The team of facilitators and psychologists from Responsible Citizens NGO in Kryvyi Rih has joined a summer camp for children

This initiative emerged within our organisation thanks to many years of cooperation with the Department of Education and Science of the Executive Committee of the Kryvyi Rih City Council and the signed Memorandum of Cooperation. Within the UNICEF project, we proposed supporting the camp programme with psychosocial activities that we have been successfully implementing for many years in our Child-Friendly Spaces.

“We know very well how important it is for children who are living through the consequences of war to have a safe space for rest, communication and emotional recovery. That is why we offered to join the camp’s activities and support children through sessions that help them feel more confident, open up and simply be children,” says Liubov Vasiuk, Project Coordinator for Responsible Citizens NGO in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

The team began its work at the end of June. Since then, our specialists have already conducted recreational and stress-relief activities with 98 children aged 9–10 and 56 adolescents aged 13–14.

At the camp, the organisation’s specialists facilitate modelling clay art activities, art therapy sessions and active outdoor games. Each activity is aimed at providing psychosocial relief, developing creative abilities, reducing anxiety levels and improving children’s emotional well-being.

For the teams of Responsible Citizens NGO and UNICEF Ukraine, this work is a natural continuation of the daily support provided to children and families in need. Even during the summer holidays, it is important to create spaces where childhood remains a time of safety, development and genuine emotions.

The support is being provided within the framework of the UNICEF project “Protection Services for the Most Vulnerable Children and Parents (or Their Caregivers) in Communities of Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts”, implemented by Responsible Citizens NGO with financial support from the United States Government and UNICEF.