URC 2026: Why Young People Must Be Part of Ukraine’s Recovery Decisions

The discussion focused on young people with experience of forced displacement, living in conditions of war or occupation. This experience is usually viewed exclusively as “vulnerability”, but it is precisely this experience that provides a deeper understanding of community needs and can become a resource for developing effective solutions in the country’s recovery process.

Participants outlined three key changes needed to expand opportunities for young people:

• to move from short-term projects to long-term solutions that ensure sustainable mechanisms for youth participation;

• to move away from formal consultations in favour of young people’s real influence on the planning, implementation and evaluation of programmes;

• to recognise young people’s lived experience not only as a consequence of difficult circumstances, but as a source of expertise for recovery policies.

For our organisation, such platforms are a continuation of our daily work in communities living in the context of war, displacement and protracted crises. It is there that the understanding of the key shift we are discussing at URC is formed: young people can no longer be seen only as recipients of support — they are already part of the solutions that shape community recovery.

“Our NGO’s experience in this area is based on practical work with young people who have different life trajectories, but share a common resource — the ability to see community needs from within and to shape realistic approaches to their recovery. It is this experience that we bring to international discussions as an argument in favour of the systematic participation of young people in decision-making,” said Olga Kosse of Responsible Citizens NGO, moderator of the event.

We express our gratitude to the partners for their readiness to support the transition from declarative participation to systemic mechanisms for involving young people in Ukraine’s recovery.

The event was organised by the Ukrainian Child Rights Network.

The event was held by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine with the support of UNICEF in Ukraine and the Askold and Dir Foundation, administered by ISAR Ednannia within the project “Strong Civil Society in Ukraine — a Driver of Reforms and Democracy”, funded by Norway and Sweden.