Talks about the needs of young people during the war crisis in Ukraine
Donetsk Youth Debate Centre with support of the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe within the Youth Campaign “Democracy here. Democracy now”
Why this project?
The idea of the project Voices of young people in Ukraine is to talk about the needs of young people during the war crisis in Ukraine, to make the voices of young people heard and to create space for young people to express and share as well as influence on those who are involved in the youth field in Ukraine to react on the needs of young people.
Since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion in Ukraine on 24 February 2022 the lives of young people have dramatically changed. Young people have been subjected to the chaos and loss inflicted by war and violence: the personal trauma of witnessing violence and of the loss of family, friendships and of community; a loss of education; the loss of livelihoods and the destruction of the social systems and support networks that give young people a sense of stability and belonging.
During the first three months of war all forces and efforts were given to defence and humanitarian response. Young people were left behind and not in the focus of these efforts. There are a lot of young people who are left unfiltered and lost in the new reality of war. They are not heard and are not involved in community life to influence the decisions which are directly connected with their lives. Those focal points where young people can be involved and get support such as youth centres get disoriented, displaced, or change the focus of the activities for humanitarian response. Those, who are in the process of reloading youth work activities, lost contact with young people thereby the understanding of young people’s needs.
In May 2022 there was an initiative of the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth to provide a platform for unfiltered Ukrainian youth voices and lived experiences of displaced youth and amplifying the efforts of young people working on the frontlines/providing humanitarian support. Four young people, who provided their stories for that action, initiated the idea of the national project which will bring together young people from different regions and will amplify the voices of young people in Ukraine.
What was included in the project?
- Training course for young people on youth participation and creation of joint advocacy action on supporting the needs of young people in Ukraine during war. During the training young people shared their personal stories on how the war affected them, learned how to make videos, how to take interviews on sensitive topics, identified the needs of young people during the war and created the story boards for possibility video stories, gained the tools of coping with stress and personal support;
- Collecting and recording the stories of young people from 5 communities: the participants worked in the community teams and collected 20 stories of young people which reflect the impact of war and the needs of young people in their communities during war;
- Social media take-over: a massive share of the video stories on social media on 17-18 October;
- Online meeting of young people with the local authorities in the field of youth to advocate the needs of young people.
What are the changes the project brought?
The biggest outcome of the project is 20 stories which were collected in 5 communities (Novovolynsk, Kremenchuk, Okhtyrka and Kramatorsk) and recorded by young people. Each team worked on identifying young people in the communities for the videos and recorded the videos with them.
The biggest changes brought by the project is the way how the project influences young people who participated in the project and who were interviewed. Some comments of young people involved in the project:
I have a feeling that I am not alone in my problems. I can talk about my needs.
I feel that my stories and my actions are important and I am motivated for further actions.
I discovered my positive sides, which I didn’t even know about before.
We met cool young people who do their best for the common cause and want to do even more.
Sharing the stories created a positive psychological impact and the feeling of relief.
I am learning not to be silent about my needs and problems. I’m learning to work in this direction.
Now I know how I can support myself in the conditions of war, and how to stay resourceful.
I learned the feelings and emotions of young people who were in stressful situations during the war.
It was the first time that I had to share my story. It was a new experience for me and it was important to share my experience and thoughts.
During the last months of the war, it was the only thing I took part in. It was like a breath of fresh air for me. It is very difficult to find the strength to do something, but I am trying very hard. Thank you for this opportunity to participate in a really important project.
I learned about important details of the impact of war on youth.
