From 15 to 19 September 2025, representatives of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and regional state administrations strengthened their competencies to ensure the participation of young people in the formation and implementation of youth policy, taking into account the standards and approaches of the Council of Europe.
The five-day training was held online on the basis the Model General Short-Term Professional Development Programme “Participatory Youth Policy”.
Uliana Tokarieva, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, in her welcoming speech emphasized the importance of co-operation with the Council of Europe in the field of youth policy and youth work.
The training agenda included study of standards and approaches of the Council of Europe in the field of participation of young people in decision-making; ways to ensure the participation of young people, in particular those who are not involved or are at risk of becoming excluded; establishing co-operation between different subjects of youth policy with the participation of young people.
The training was organised by its provider – the state institution “All-Ukrainian Youth Centre” in co-operation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase IV”.
In 2023-2024, the Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III” in co-operation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Youth Councils Association developed and implemented the first educational and practical course “Participatory Youth Policy”.
As part of the course, the Project created a training manual (in the Ukrainian language), conducted training of trainers, prepared a series of videos on youth participation practices and provided mentoring and expert support to the trainers team in the preparation and implementation of trainings at the regional and local levels, held a consolidation meeting and a public presentation of the key achievements of the programme.
Thanks to these efforts, 21 advanced training programmes for 611 civil servants, local government officials, scientists and educators were implemented in Ukraine in 2024. Between January and August 2025, a further six advanced training programmes were implemented for 259 civil servants and local self-government officials. From August 2025 to September 2026 the second educational and practical course “Participatory Youth Policy” is being implemented.
Participatory Youth Policy course website - https://www.coe.int/en/web/kyiv/the-program-youth-policy-based-on-participatory-approaches-
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The Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase IV” is implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” for 2023-2026. News, resources of the Council of Europe in the field of youth, as well as open calls for participation in project activities can be found here.
