More than three and a half years have passed since Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine began, and there is no end in sight. Children, adolescents and young adults are an especially vulnerable group, bearing a significant share of the war’s burden – as front-line soldiers, as refugees and displaced persons at home and abroad, as victims of Russian drone and missile attacks and as supporters of families when a parent is serving in the military. As a result of the war, they are a shrinking demographic group. Until 2022, around 10 million young people aged 14 to 35 lived in Ukraine; today, according to experts, only 6 to 7 million remain. However, Veronika Dyakovych of NUMO, one of the two umbrella organisations for youth groups, stresses that young people should not just be seen as victims. Around 25% are engaged in voluntary work and demand a say in decision-making. Progress has been made in recent years: youth councils now advise the President of Ukraine, the cabinet of ministers and local and regional administrations, and a new youth law is also in preparation. Nevertheless, there is still much to be done. Yuriy Yuzych from the Plast Scout Association noted that 6,000 to 7,000 youth centres would be needed across Ukraine to provide nationwide coverage – yet in reality, there are only 300 to 400. Veronika Dyakovych added that youth structures currently receive no government support.
“We shouldn’t forget that youth work in the European sense of the term has only existed for about ten years – namely since the Revolution of Dignity in 2014,” stressed NUMO president Olena Podobied-Frankivska. So under such unequal conditions, is an exchange between young people in Germany and Ukraine even possible, or meaningful? Tim Bohse, an international peace worker in Ukraine for the education and meeting centre KURVE in Wustrow and initiator of the conference, is convinced that it is. “We can intensify youth exchange with Ukraine and expand support for civil society actors,” he explained. The numerous good practice examples shared and discussed by participants during the conference demonstrated that such exchange can be genuinely mutually beneficial.
Many examples of effective collaboration
“Our youth orchestra often plays at soldiers’ funerals,” reported Vita Kostiuk from the Keneberg youth centre in the village of Studjanka. “This is often very distressing for the young people, and they don’t know how to deal with the families’ grief. But during their stays in Germany, they learned that their music can also bring joy, that people enjoy listening to them and that it’s worth practicing for these kinds of concerts.”
THW Youth’s Ukrainian partner organisation, the “School of Safety”, combines training courses and youth exchange to prepare young people as first responders in disaster relief. They are on the ground when Russian rockets strike and can save lives. Svitlana Sydorets speaks with pride about their achievements: “We train multipliers who pass on their knowledge to others. This has enabled us to train 16,000 first responders.”
Oleksandr Starostin from the Bredbeck training centre conducts German-Polish-Ukrainian exchanges and seminars on the Second World War. History weighs heavily on all three countries: the German invasion of Poland and the Soviet Union, the massacres of Polish civilians in Volynia by Ukrainian nationalists, the retaliatory actions of the Polish Home Army against Ukrainian civilians and the shared struggle for independence and national self-determination. Yet for many young people, this history can still feel remote. “For many, this is the first time they explore their own family history,” explained Starostin. “They talk to their parents and grandparents and ask questions.” Suddenly, history no longer feels so distant – it begins to answer the question, “Who am I?”. A question that weighs with particular urgency on young people in Ukraine today.
There is no shortage of good examples – or of funding, as a dedicated conference section on financing made clear. The groundwork for promising projects has already been laid. The next step is to expand and deepen German-Ukrainian collaboration – a desire shared by many participants and reflected in their openness to what comes next. There is something to be learned on both sides, “for example, from the courage of young people in Ukraine,” as IJAB Director Daniel Poli stressed.
The event attracted strong interest, with around 160 participants from Ukraine and Germany contributing ideas and suggestions for the way forward. The organisers – NUMO, the German-Polish Youth Office and IJAB – will review the outcomes and plan future actions accordingly.
For anyone wishing to learn more, the conference presentations remain available to download.
