Meeting with young people who returned from temporarily occupied territories or deportation

The Coordination Centre for Family Upbringing and Child Care Development, together with the Presidential Initiative Bring Kids Back UA, held a meeting with young people aged 18–23 who had returned from temporarily occupied territories or deportation.

Participants shared their personal reintegration experiences and jointly identified which support tools are currently working, what barriers they face, and what changes are needed in government programmes and policies.

The work was conducted in a World Café format. In small groups, young people worked on five areas that are important after return:

housing, education, employment, psychosocial support, documentation.

In each area, participants primarily drew on their own practical experience — from enrolling in Ukrainian educational institutions and finding their first job to obtaining documents, accessing housing and receiving psychological support.

Based on the discussions, the participants identified the most pressing challenges and solutions and developed needs maps. A separate practical session focused on career development, first employment and internship opportunities.

Importantly, young people’s participation in this work will continue: a Youth Advisory Group is being formed, with interested young people among its members. The group will subsequently be involved in consultations and the testing of new solutions.

“Nothing for youth without youth” is the principle that young people’s experiences and voices should be taken into account when developing decisions that directly affect their lives.

This type of participation helps build a reintegration system that responds to the real needs of young people after returning home.