OSCE supports youth centres and spaces across Ukraine with equipment for wartime resilience

In Ukraine’s current security context, youth centres and youth spaces play an important role in providing young people with safe and accessible environments for learning, communication, psychosocial support, and the implementation of civic initiatives. To enhance their ability to provide services to young people during wartime, fourteen youth centres and spaces from 11 regions of Ukraine received equipment from the OSCE Support Programme for Ukraine.

The work of youth centres and spaces contributes to strengthening social cohesion, encouraging youth participation and social activism, and supporting the development of resilient communities. The assistance, delivered in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the State Institution “All-Ukrainian Youth Center”, forms part of the OSCE’s broader efforts to strengthen the resilience and operational capacity of youth infrastructure across the country.

This support is based on a needs assessment conducted by the OSCE and partners last year, which identified challenges related to prolonged electricity outages and other wartime disruptions caused by attacks on energy infrastructure. Based on the assessment findings, selected centres and spaces received laptops, printers, projectors, projector screens and stands, multimedia boards, power banks, charging stations, furniture and office supplies.

“Today, during the war, the equipment that our partners from the OSCE provided to us is very important. Youth centres are those points around which youth communities are formed, where young people gain additional opportunities and additional skills in order to influence decision-making processes in their own communities,” said Matvii Bidnyi, Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.

“Today’s Ukrainian youth are going through extremely difficult experiences brought by the war, yet they continue to demonstrate resilience, initiative and willingness to support their communities. Creating conditions in which young people can stay engaged, communicate, develop their ideas and continue participating in public life is an important contribution to the future recovery and democratic development of Ukraine,” said Liliya Grudko, Head of the Human Security Programme of the OSCE Support Programme for Ukraine.

This equipment will be highly relevant for communities affected by shelling, helping youth centres provide support to youth in emergency situations during the upcoming autumn and winter period. The activity is part of the project “Involving and Supporting Youth in Crisis Management and Post-Conflict Rehabilitation in Ukraine”, implemented by the OSCE Support Programme for Ukraine and funded through contributions from 37 OSCE participating States and partners. The full list of donors can be found at the link.