The Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe held the info session “Organisation of the Work of the Youth Councils of the Local Self-Government Bodies of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast”.
From the first days of the war, the youth councils focused on volunteering and helping in shelters, working with children and youth from among IDPs hosted by municipalities, raising awareness activities on mine safety, first aid, etc. And, most importantly, they have provided constant support for each other, municipality cohesion and the search for resources to implement initiatives.
In 2022, Artem Yelysieiev, an immigrant from Kharkiv, headed the Pereshchepyne Youth Council. Activists organised a headquarters to collect aid, weaved camouflage nets and created social shelves for the vulnerable population. The Youth Council became home to the Centre for Displaced Children where various activities and psychological relief classes are held for them.
Jointly with the City Council, they submitted applications for various funds, looked for grants and developed projects. Using awarded grant funding, a youth co-working space was created. The space became a communication platform for young people, IDPs and residents of the municipality. It offers English and computer literacy classes, clubs and various activities. The mayor Yaroslav Tsvirkun also joins the activities of the Youth Council occasionally to conduct financial literacy workshops.
“We held the Youth Against Drugs campaign, cleaned the territory of the municipality, created Green Life, an outdoor recreation area, and opened a sports ground. Event planning is a team effort. Once a month, we collect offers. We are looking for where we can be useful and what can be interesting for the municipality,” said Artem Yelysieiev.
In the Novooleksandrivka municipality, for greater cohesion of young people, meetings of the Youth Council are held in different settlements rather than in the central estate only. Since the advisory body is headed by the municipality’s police officer, Serhii Sholma, there is a strong focus on a healthy lifestyle, preventing drug use among young people, as well as personal safety measures.
“Since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the youth councils were one of the first to redirect their work to help the civilian population. The advisory body, which focused on the support and development of volunteer movement among young people, promotion of informal education, advocacy of youth rights in peacetime, volunteered to help and support the civilian population,” said Vladyslav Yatsuk, Deputy Minister of the Ministry for Youth and Sports.
An important stage of cooperation between local self-government and youth councils is the creation and implementation of a local target programme for youth support. For example, in the Pokrovsk rural municipality, initiatives such as youth internships in local self-government bodies, awarding the best young activists of the municipality for initiatives and development, holding events for children and youth, etc. are implemented at the expense of the local programme.
“Our first project was the construction of a skate park. Next, we created a youth space, which has now been transformed into a youth centre. We also have a traditional annual photo contest for young people, a vyshyvanka battle and the project “What is your MP doing?” to track whether they report or attend sessions. There is also an annual campaign for Children’s Protection Day: we collect money to help children who find themselves in difficult life circumstances,” said Maryna Cheviuk, Head of the Pokrovske Youth Council, which was established in 2016.
According to Viktoriia Trotsenko, Adviser of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast, if there are local children and youth who seek change, have ideas for the development of the territory and are ready to implement these initiatives, the municipality should retain them and develop this resource.
This was seconded by Olena Tertyshna, Head of the Regional Office.
“If I were asked how to ensure that young people do not leave the municipality, my advice would be as follows: write a youth development policy, create youth councils, introduce programmes to support youth initiatives and a public participation budget. Support young people in their desire to implement projects and attract grants, and all this will have a positive effect on the development of the municipality,” she said.
