ENGAGING YOUTH TO DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
Youth Well-Being Index
YWBI is a comprehensive scale to measure the well-being of youth on the municipal level and to make evidence-based decisions for municipal policy-makers. Developed by UNFPA Ukraine together with experts from the V. Ptukha Institute of Demography and Social Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and has been implemented in Ukrainian cities since 2019.
It is a simple tool for monitoring and assessing the well-being of youth in the municipality and, as a result – implementing relevant youth policy by local authorities, as well as a great opportunity to be involved in dialogue with the authorities and participate in decision-making at the city level for young people.
YWBI is based on 49 primary indicators in 7 spheres: Education, Health, Economic opportunities, Participation in political life, Participation in civic life, Information & communication technologies, Safety, and security.
During 2019-2023, YWBI was measured in 22 municipalities, more than 6400 young people were engaged in the survey on the YWBI platform, and partnerships with more than 110 local business companies in municipalities have been reached.
Bank of Ideas
UNFPA supports the dreams and initiatives of young people within the framework of the «Bank of Ideas» project, which was launched in 2021 in the framework of the Youth Wellbeing Index project.
The key goal is to equip young people with skills that will allow them to identify the current problems and needs of the communities they live in and develop solutions for them through young people's initiatives and projects as part of overall humanitarian response efforts at the municipal level and receive funding. The project consists of Ideaton of Decisions, Online School of Grantwriting and Project Management, Youth Residence, Funding Mechanism to support projects from chosen municipalities.
In 2022, within the second edition of the project Bank of Ideas 2.0 «MOLO, Diy!», 14 youth teams from 6 regions of Ukraine received mini-grants to implement projects in the field of a humanitarian response to overcome the adverse consequences of war for youth in communities. More than 2,500 young people have become beneficiaries of the project, of which about 30% are internally displaced persons.
In 2023, Bank of Ideas 3.0 «MOLO, Mriy || MOLO, Dream!» has a specific focus on the role of young people and youth organizations from 14 regions of Ukraine in humanitarian response to address the adverse effects of the ongoing war on the communities through specific youth-led projects and initiatives.
Youth podcasts on recovery and mental health
UNFPA successfully continues its work within the initiative of conducting the dialogues with youth and for youth in a format of thematic podcasts, aimed at helping to build a safe space for communication among young Ukrainians on different topics about their own lives and challenges, their ups and downs of mental health, the new future of Ukraine and life after the war.
In 2022, together with NGO Molodvizh and Radio Skovoroda, a series of youth dialogues targeting young women and men aged 14-35 consisted of two thematic podcasts «Molo has a question» and «Mentalochka» were launched. The podcasts are regularly published on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, MEGOGO audio.
The podcast «Molo has a Question» is focused on communicating to Ukrainian youth the essence of critical issues of the current time and the need to hear the voice of young Ukrainians in the context of various aspects of their life, as well as on showcasing the work of the youth civil society organizations that united thousands of young people, who lead the positive change movement in their communities. Since the podcast's launch, it received 46,887 plays on all online platforms.
The «Mentalochka» podcast is focused on providing young people with a resource to gain the necessary energy, a renewed spirit, and a less-stressed perspective, allowing youth to talk about their mental health challenges and how to get through them by analyzing their own experiences and perspectives. In total, the podcast received 66,339 plays on all online platforms.
In 2023, the new podcast «Dreams Before Sleep» within the framework of UNFPA humanitarian response is being launched, specifically focusing on creating scenarios for the future recovery of Ukraine in various fields.
All Ukrainian Youth Event «Molodvizh»
UNFPA supports conducting the all-Ukrainian youth event «Molodvizh,» which traditionally gathered young changemakers from all over Ukraine to discuss the most critical issues of current days. In 2022, the 12-hour event was attended by 3,500 young people aged 16-25 years old and focused on the present and the future of the Ukrainian youth in the context of the ongoing war and life after covering topics of everyone’s role in the war, conscious youth who will move the country forward, fundamental concepts of Ukrainian history and culture, and mental health that are critically important to care about even during the most challenging time.
The UNFPA supported thematic sessions during the event, including the offline episode of the podcast «Mentalochka»; the lecture «Brain in the beat of the war: how the full-scale invasion melts the brain and how to deal with it?» conducted by the candidate for biological sciences, science-popularizer and heroine of the UNFPA and the Minor Academy of Sciences #CVIDOMI career guidance project Olha Maslova; the presentation of the updated project «No trivia,» and its chatbot for psychological support for adolescents; roundtable discussion of the «Youth Manifest» document – a call from Ukrainian youth aiming at implementing actions and steps needed for country’s victory and defining the main goals in the post-war development of Ukraine.
SUPPORTING PROGRAMS ON SRH/HIV/STI, HEALTHY LIFESTYLE AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE AND KEY POPULATIONS
CSE digital сampaign for adolescents «PUBERTAT»
In 2022, UNFPA launched an out-of-school sexual education campaign for adolescents and youth in Ukraine, aimed at investing in their health and education, giving them vital scientifically proven information, they need to have on healthy lives and relationships, helping them navigate life-changing decisions about their sexual and reproductive health and as such promote the empowerment, self-determination and health of young people who are at highest risk for negative outcomes.
The campaign aims to complement sexuality education given at schools with awareness and an informative digital campaign on Instagram. It addresses essential topics that intersect with, but are not limited to, sexuality, gender equality and identity, healthy relationships, STIs and HIV, and mental health problems, among other issues. This campaign is of significant importance at this time, especially as many young people are forced to flee their homes and are at greater risk of losing their bodily autonomy.
National study «Awareness and attitudes of teachers and parents toward comprehensive sexuality education»
In 2020, UNFPA conducted a survey «Awareness and attitudes of teachers and parents toward comprehensive sexuality education’. The results of the study were presented at the Conference «Implementation of comprehensive sexuality Education and the principles of gender equality: prospects in Ukraine in the 21st Century», held in partnership and with participation of the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) of Ukraine, Embassy of Finland, UNFPA’s Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, national advocates and representatives of non-governmental organizations working in the area of sexual and reproductive health education.
Among key findings of the study: 84% of parents and 83% of teachers believe that comprehensive sexuality education should be introduced in schools; the vast majority of both parents (65%) and teachers (73%) consider teaching human sexuality at school to be equally important compared to other subjects; 88% of parents want the school to help with their child’s sexuality education; 80% of teachers require defined formats of teaching and support materials for sexuality education classes (participation in sexuality education course, training in approaches and methods of conducting relevant classes).
More about the study and findings here.
Healthy Challenge 2020
An all-Ukrainian programme aiming to promote a healthy lifestyle among young people in quarantine caused by the spread of COVID-19 continued its work in 2020 and covered 42 professional pre-higher and vocational and technical education institutions in Zakarpattia, Lviv, Volyn, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Khmelnytsky, Chernihiv and Cherkasy Oblasts of Ukraine, as well as 12,000 young people and more than 32,000 teachers and residents of these Oblasts.
Vocational and technical education institutions competed with each other, presenting their mini-projects and activities to promote a healthy lifestyle. All projects envisaged the protection of mental and physical health and prevention of infectious diseases, including COVID-19.
The program also included 21-day all-Ukrainian online marathon for young people #HealthyChallenge2020 (more than 4,500 young people from different regions of Ukraine were involved) and 3-week all-Ukrainian challenge marathon for young people «Dream. Plan. Don’t Slow Down!» (579 participants were involved).
EDUCATIONAL COURSES AND PROGRAMMES FOR YOUTH
Online Educational Course on Youth Resilience in a Time of Crises
To help young people cope with difficulties in the changing world of wars, pandemics, and disasters, in 2022, UNFPA, together with the NGO «Women's League of Donetchchyna» created an online course, «Youth Resilience in Time of Crisis», which gave young people access to a quality resource with useful and effective recovery tools.
The course aims to equip young people with resilience skills that will allow them to adapt well in the face of adversity, trauma, threats, or significant sources of stress and cope with the devastating effects of the crisis on their well-being, education, and future work prospects. The target audience of the course is young people aged 14-35 who are rebuilding themselves, looking for new interests and values, learning to take care of themselves, and striving to take control of their lives in a crisis caused by external factors.
The online course «Youth Resilience in Time of Crisis» gathered more than 16,000 listeners in six months. The course includes ten modules on different topics and is on the Prometheus platform.
Youth Resilience Program
Considering the interest of young people in the «Youth Resilience in Time of Crisis» online course, there is a need to talk more not only about the negative consequences of the crisis but also to provide positive prospects for post-crisis growth and help young people acquire skills that will be helpful in this grow.
Thus, in 2023, UNFPA, together with NGO «Women's League of Donetchchyna» are developing the «Youth Resilience Program» - a practical ToT program with a theoretical basis for the nature of resilience and tools for implementing this knowledge in life with the main focus on the development of resilience skills in Ukrainian youth, the ability to overcome the consequences of stressful situations, maintain their productivity and make their lives better in the conditions of the ongoing war by forming and supporting a community of youth trainers to conduct offline educational programs based on the «peer-to-peer» principle in 10 cities of Ukraine.
Programme on meaningful inclusion of youth with disabilities
Young boys and girls with various forms of disability found themselves in a very vulnerable position during the war. Youth spaces can play an important role in promoting the psychological support, development and social integration of young people, however, these places are often not inclusive enough and may create risks of exclusion. Youth specialists often lack awareness of the use of methods of inclusion, engagement, and activating techniques for working with young people with disabilities.
To fill this gap, in 2023, UNFPA, together with NGO «Women's League of Donetchchyna» are developing a mass open educational online course with a combination of interactive learning modules, video lectures, and practical exercises, covering the topics of inclusivity, barriers to access, needs and characteristics of different youth groups, celebrating diversity, elements of barrier-free design, communication strategies, and developing inclusive participation programs.
This training course will help to equip specialists working with youth in war and humanitarian crises with the knowledge, skills, and tools to create inclusive youth programs that are accessible and empowering for all, particularly with attention to the needs of youth with disabilities.
Online educational course on socially responsible blogging «MOLOблогерстVO!»
In 2022, UNFPA developed a hybrid educational programme on socially responsible blogging to help young people develop skills and the ability to effectively formulate their judgments and communicate for their target audience, be prepared to act during times of crises in their communities, and strengthen their ability to advance the UNFPA mandate, which will lay the ground to create future positive youth role models and agents of change among active young people.
The programme consisted of two types of actions: hybrid educational residency for young people from different regions of Ukraine (10 online lectures for 30 youth representatives and two days of final event for 18 graduates) and an online educational course on socially responsible blogging «MOLOблогерстVO!» (10 recorded video-lessons from famous Ukrainian bloggers), which was placed on the Prometheus platform. A separate information course campaign covered a total of 100 913 users.
WORK WITH VULNERABLE YOUTH
Come On, Let`s Play - life skills program for young females with intellectual disabilities
In 2021, UNFPA cooperated with FC Shakhtar, Shakhtar Social, and NGO Special Olympics in Ukraine to overcome gender stereotypes about football as a «male» sport and promote inclusivity among females. Sixty young girls with intellectual disabilities participated in 276 football training with the specially developed methodology for Disability Football in four cities of Ukraine – Kyiv, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, and Mariupol.
Additionally, in August-September, UNFPA and partners piloted a specially developed program on life skills that lasted for seven days in the international youth center «Artek» near Kyiv. During this training, 12 young female participants were engaged in various creative tasks, worked on their communication skills and ability to work with each other, and participated in sports sessions such as football and canoeing. All sessions were aimed at improving the mental state of girls with disabilities.
Work with young people living with HIV
In 2020, UNFPA supported the Teenergizer youth movement. As part of working with vulnerable youth and young people living with HIV:
100 support groups were held for 49 HIV-positive young people;
94 educational activities on reproductive health and HIV infection were implemented for 2,151 adolescents from schools and VET institutions;
More than 8,000 young people aged 14–22 received information about HIV testing, of which 180 got tested;
105 young people participated in an internship program under Teenergizer;
Five thousand six hundred sixty-six young people from four cities visited the Teenergizer website and received information on HIV, reproductive health, and sexuality education.
SURVEYS
Joint UNFPA&UNDP nationwide survey on the impacts of war on youth in Ukraine
Since 2015, at the request of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, an annual survey of the state of young people, in particular the socio-economic situation, values, and preferences, has been conducted. As part of its continuation, but with a focus shifted on the effects of a full-scale invasion, the new wave of surveys was conducted in late 2022 by UNFPA Ukraine, jointly with UNDP and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
The survey aimed to understand the scale and nature of war violence and its impact on young people, including those who have been displaced internally within Ukraine and those forced to leave the country (4.0 mil in total). The research includes a survey of young people in the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine through face-to-face interviews at the respondents' homes, a survey of young people abroad by targeted messaging services, and focus-group interviews.
More about the survey and key findings can be found here.
YOUTH EMPOWERMENT
Pact for Youth
The Pact for Youth is a national partnership initiative that combines the Government, business, and education sectors' efforts to tackle youth unemployment. In 2020, the five-year implementation of the Pact for Youth initiative ended, bringing together more than 149 employers and creating more than 45,000 jobs for young people. In addition, 100 forums, round tables, and trainings were held with the participation of 3,000 young people, educators, and employers. CSR Europe recognized the initiative as one of the best practices for young people in Europe, and the UN global initiative Decent Jobs for Youth named the Pact one of the best examples in the world for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.
In 2021, the new vision of the Pact for Youth 2025 was presented, mainly focusing on providing mentorship support to young people from professionals. During 2021, 32 new companies became signatories of the Pact for Youth; 24 new youth organizations became regional partners of the Pact for Youth; the Mentorplace online platform launched, and 5 mentorship programs for youth were conducted, engaging 325 young people.
The National Job Shadowing Week
A campaign for first-year students to see the real picture of the labor market and how the employment process is organized, get acquainted directly with leading experts from the best companies in Ukraine, receive an in-depth understanding of how these companies work, and develop the necessary skills to plan future careers in Ukraine.
The Job Shadowing Week was conducted online and offline on 22-26 November 2021. There were 3,000 young people, of which 750 (68% women, 32% men) were active participants, and 200 educational institutions from 22 regions of Ukraine registered for the first National Job Shadowing Week to learn more about future employment in Ukrainian companies. Also, 17 employers were actively involved in the Job Shadowing Week, who were ready to train and hire young professionals, and who conducted 18 offline and 13 online excursions in their companies.
Skills Lab
Skills Lab is a specially designed youth empowerment program, in particular, involving vocational education facilities for acquiring the XXI century life skills essential for young people in the modern labor market. The program is aimed at young people aged 16-35 seeking career development. Skills Labs aims to develop young people's communication, critical thinking, and teamwork skills for successful professional progress. This program consists of 2 courses: successful career and own business, contributing to reducing labor migration and youth unemployment.
In 2020, Skills Labs were held in 13 Oblasts of Ukraine and covered more than 300 young people. Given the new challenges during the pandemic and to ensure sustainability, the Skills Lab: Skills for Successful Career program was launched through the online platform Impactorium, and more than 1,200 young people from all over Ukraine registered for the course.
In 2021, 2 online programs «Skills Lab on a Successful Career» were conducted for 29 regional partners, among which 18 participants were successfully certified as trainers; the online program «Skills Lab on self-employment» for regional partners was conducted for 16 participants among which 8 (all females) were successfully certified as trainers. The online program "Skills Lab on a successful career" was conducted by the regional partners of the Pact for 408 young people, of which 306 became alumni (211 females and 95 males) in 11 communities: Mykolayivka, Velykalepetykha, Mariupol, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Vinnytsia, Nizhyn, Kropyvnytskyi, (Youth Center of Kirovograd region and Central Ukrainian State House of Fine and Technical Creativity), Chernihiv, Dnipro, and Kamianets-Podilskyi. The online program «Skills Lab: own business» was conducted in 5 communities: Mykolayivka, Mariupol, Melitopol, Berdiansk, and Chernihiv, engaging 140 young participants.
The methodology «The Skills for a Successful Career Course» was successfully piloted in VET Schools and approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
