Evacuation, Care, New Beginnings: A Donetsk Family Builds a Future with NGO Support

This is a day dedicated to people who help children find their voice — in the most literal sense. Our speech therapists do more than teach children how to articulate sounds. They help them gain confidence, build communication skills, and freely express their thoughts and emotions.

After moving to Kharkiv region, Iryna’s family was settling into a new home, but the house was badly damaged in shelling. During this difficult period, Iryna’s family received humanitarian cash assistance through a programme implemented by the NGO Responsible Citizens in partnership with Acted as part of the Response Consortium, with financial support from the US government.

In Kharkiv, social workers from various parts of the Kharkiv region—Sakhnovshchyna, Zachepylivka, and Pivdenne—participated in a two-day training to enhance their skills and address the challenges posed by the war.

Special attention was given to supporting children's affairs services. The training helped specialists better understand the behavioral patterns of children in crisis and establish effective communication with parents who welcome children into their families.

In the Kharkiv region, there are currently seven Child-Friendly Spaces created within a UNICEF project with financial support from USAID.

Regional coordinator Oksana Ivatina completed training under the certified program Creating a Safe Environment for Children: Safety Policy in Organizations, organized by the Ukrainian Child Rights Network and the Center for Human Dignity at the Ukrainian Catholic University.

These trainings became possible thanks to cooperation within the Child Protection Cluster, where one of the coordinators is Olena Khvatynets, project manager of the NGO "Responsible Citizens" in the Kharkiv region.

This event is a series of celebrations for children from occupied and frontline territories who live in the Zaporizhzhia region.