5-7 June, Interregional Youth Forum "Youth for Ukraine" was held in Poltava region
220 young active people from almost all regions of Ukraine participated in the event, amoung them youth, students and self-governance organizations activists, NGOs and initiative groups’ leaders, activists from the number of internally displaced persons from Luhansk and Donetsk regions
The Forum was organized by the Kremenchuk Youth Parliament, the Department of Family, Children and Youth, Kremenchuk City Center for Social Services for Family, Children and Youth with support of UNFPA office in Ukraine.
In her welcoming remarks, Liudmyla Lompas, communication specialist of United Nations Population Fund, noted cited a famous saying “If you want to know what the future of the country will be, ask about the dreams of young people in this country”. She added that “Looking at active energetic young people who came to the Forum to get more knowledge and who are ready to take responsibility for their communities and country, we can be confident in our future”. Representative of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine Victoria Hala noted that “Most social problems are really pressing for youth. In Ukraine there are about 1.3 million internally displaced persons, as well as there is an acute problem with ex-combatants. Since the state does not cover all problems, we have to rely on ideas and projects of young people.” Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation "Heart to Heart" Jezhy Konic advised young people “not to be afraid of anything and take the initiative in their hands”, since the change of power through revolution will change nothing if young people are not active and initiative.
For 3 days, young leaders had the opportunity to work in 6 committees in the “open space” format, and to take part in the discussions with international diplomats. A special event, NGOs and initiative groups’ fair was also organized in the framework of the Forum. The Fair aimed to create an exchange platform for best initiatives and projects among the event participants. There were also interesting master classes and outdoor sport activities held during the Forum.
The work of the Forum was organized in six committees where the participants analyzed the following topics: role of youth in European integration; building civil society under current challenges; health services and healthy lifestyle for young people; moral and psychological development of young people, promotion of patriotism; different aspects of socio-psychological adaptation of internally displaced persons: psychological help, assistance with employment, educational initiatives, adapting to the new community; role of dialogue in Ukrainian society, establishment of sustainable cooperation between local authorities and youth organizations, dialogue between community and authorities at different level.
The outcome of the Forum was formulated in the Forum Resolution and Action Plans for each of the six groups that shall help young people to implement developed ideas and projects in their communities.
The video of the Forum is available following the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pG3960-ojg
