On the eve of the International Youth Day, the team of Charity Foundation “Stabilization Support Services” organized an online meeting for the active youth in the frames of CYLA program. The purpose of the event was to hold a question-and-answer session, where listeners, most of whom are the internally displaced persons, could ask pertinent questions to representatives of relevant ministries.
More than 60 young people who are actively implementing various types of initiatives in their regions joined our event. Someone is actively engaged in humanitarian aid distribution; some are restoring old premises for resettlement of displaced persons; some of them regularly inform people about new programs and opportunities for the affected population through trainings and webinars; some even initiated the creation of volunteer headquarters in their cities. Today, this active youth in the regions works in different social sectors and with different population groups, but they all have one thing in common: the desire to help their country overcome the difficulties that the Ukrainian population faced as a result of the full-scale invasion.
While exercising any type of public activity, questions arise that can be answered only by persons related to the country’s power structures. That is why we invited Pavlo Kozyrev (Deputy Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories), Oleg Sharov (General Director of the Directorate of Professional Pre-University and Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine), Maryna Potapenko (Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine) and Olesya Tsybulko (the Head of the Department of Systemic Development of Administrative Services Provision of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine) to answer the most troubling questions asked by the active youth today.
Thus, during the online event, we managed to discuss the issue of resuming studies and transferring to universities in other cities during the martial law; problems with the resettlement of new people in the city of Zaporizhzhia; current activity of volunteer youth centers and much more.
“We have to introduce new approaches in working with the youth that meet the demands of the times — these are the approaches and changes that Ukrainian youth has always sought. We are trying to develop a youth policy during the war, although the activities of each institution face new challenges every day. About 200 thousand young people with weapons in their arms are currently defending our country, and more than 30% of the young population is engaged in volunteering and helping the civilian population and the military. Through our non-formal education activities, we regularly train them to cooperate with state authorities, make important decisions at the local level, and implement their projects to improve the lives of the population. Despite the difficult times, our youth is very active today and is definitely worth inspiring the whole world with their activities,” said Maryna Potapenko, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
The lion’s share of those present at our event today are graduates of “A_Ya?!” Academy organized by our Charity Foundation in the frames of CYLA program. One of them — Carolina Michelle Makaya — is an activist of the youth wing in Zaporizhzhia and a volunteer at Svoi NGO humanitarian headquarters. Currently, this public organization, led by Carolina, is opening a new department that will perform repairs in old apartments with the displaced persons accommodated there after the renovation of the premises.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity to communicate directly with the heads and responsible persons of the Ministries of my state. For the most part of the meeting, I felt mutual readiness and commitment to work for the good of the country. I received almost all the answers to the questions that would not let me sleep at night, and I hope for their solution and attention to the important issues raised. I am always ready to cooperate with both the authorities and the Charity Foundation “SSS”,” Carolina comments on our online meeting.
Our Charity Foundation is grateful to CYLA program and IREX for the opportunity to hold this meeting. We believe that educational activities of this kind help young people to be heard and get answers to the pressing questions of their concern today.
You can watch the record of the broadcast on the official FB page of the Charity Foundation “SSS”.
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This event was made possible with the support of the U.S. Department of State and IREX. The content is the sole responsibility of Charity Foundation “Stabilization Support Services” and does not necessarily reflect the views of IREX or the U.S. Department of State.