Locations"I Want to Change": How Youth Councils are growing stronger and revitalising communities
June 30, 2024
Young people in Ukraine are a powerful force capable of bringing change, renewal, and creation. This can be seen in volunteer communities, where the potential of activists is being fully realised, as well as in other civic initiatives. This article explains what youth councils are, how they can become agents of change in the community, and describes the Dialogues of Victory initiative.
In this time of war, Ukrainians are uniting and working as a single mechanism as never before – it is impossible to remain on the sidelines in a country undergoing sweeping changes. Active young people in communities, who have the energy, inspiration, and ideas to improve the state – and specifically their own communities – are a particularly strong and conscious group. They are change-makers, and striving to act, they gather together in youth councils, which open up new opportunities for them. Young people create an environment where they can openly share their ideas, discuss important issues, and turn their thoughts into ready-to-present proposals. Youth councils allow young people to appreciate the power of their own voices, the importance of their participation in community life and the restoration of Ukraine, and genuinely influence change in the country.
Formally, a youth council is a body that advises and consults with the government. But in effect youth councils are communities that allow there to be a better understanding of young people’s needs and the situation in the environment, which in turn creates new perspectives for development and the strengthening of trust in the government. For their members, the councils also represent a great opportunity, as the experience gained in such a structure will not only look good on a resume but will also provide essential skills for perspective future positions. This includes project management, encouraging young people to sometimes make difficult but important decisions, analytical research, providing the ability to identify current public needs, and practice in critical soft skills to communicate effectively with city authorities. The councils also foster organisational abilities and a creative approach to generating ideas.
Moreover, the presence of a youth council is a litmus test of an active community in which both local government and residents are ready to cooperate to create better living conditions for themselves. It shows that the community’s young people have the strength, inspiration, and zeal to acquire new knowledge and develop in the realm of civic activity. However, sometimes high-ranking officials do not realise how useful and convenient such interaction is for them. This is a missed opportunity, as youth councils are an effective tool for the community and local governments, acting as a bridge between them and the community’s youth.
But such interaction is valuable and relevant – and especially in wartime. So the Youth Platform NGO, based in Lutsk in northwestern Ukraine, has been seeking ways since February 2022 to strengthen youth council teams and make them as effective as possible during the war. With the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which also developed a special methodology for facilitation sessions, the organisation – funded by the Government of Denmark – launched the Dialogues of Victory initiative.
The main goal of the initiative was to create conditions for youth councils to effectively perform their function—consulting local authorities, particularly on how to involve young people in the processes of Ukraine's recovery. Over two years, the initiative has involved 49 youth councils across the country, from Volyn Oblast in the northwest to Zaporizhzhia Oblast in the southeast, organising 60 Dialogues of Victory.
The organization helped youth councils hold a series of online or offline events in their communities. It provided methodology, fulsome support, and professional moderators. During these dialogue meetings, the discussions centred on the role and participation of young people in the country's recovery, enhancing their influence, maintaining youth infrastructure, taking opportunities to help others, and realising the power of their own voice.
As a result, the participants – youth activists, members of youth centres and organisations, and representatives of internally displaced persons or IDPs – generated ideas on how they would like to contribute to change at the community, regional, and national levels, and identified where they could be effective. They then formed proposals for the local authorities. The UNDP supported on a competitive basis the initiatives developed by the participants, which ranged from equipping bomb shelters to holding festivals of folk traditions and conducting integration training for IDPs.
Youth Platform Deputy Executive Director Demian Petryk notes the importance of engaging young people in civic activities: “However, local authorities do not always understand (young people’s) needs and capabilities,” Petryk says.
“This is precisely the link we need to maintain and develop, because it has incredible potential for the community's recovery. So youth councils in particular create the necessary connection between local government bodies and young people."
"The latter participate in decision-making, build a comfortable city for themselves, and strengthen communities, both ideologically and practically. We need to motivate them, involve them in joining major events, show them that their rights are respected, that they can speak out about what they want, and that the authorities will listen. That's why we’re helping youth councils to become better.”
Oksana Tsybenko, a representative of the Youth Council of the city of Kovel
Photo: Yurii Yevtushko / UNDP in Ukraine
We’re the second cohort of the Kovel Youth Council, which has been working for a year. When the full-scale war started, the head and many members of the previous council joined the armed forces to defend Ukraine. In July 2023, we decided to revive the council, because it’s an effective way to involve young people in the country's recovery – especially in such difficult times. Currently, the participants are mainly youths of school-age, but there are also older activists, including representatives of public organisations. There are about 18 of us, but people are constantly joining and leaving. It's an organic process.
I'm not one to just sit and complain if I don't like something – I want to change things. I was particularly surprised that among the active youth in Kovel (a town in Volyn Oblast), the age group is 14-16 years old, there are also events for older people, but young people aged 18-30 are not very involved in city life. I'm 27 myself, so I wanted to set an example and start acting. People just don't see the opportunities due to a lack of information. This needs to be fixed so that young people stay in Kovel and don't leave for other cities, or abroad. For example, I returned to the city because I saw career growth opportunities here.
For me, the youth council became a kind of ticket to the world of civic activity
We don't just voice the needs and desires of young people, but also participate in their implementation. Membership is a great responsibility that encourages action. Lots of people already have expectations of us, and we want to meet them.
The youth council is able to work with grant providers and attract funding for the development of young people and the community, which we’re doing successfully. However, there’s a lot you have to learn to become an effective link. When the council was formed, we still didn't really know each other. But almost immediately we applied to participate in the Dialogues of Victory project, and it was thanks to this initiative that we truly became a team.
The first stage was a facilitated session and getting to know each other. We introduced ourselves as a youth council, talked about the young people in our city, and discussed the question: "What changes in youth work do you already see or expect to see soon?" We then divided into teams and generated ideas on what could be done for Ukraine's recovery. We chose one, and developed, refined, and worked it out in detail.
Later in the session, we developed the basic skills needed for creating our own project. This was something completely new for us – we were working with a grant provider and documentation for the first time, searching for partners and locations, learning to communicate effectively and write projects correctly, and so on. We began to communicate with young people, and hear requests from them.
Thanks to the Dialogues, we worked out what we want to do as a youth council
We learned to formulate project proposals, worked on a specific idea, and then submitted it for review by the UNDP. We were chosen to implement our initiative, so we figured out how to launch projects — this included entering into contracts, making payments, and so on. We learned what it’s like to implement a communications campaign. The project was a great start for us as a youth council, and the Dialogues of Victory provided a solid foundation.
Experts from the organisation held online meetings with us – they were constantly in touch, and they provided consultations while we learned through practice.
In the process of developing the idea within the Dialogues, we initially just talked about creating a comfortable environment for everyone and realised that our city had a lot of IDPs. Although there were efforts to work with IDPs, the results weren’t very good — only about 10% of IDPs attended events, mostly the mothers of schoolchildren. One of our youth council members is also an IDP, and she highlighted the lack of events for IDPs in Kovel, especially educational ones that would interest different age groups. I want people from all over the country who ended up here by chance to stay here. We’ve got a shortage of cool, creative, young people.
Photo: Yurii Yevtushko / UNDP in Ukraine
We wanted to show these people that they’re important too: that there are a lot of opportunities for them in this city, and that we’ll help and guide them on how to rebuild what they’ve lost. To do this, we held a series of events, including two training sessions with a psychologist. The first was on motivation, discussing goals, plans, and ideas; the second was art therapy.
There was also a training session with a historian about Kovel, its significance, and interesting facts, and a game about the famous people who were born here. This was to show IDPs the value of the city.
Many IDPs couldn't integrate due to financial issues — namely, the inability to properly allocate funds and plan expenses or an unwillingness to get a job, so we initiated a financial training session.
On average, we had 30 people at each event, but they were different participants each time, so we reached more people overall.
Not all of their stories can be told, and some can't be remembered without tears
I believe IDPs need support and integration so they don't feel so lonely and abandoned. Imagine being someone who’s lost everything: possessions, leisure activities, work, home, and loved ones. For me, the biggest result of our initiative is that people felt safe. Safety gives you the strength to move forward and develop.
We’re supported by the Department of Culture, Youth and Sports — and this is probably the real success story of the Dialogues of Victory, as the local authorities are really helpful, and at the start they supported us with everything. It was their initiative to revive the youth council, and people from the department even organised a camping trip for us to bond and get to know each other better. So the communications between us are extremely trusting, and they give us firm support.
Young people are a new generation that can look at the same problem from a completely different perspective, generating a maximum of productive ideas
Our (city) administration is pretty progressive, so they understand that youth councils are an opportunity. They support us, provide equipment, premises, knowledge, and tools we can use. Then it’s up to us how well we apply them, and how much cool stuff we can achieve. We consult with them on legal and bureaucratic issues, and when approvals are needed. In turn, we know what young people want and have the resources and strength to implement our plans. So, it's hard to ignore such beneficial collaboration.
The Dialogues of Victory initiative is implemented by the Youth Platform NGO in partnership with the UNDP in Ukraine and with funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
Author: Tetiana Kapustynska
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