On 22 September 2021 the third meeting of the the Steering Committee of the Council of Europe Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” took place in the mixed format at the All-Ukrainian Youth Centre. The Project is being implemented within a framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018–2022 and is aimed to promote the strengthening of youth participation and public activity both in villages and cities of Ukraine (specifically, young people with disabilities, youth from minorities, as well as young migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons) by empowering youth policy stakeholders and enhancing the quality of youth policy and youth work in accordance with the Council of Europe standards. The Project is based on past experiences and fruitful bilateral cooperation between the Council of Europe Youth Sector and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.

The meeting was opened by Steen Nørlov, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, Representative of the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe on the coordination of cooperation programmes of the Council of Europe. Welcome speeches were delivered by Andriy Chesnokov, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine for European Integration, Maryna Potapenko, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, Antje Rothemund, Head of the Council of Europe Youth Department, Serhiy Bazaria, Coordinator, EU Eastern Partnership countries, Office Azaria of the Directorate General of Programmes of the Council of Europe.

Andriy Chesnokov highlighted positive results and impact of the Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” on the development of youth policy and youth work at all levels and expressed hope for the continued efforts on the already started joint projects for the development of youth policy in Ukraine with due account for the Council of Europe standards.

Mariya Potapenko presented information on the latest developments and the current state of youth policy at the national and local levels in the context of the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. She presented regulatory documents governing youth policy in Ukraine, in particular, the Law of Ukraine “On the Main Principles of Youth Policy”, National Strategy for the State Youth Policy 2030, State Targeted Social Program “Youth of Ukraine” for 2021-2025.

In her speech, Maryna Potapenko noted that the Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” meets the priorities of state youth policy and its results are important, in particular, to improve mechanisms for the implementation of youth policy at the national, regional and local levels.

“We have always had a clear awareness and vision of what is happening as part of the project and how to use its results in our work. Through close cooperation with the project team, we managed to focus not only on improving the skills and competencies of participants but also were able, as the Ministry, to develop efficient youth policy – hear feedback from participants and build a training programme in a way that would allow us to get conclusions and recommendations for further efforts undertaken by the Ministry,” Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports of Ukraine noted in her speech.

Antje Rothemund, Head of the Council of Europe Youth Department, congratulated the team of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine on the adoption of the new Law of Ukraine “On the Main Principles of Youth Policy”, and the State Programme “Youth of Ukraine” for 2021-2025. She stressed that the Council of Europe is a unique source of European standards for youth policy of Ukraine and also highlighted the unique nature of the Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” in the history of long-term bilateral cooperation.

Serhiy Bazaria, Coordinator, EU Eastern Partnership countries, Office of the Directorate General of Programmes of the Council of Europe, presented a procedure for assessing a current Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine and a preliminary discussion plan on the new Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine.

During the meeting of the Supervisory Council, participants focused on the analysis and discussion of the need to extend the project as phase 2, which is logical and important in the context of the adoption of the new Law of Ukraine “On the Main Principles of Youth Policy”. Specifically, Maryna Potapenko, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine noted that the Ministry of need expert support for implementing reforms in the field of youth policy, strengthening youth participation and ensuring quality youth work, including in compliance with Council of Europe approaches and values.

Antje Rothemund, Head of the Council of Europe Youth Department, noted that according to the proposal developed in April 2021, the second phase of the project will be based on the outcomes and experience of the current project and is expected to extend its systemic impact by strengthening youth work and expanding the reform of youth policy at the local level.

She also stressed that the project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” is a pilot one and is being implemented in the context of the pandemic. It requires more time for assessment of outcomes and the impact on the lives of young people and subsequent replication of the experience gained in village and city communities of Ukraine.

In particular, the following has been achieved as part of the Council of Europe Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” from March to September 2021:

• Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe CM/REC(2016)7 on young people's access to rights, Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe CM/REC(2015)3 on the access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to social rights were translated into Ukrainian and published.
• Series of “Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres” manuals: “Good practice in youth centres”, “Role, value and impact of youth centres”, “Quality Management in Youth Centres” were translated into Ukrainian and published;
• The Dictionary of the terminology used by the Council of Europe in the Youth Policy Field, for Human Rights and Non-Formal Education was prepared and issued.
• The second edition of the Compass Manual on Human Rights Education with Young People was revised for the use of non-sexist language in the Council of Europe and national norms of inclusive language, printed and published online, the online version of the Manual website in Ukrainian was updated.
• Translation into Ukrainian of the Manual to the Recommendation CM/Rec(2017)4 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to Member States on youth work and “Don't judge a book by its cover!”. Human Library Organizers Guide 2011 is at the final stage.
• In September – November 2021, national consultants of the project hold mentoring and practical online and offline workshops to support teams of local communities partnering with the project in the implementation of their own projects on strengthening youth participation.
• Three training seminars on the strengthening of youth participation and public activity in the 50/50 format for teams from ten local partner communities took place in July and September 2021.
• In September – November 2021, national consultants of the project hold mentoring and practical workshops to support 14 youth centres teams partnering with the project in the implementation of their own projects on strengthening youth participation.
• In June 2021, teams of fourteen youth centres in Ukraine partnering with the Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” researched Council of Europe principles and approaches in the field of youth during a 5-day online training seminar on youth participation and public activity.
• In April 2021, experts – national consultants – completed a 5-day training on effective and meaningful planning, implementation and assessment capacity building, support and other activities in ten local communities and fourteen youth centres partnering with the Council of Europe Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine”.
• Research on the needs of young people in communities and youth centres partnering with the project was conducted.

Members of the Supervisory Council added constructive feedback on the project implementation and highlighted the need to continue the project in 2022 and 2023.

The next meeting of the Supervisory Council is preliminarily scheduled for November 2021.