KREMENCHUK, Ukraine – Amid on-going conflict in their country, nearly 200 youth from across Ukraine gathered here for three days to create an action plan for engaging young people in decision-making processes in order to build a more peaceful, promising future.

‘Young people have been the driving force of the changes we see in contemporary Ukraine. Young Ukrainians have shown to the world that they have a vision for a better future, that they have the power for transformation, and that they are ready and willing to work hard to build a better Ukraine,’ Nuzhat Ehsan, the UNFPA representative in Ukraine, said in her welcoming remarks to participants in this year’s youth forum, organised in the country’s Poltava region.

‘I believe that it is indeed youth – the future of this country, who can unite Ukraine by showing an example of unity and solidarity,’ Ehsan added.

Solutions by and for Ukrainian youth

Cancelled in 2013 due to a lack of funding, the youth forum was reborn this year at a new interregional level with UNFPA support, bringing together student leaders from civil-society groups in different regions of Ukraine to discuss the most crucial issues Ukrainian youth face today, including participation in public life, social activism, access to information, and lack of employment and housing opportunities. During the three-day event, the young activists worked in different committees to brainstorm solutions to pressing topics, such as cooperating with the private sector to create educational and employment opportunities for youth; setting up business incubators; establishing venues for young craftspeople to sell their work; and promoting volunteerism.

The action plans developed by each committee will guide the young people’s work at the local level in their home regions.

‘Empowering youth is more efficient than waiting for officials to change something,’ said Olha Sinozhatska, a young activist from the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Health coach Elena Chernykh, who moderated the forum’s group on health services and healthy lifestyles for young people, was delighted to see how smart and civic-minded the young participants were. ‘They know so many things our generation didn’t know at their age,’ she said. ‘Moreover, they have many ideas they are already working on or would like to implement. I’m glad we can help them with that.’

As the broader debate continues over the scope of Ukraine’s eventual integration with the European Union, some forum participants said they had already benefitted from their encounters with European counterparts.

Best practices of civic activism

‘It was difficult to initiate civic activity in my city, as many bureaucratic officials impeded our efforts,’ said Vladyslava Kryzhna, a 25-year-old activist with the local NGO ‘Our Future’. Originally from Horlivka, in the war-torn Donetsk region, she was evacuated from her home city due to the escalating conflict there. ‘However, I have travelled to other European countries and had a chance to observe their democratic and social standards and meet active students there, so I always strived to replicate the best practices of civic activism.’

‘I’m glad that initiatives such as this forum are supported,’ added Kryzhna. ‘It will help youth to better organise themselves, realise their ideas, and have more tools to influence the decision-making process and build a strong country.’

Ukrainian youth activists were also among the more than 3,000 people from across the country who gathered in the city of Kremenchuk in late September to mark the International Day of Peace. The event, also supported by UNFPA Ukraine, included lectures on peace in schools, drawing contests for children, a public ‘Walk for Peace’, and the XVI Assembly of young diplomats. The Peace Day commemoration culminated in the adoption of a ‘Resolution for Peace’ that was prepared by youth and signed during the XVI Assembly. Calling upon all decision-makers to end the military conflict in Ukraine and to ensure peace, the resolution has been sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.