Youth Connect for Ukraine aims to support young Ukrainians to lead fulfilling and purposeful lives now, wherever they are living. It aspires to support young people, including women, girls and those from disadvantaged groups affected by the war in Ukraine to have the skills and motivation to build connections in their local context and influence their own future and their communities.
We are designing training and activities to build leadership attributes that are needed in times of disruption and to support the social development of young people.
The programme’s ambition is to meet the needs of young leaders from Ukraine and Europe (aged 16–30) and equip them with the skills, resources and networks that they need to provide leadership in their current communities and in a reconstructed Ukraine as part of a European network.
In the first year of implementation, the programme took place in Ukraine, Poland and Romania, where it will offer leadership training and integration events in a variety of locations. The training will include skills development and learning opportunities, access to information, support from experts and opportunities for networking and exchanging.
The programme is open to young leaders from Ukraine who might be internally displaced or who are currently living in Poland and Romania, and to young participants from the local communities who are interested in leadership and creating positive relationships within their communities.
In Poland, our activities focused on leadership training and integration days taking place in Gdansk and Lublin.
Partners
Our partners on this project are the WAGA Association from Gdansk and the Sempre a Frente Foundation from Lublin, working in close co-operation with Homo Faber.
The WAGA Association
The WAGA Association from Gdańsk is a non-profit organisation that has been working for the local community of Biskupia Górka since 2009 and conducting initiatives at the national level. WAGA’s main areas of activity include community, culture, education and equality.
The WAGA Association is an active participant in the social, cultural and educational life of Gdańsk, undertaking numerous initiatives aimed at improving the quality of life of residents and promoting equality and social values.
Sempre a Frente Foundation
The Sempre a Frente Foundation has run programmes in the area of prevention, psychological education and promotion of active citizenship for young people since 2010.
All projects and initiatives are strictly connected with the foundation’s areas of interest, which are:
- Strengthening the psychosocial skills of young people
- Promoting the idea of voluntary work and entrepreneurship
- Developing psychosocial and vocational competences of adults
Semper Frente promotes volunteering and non-formal education as a way to develop skills desirable by young people. The foundation supports active participation for young people in social life by including them into the framework of structured dialogue.