themselves?
These issues were the focus of the Mayors’ Briefing “Youth Policies in the Current Context: Challenges and Best Practices for Communities” held on July 30 in Kyiv. At the event, representatives of relevant ministries, local governments, and the public sector discussed successful examples of youth policy implementation and tools for engaging young people in community recovery. The event was supported by the USAID HOVERLA Activity.
“Today, communities face many challenges: providing quality education and extracurricular development, as well as opportunities for youth fulfillment in the face of constant rocket attacks. The USAID HOVERLA Activity helps them find solutions with its successful practices, including a youth internship program in the executive committees of local councils, a program to support youth councils in communities, and a project management course.” This was stated by Marat Kyurchevsky, USAID Ukraine Project Management Specialist, who delivered a welcoming speech at the briefing.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the issue of migration among young Ukrainians has become particularly acute. According to various estimates, about 2.5 million young people have left for the European Union, and more than 2 million are internally displaced. The future of communities, their survival and security depend on whether young people stay in their villages and cities today. Vladyslav Yatsuk, Director of the Youth Policies Department at the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, is convinced that the foundation of youth work is laid in the local community:
“Restoring communities is a matter of creating conditions for young people. If we used to talk about youth policies mainly as education and entertainment, today we have to create more fundamental things: for example, conditions for employment.”
Serhiy Sharshov, Head of the Department for the Development of Local Self-Government, Territorial Organization of Power and Administrative and Territorial Structure of the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine, also emphasized the key role of youth in community recovery. According to him, young people, their ideas and new approaches will make it possible to quickly cope with the recovery processes in each territorial community.
“Another aspect is related to European integration processes, as young people are the ones who have mostly visited the European Union or other developed countries. They need to know about the advantages and disadvantages that communities have abroad and can share this information with local governments to apply it to the further development of their community,” said Serhiy Sharshov.
One of the successful examples of how to create conditions for the return of young people from abroad was shared by Yuriy Bova, Trostianets City Mayor. He said that after the de-occupation of Trostianets, the local government decided to start with libraries and sports.
“We opened absolutely all the sections that we have, so that young people would return to the community. For example, there was one family that lived in Poland, and the child attended a football academy there. And when our academy opened, they returned from Poland to Trostianets. Now more than 500 children are engaged in various sports, including stretching, yoga, jumping, etc. Today, 95% of the community’s population has returned, and this figure is increasing.”
The Trostianets community has modern coworking libraries – spaces where young people study, attend lectures and movie screenings. Yuriy Bova is also convinced that providing conditions for the birth of children is a priority in youth policies. Despite the constant shelling of the city, the maternity ward in Trostianets hospital is modern and comfortable for women in labor and babies.
Another key to shaping youth policies is establishing a dialogue with young people, because no one knows their needs and desires better than young people themselves. Informal meetings and sincere conversations with teenagers can be the beginning of great changes. This is exactly what happened in the Bushtyn community, which organized Drive Camp, a summer camp for teenagers in the forest, where all the coordinators were employees of the village council.
Ruslan Yanchiy, Bushtyno village head, said that the idea for this project came up during a youth forum in Lutsk, held with the support of the USAID HOVERLA Activity. Drive Camp was held for the first time in the summer of 2023 and brought together 70 teenagers who learned horseback riding, archery, attended various workshops, and, of course, talked a lot with the organizers about the future of their community. The project will take place this summer as well – there are many people who want to join the camp.
“In fact, young people do not know what is happening in the council and how they can help. So, every evening around the campfire we discussed various community problems, told them about vacancies, where they could study and work in the community. One of the results of the camp is the creation of a youth center and work on launching a youth council, the idea of which was born among young people while they were on vacation,” Ruslan Yanchiy shared the results of the camp.
It is important for young people to see successful cases when they can really influence changes in society. One such example is Oleh Volskyi, Zhovkva City Mayor, who at the age of 25 became the youngest community leader in Ukraine. Oleh Volskyi is convinced that young people should be involved in governance processes, not be afraid to run for office and offer their ideas. In particular, the community is working to bring back talented Ukrainians from abroad and provide them with opportunities for realization:
“I am currently negotiating with young people in Germany to bring their experience gained abroad to the Zhovkva community. We are discussing the practices of German cities and other twin cities, because this is also an important step in youth policies, and we are studying cases of communities in developed countries that have extensive experience working with young people.”
In order to influence changes in the community, it is not necessary to become a member of a youth council, a deputy, or a leader of an organization. However, it is important for young people to understand that they are an integral part of the community and can do a lot for its development, and in turn, the community will provide young people with opportunities for self-realization. The task of youth workers is to form an active position among young people.
The goal of the Youth Worker program, established in 2014, is to train competent youth workers who can contribute to the personal development of young people and their integration into society. Lesya Mukoseeva, head of the NGO Association of Youth Workers of Ukraine, said:
“One of the initiatives that a youth worker can implement is an internship for young people in local government. This program has been implemented for the second year in a row with the support of the USAID HOVERLA Activity. For two weeks, a young person learns from his or her own experience that if you want to, you can work in local government, it is real.”
