Lviv, Ukraine, 30 August 2022 – Rebuilding Ukraine after the war will require many new forms of technical expertise to ensure the effort is green, inclusive and successful. To help ensure this happens, and to support displaced Ukrainians to better integrate into their host communities, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with the financial support of the European Union, together with the Training and Methodological Centre of Vocational and Technical Education in Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytskyi and Lviv oblasts, has organised a series of specialized vocational training courses.

Manal Fouani, acting UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine, said it is important to help those displaced by war to integrate into the labour market. “The skills they acquire through their training will help them to rebuild their lives, and ultimately will enable them to start rebuilding the new Ukraine when the war ends,” she said.

Also, the Office of the President recently noted that vocational and technical education graduates will be "worth their weight in gold after the war."

31 groups are currently being trained in Dnipro, Lviv and Khmelnytskyi in such specialities as a baker, painter, woodworker, plumber, cashier, lumberjack, seamstress, electric gas welder, hairdresser, postal operator, sushi maker, pizzaiolo, electrician, pavers. Moreover, during two weeks of the training course, participants can visit businesses to see the working mechanism from the inside. UNDP supported the courses and provided educational materials, such as fabric, needles, oils for sewing machines, etc. Aside from the training, the programme invites potential employers to the first and last training days to motivate and recruit graduates.

During 2018-2022, the UNDP, under the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme and with financial support of the European Union, strengthened and supported several vocational education institutions across the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. During recent years, new professions were supported, namely ceramics manufacturer at the Sloviansk Multidisciplinary Regional Centre for Vocational Education, lathe operator at the Pokrovsk Vocational Lyceum, a confectioner in Lysychansk Trade and Culinary Lyceum, and bartender-waiter in Bakhmut VET Centre.

Media enquiries: Yulia Samus, UNDP Ukraine Communications Lead; e-mail: yuliia.samus@undp.org