On July 25, 2018, a specialized three-day training for specialists of mobile teams and Centers of Social Services for Children, Family and Youth of Kyiv and Lviv Oblast started capacity building of psychologists and social workers to provide psychosocial support to ATO veterans and members of their families, including prevention of gender-based violence cases.

Ms. Natalia Fedorovich visited the opening of the training and emphasized the huge number of ATO veterans in Ukraine − more than 300 thousand people. The Deputy Minister of Social Policy in her welcoming speech also highlighted the importance of personal responsibility of every member of society at the individual and community, city and state levels in responding to cases of gender-based violence.

The participants of the training, together with the trainer, will consider psychological peculiarities, typical emotional and behavioral reactions and needs of ATO participants, improve psycho-social skills for veterans and their family members at all levels, will be able to enhance their understanding and develop skills in applying a resource-based methods in psychological and social practices, which will promote to develop an integrated approach to responding to cases of gender-based violence.

This need for specialized knowledge has been identified by the UN Population Fund in analyzing the needs of mobile team clients. Working with members of the families of the former ATO participants and with the veterans themselves has its own specifics and often requires a specialized approach and methods of managing the psychological consequences of participation in hostilities. Similar educational events will also be held for specialists from Vinnytsya, Kherson, Odesa and Mykolayiv regions.

This series of trainings is sponsored by the Government of the United Kingdom in partnership with the Ministry of Social Policy of the United Nations Population Fund Program "Integrated response to end gender-based violence against vulnerable women and adolescent girls in Ukraine".