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Back The Council of Europe supports the Ukrainian Youth Foundation to strengthen youth participation

How to ensure democratic processes in the youth sphere? This and other issues were raised at youth discussions organised by the Ukrainian Youth Foundation.

In 2024, the Ukrainian Youth Foundation (UYF) receives grant support from the Council of Europe for the project “Improving the procedures of the Ukrainian Youth Foundation in accordance with the standards and principles of the Council of Europe”. The main goal of the project is to develop and implement recommendations for improving selection, monitoring and evaluation criteria in accordance with the standards and principles of the Council of Europe in order to ensure the participation of young people both in the decision-making process and in the implementation of activities.

On 29 October 2024 37 young people and those who work with them took part in youth discussions in Kyiv. During the event, the results of analytical studies were presented and recommendations for regulatory and legal documents of the UYF were offered.

Vladyslav Yatsuk, Head of the Youth Policy Division of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, expressed his gratitude to the Council of Europe for the long and fruitful co-operation and emphasized the importance of strengthening the procedures of the Ukrainian Youth Foundation, in particular with an emphasis on strengthening the participation of young people.

Olena Chernykh, Senior Project Officer of the Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III”, thanked both the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Youth Foundation for fruitful co-operation. She mentioned Reykjavík Declaration and the Principles of Democracy, which define the importance of young people and youth policy and call for supporting the participation of young people in democratic life. She also reminded about the special to support young people from Ukraine of the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe.

Within the framework of the UYF grant, such youth discussions took place in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and in an online format. Discussions brought together active young people, as well as representatives of civil society organisations, educational institutions, youth councils, youth centres, specialized departments, and counsellors on youth issues. The participants assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the existing UYF support mechanisms, proposed and explored ways to improve procedures and approaches to ensure the meaningful youth participation, as well as increase the transparency, efficiency, and accessibility of the UYF programmes for youth support.

This will make the appropriate procedures of the UYF for young people more effective, will strengthen the capacity of the UYF, taking into account the experience of the Council of Europe.

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The Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III" was launched within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” for 2023-2026. The third phase is built on results and experiences in 2020-2022 and expands systemic impact by strengthening youth participation policies and youth work in war and post-war contexts, taking into account the needs of young people.

The project is implemented in co-operation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine in three components: 1) participatory youth policy; 2) recognition of youth work in wartime (in particular, trauma-informed youth work); 3) support of youth centres and youth organisations as platforms for civic activity and democratic participation.

The project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III” highlights the importance of the Council of Europe's Youth Sector Strategy 2030 and reflects the National Strategy of State Youth Policy until 2030, the State Target Social Programme “Youth of Ukraine” 2021-2025.

The Project encourages youth policy stakeholders in Ukraine to implement and disseminate the Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers to Member States: on the access of youth from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to social rights, CM/Rec(2015)3; on young people's access to rights, CM/Rec(2016)7; on youth work, CM/Rec(2017)4; on Roma youth participation CM/Rec(2023)4; on protecting youth civil society and young people, and supporting their participation in democratic processes CM/Rec(2022)6.