Achievements and challenges – what UMDP members remembered in 2024 (part 2)

We continue to talk about the challenges and achievements of the members of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network. Read also about the work of other organizations of the Network in part 1 of the article.

International public organization “International Center for Development and Leadership” (ICRL)

“We provide specialists in the field of child protection with access to systematic training,” said Oksana Mykhailovska, ICRC’s Chief Operating Officer.

In 2024, the ICRF launched the BeProfi online training platform for specialists in the field of social work and child protection.

They have already been published on the platform:

– 8 free online courses on relevant topics that meet today’s challenges;

– more than 1850 registered specialists;

– 464 certificates were issued during the year.

The average level of knowledge change after completing online courses on the platform is 69%.

Charitable organization “Hope and Housing for Children”

In 2024, the organization’s team implemented several projects in Kyiv and Dnipro regions. They were united by a common goal: to ensure that every child has the right to grow up in a family and to have the necessary social services where they live.

In both regions, the Family Care Support Service operated, where case managers, psychologists, and speech therapists visited foster families and children’s homes for consultations. 505 children without parental care received assistance from the specialists of the CO “Hope and Housing for Children”.

The Family Assistant service as a component of case management was piloted in four communities in Dnipropetrovska oblast. The Family Assistant teaches parents how to meet the needs of their children. It is important that it is not about conversations or instructions, but about joint practice. Parents were not just told, but also shown and did cooking and cleaning together several times, and were taught how to properly care for their children.

The average period of receiving the service is 3 months, but in any case until the parents can meet the needs of their children on their own. In 2024, 30 families with 110 children received the Family Assistant service.

Brief results of the project in numbers:

• provided social and psychological assistance to 20538 children, preventing the removal of 2606 children.
• conducted a needs assessment and medical examination of 96 children from four institutional facilities.
• assessed the needs of 38 children in the orphanage and organized a rapid response to prevent the placement of children.

A separate achievement of the CO “Hope and Housing for Children”: 748 children without parental care were helped to find a family!

The organization’s trainers also provided training and supervision for 894 specialists from 29 communities. During the year, 255 candidates for guardians, foster parents were trained. Advanced training was provided for 76 foster parents and social work professionals.

Work has begun in Bucha to create a Center for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Children with Disabilities. Currently, the premises are being reconstructed, followed by the arrangement, selection and training of the team, and the start of work.

At the end of the year, we cooperated with the Fastiv community to establish an Early Intervention Service.

NGO “Social Synergy”

Last year, in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Policy and the Council of Europe, we launched a course on “How to become a social service provider.” About 600 people registered for the course and almost 400 passed the test. More than 170 participants have already received certificates.

This educational course helps non-governmental organizations to go through the process of registration in the Register of Social Service Providers in a smooth manner. This is necessary to provide quality and professional assistance, and also opens up access to additional funding for organizations.

The video course consists of 10 videos and a test, which is mandatory for obtaining a certificate. You can watch it on the YouTube channel of the Social Synergy NGO.

Photo: NGO “Social Synergy”

“The demand for social services is huge. For Ukrainians in a vulnerable situation, such services are often vital,” explains Marianna Onufryk, head of the NGOs Social Synergy and Family for People with Disabilities, the need for the course.

Another achievement of which the organization’s team is proud is the opening of the Sadhora House in Chernivtsi Oblast in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Policy and UNDP. Eight people will be able to live there – residents of neuropsychiatric boarding schools and internally displaced persons. This project is interesting because it is the first assisted living facility to be opened as a branch of a regional municipal institution in accordance with all international criteria.

The Social Synergy NGO also continues to work on the Minimum Package of Integrated Social Services for Families with Children project. They focused on training specialists to ensure that families with children receive quality and necessary services. This year, 581 specialists were trained, and more than 2000 people received social services in 7 communities.

NGO “League of Social Workers of Ukraine”

2024 was a significant year for the activities of the NGO “League of Social Workers of Ukraine”. During this period, the organization’s team implemented large-scale projects to improve and develop the provision of social services in the face of modern challenges.

Key achievements and results.

1. Project “Ensuring a systematic response to the needs of children who have returned to their biological families, children from boarding schools and children at risk”.

The work of the project’s specialists was aimed at supporting children who returned to their biological families from orphanages, as well as children at risk, including:

• More than 17,000 families were monitored to assess their needs.
• 10,887 cases were opened, of which 10,403 were closed with a positive result.
• provided one-time humanitarian aid in the form of “warming packages” to 3,265 families.
• 4,948 families have been registered to receive material assistance from UNICEF.

The implementation of this project demonstrated the importance of applying new approaches to social work with this category of children.

2. Project “Expert support to local authorities in organizing relevant social services and creating an effective system of social adaptation for vulnerable groups of adults, including IDPs or war-affected persons”.
The project team’s efforts were aimed at strengthening the capacity of communities to provide social services for social adaptation for vulnerable groups of adults, including internally displaced persons and war-affected persons.

Photo: NGO “League of Social Workers of Ukraine”.

Main results:

• 26 multifunctional spaces for social adaptation were created, which provide a wide range of services for the population;
• 4 new departments/sectors for social protection of the population were established and separate departments/sectors for the development of social services were created in 21 functioning authorized bodies;
• 57 additional staff members were hired, which significantly improved the quality and availability of services;
• Mobile social adaptation service was introduced in 6 communities.

The project also developed a manual entitled “Practical Guide to Creating a Social Adaptation System in a Territorial Community.” It has already been useful to heads of territorial communities (TCs), deputies, local government officials authorized to make decisions on social policy, social protection units, social service providers, regardless of the form of ownership and business entity, who provide social services, and other community professionals.

3. The project “Improving the System of Social Work and Social Service Delivery in 6 Target Regions “, which conducted a systemic analysis and introduced new approaches to social service delivery in six pilot regions of Ukraine. The project helped to identify weaknesses in the current system and propose effective solutions to address them.

In addition to project work, the team of the NGO “League of Social Workers of Ukraine” worked to improve the human resources of the executive directorate and its branches, introduced innovative services, developed and implemented pilot projects, collaborating with representatives of local communities in 19 regions of Ukraine and Kyiv.

All-Ukrainian Charitable Organization “Ukrainian Foundation for the Well-Being of Children”

The team of the Ukrainian Child Welfare Foundation shared the results of their work in 2024, which they propose to use for all members of the Network.

Safe digital environment for children

Thanks to the cooperation with the Juvenile Prevention Department of the National Police of Ukraine, the following chatbot has been launched chatbot Unsee – a friendly way for teens to complain about inappropriate content, consult a psychologist, or even file a police report.

Unsee chatbot – educational materials. Photo: Ukrainian Foundation for the Well-Being of Children

A whole package of educational materials was developed to support the chatbot: posters, stickers, and a sticker pack. And also “Safe Internet Day” – a thematic lesson for schoolchildren aged 13-16 that combines elements of lecture and discussion.

“Healing forest: building resilience and a child’s basic sense of security”.

In 2023, we adapted a methodology developed by Israeli researchers to strengthen resilience (the ability to cope with stress) and support the mental health of children aged 4-7. It is based on group interaction, nature observation, and play. The Healing Forest methodology has already helped many children growing up in conditions of risk, uncertainty, and prolonged stress as a result of the war.

After extensive training, 31 specialists from six regions of Ukraine tested the methodology and in 2024 trained 500 colleagues to ensure that the program reaches as many children as possible.

Healing Forest – teaching teachers the methodology in Lutsk. Photo: Ukrainian Foundation for the Well-Being of Children

In the spring of 2025, large-scale work with children will begin in Vinnytsia, Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Cherkasy, and Chernivtsi regions.

“At the beginning of the sessions, there were children in the group who stuttered, bit their nails, and sucked their fingers, but thanks to interaction with nature, these psychosomatic problems disappeared. Parents also notice that after completing the Healing Forest sessions, their children become more open and better able to cope with emotions,” says Lidia Kurylo, a methodologist and facilitator of the Healing Forest methodology at kindergarten #22 in Lutsk.

The team of the Ukrainian Child Welfare Foundation plans to continue training specialists in 2025.

Psychoeducational program “Circle of Strength”

This is a series of classes for children and adults affected by the war. The training includes 12 meetings, which are held separately for parents, adolescents aged 13-17, and younger adolescents aged 10-12. In a friendly environment, participants explore themselves and find ways to take care of their mental and physical health. At the meetings, they talk about emotions, communication, values, dignity, love, prejudice, and losses during the ongoing war.

About 1,500 children and adults in Berdychiv, Lutsk, Sarny, Smila, Cherkasy, and Chernivtsi have already participated in the program. In 2025, coaching teams from Kalush and Zaporizhzhia will also join.

Psychoeducation program “Circle of Strength” – a group of older teenagers in Chernivtsi. Photo: Ukrainian Foundation for the Well-Being of Children

“We try to think through every word, weigh every question, and constantly look for additional training materials with my colleague Valentyna to explain something in more detail if the need arises. I am still completing my master’s degree in psychology to expand my knowledge,” says Olena Belkina , a Circle of Strength trainer from Lutsk.

A new cycle of Circle of Strength meetings will start in March at 8 venues.

Course for schools “Steps in life”

This is a program of educational work with students in grades 9-10 approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. The course consists of 33 lessons. They cover all the topics important for safe growing up and allow participants to develop knowledge, skills and values that help them take responsibility for their health, well-being and social role. Graduates of the course are confident, they know how to communicate, make friends, make love safely, protect their boundaries, behave with dignity and say “NO” to dangerous temptations. And their teachers are adults who can be trusted. They are comfortable, interesting and safe.

“I like that these life lessons are in the form of a game. We communicate here, we trust each other very well. During these games we learn more. I liked the lesson where we told interesting facts about ourselves that others don’t know. Everyone liked it,” participant Tanya shared her impressions.

Steps in Life – Ms. Oksana is a course leader at the Knyahynynivka Lyceum. Photo: Ukrainian Foundation for the Well-Being of Children

In 2024, another 39 schools were trained and are implementing the course.

“I would also advertise it to my friends! Life is complicated, and Steps in Life teaches us to be prepared for difficulties and surprises, so it’s a cool course. As others have said, here you can learn to judge people not only by their wrapper, but to find out what they really are,” adds classmate Nastia.

In 2025, a new competition for the Steps in Life course will be announced among Ukrainian schools.

Circle of Strength centers in Kyiv region

Circle of Strength centers for children and parents opened in the fall of 2023 in Kyiv and in Vyshneve (in cooperation with the Center for Social Services of the Vyshneve community). Since then, a team of psychologists, psychotherapists, and educators has been providing individual counseling and group work.

Families come to us for a sense of security, advice, a friendly circle of friends, recovery and interesting leisure activities.

Circle of Strength centers – training for a team of specialists. Photo: Ukrainian Foundation for the Well-Being of Children

Our mission is to help you recover, to make taking care of your mental health a useful and enjoyable habit, to see your strengths and build on them with confidence. In these cozy and safe spaces, families will find professional help and friends.

Feedback from visitors to the Circle of Strength center in Kyiv can be found can be found here.

NGO “Responsible citizens”

The organization has been working for over 10 years in the field of implementing support programs for the population of the eastern regions of Ukraine. The activities of the Responsible Citizens team are aimed at supporting internally displaced persons (IDPs) and local residents in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions. However, they also focus on community development and strengthening their resilience to current challenges.

Photo: NGO “Responsible citizens”

“Education, psychosocial support and community development are investments in the future that allow people not only to survive the crisis but also to realize their potential. We find solutions that strengthen communities and ensure their long-term sustainability,” says Olga Kosse , chairman of the board of the NGO Responsible Citizens.

The results of the work of the Responsible Citizens NGO team in 2024:

• 100,000 children and parents received psychological, social and legal assistance.
• 48 child-friendly spaces were created, providing services of psychologists, speech therapists, social workers and lawyers in 35 communities.
• 5,000 families received individualized support to meet their children’s basic needs.
• 52 mobile psychosocial support teams provide services to families with children in 37 communities in eastern Ukraine.
• 18,500 people participated in soft and business skills training.
• 1,080 people completed retraining courses for modern specialties: accounting, SMM, computer literacy, etc.
• 1,150 children and adults improved their English language skills.
• 4,620 children attended classes to make up for educational losses.
• 2,500 social and education professionals attended trainings to improve their skills.
• More than 100 events were held to provide emotional relief for social workers and educators.

Public organization “Martin Club“

In 2024, the organization celebrated an important milestone – its 25th anniversary. For many years, the team of MARTIN Club has been dedicated to building resilience, providing support and building a better future for children and women across Ukraine. In 2024, we worked in 7 regions and 42 communities, addressing critical needs and providing support to those in need.

Photo: facebook.com/@CSOmartinclub

Over the year, we supported 23,160 people, providing 125,119 services. Among them were 4,285 children who received a total of 21,428 services. We also provided support in 153 cases of sexual violence.

Other achievements in professional development to improve the quality of services and community safety:

– 4,917 people were trained on the topic of Civilian Safety in Time of War.

– 289 specialists were trained to implement child protection measures.

– 547 professionals received training in responding to gender-based violence, including 193 police officers.

Photo: facebook.com/@CSOmartinclub

– 189 youth workers completed the Training of Trainers to strengthen their impact.

This year, the MARTIN Club implemented 7 main program areas and 23 projects, each focused on addressing specific community needs and challenges.

One of the significant achievements of this year was the victory in the case of Maryna Polyakh. This case has become a precedent in the legal system, emphasizing the importance of systemic reforms and protection of women’s rights.

“This case is not about Maryna, but about the right to survive in a violent relationship. It is a bold decision of the judge, despite the established judicial practice, which gives us a chance to live in a state governed by the rule of law!” said Yulia Seheda , head of the legal service of the NGO “Martin Club” in an interview.

Maryna Polyakh with her lawyer Yuliia Seheda. Photo by Facebook / Yuliia Seheda

In 2024, the system of combating violence in Ukraine was also strengthened. UAH 20.1 million was allocated to finance state specialized services. This ensured the sustainability of the services and their dissemination.

“In 2024, we worked together to counteract violence, protect children’s rights, and support people affected by war, humanitarian crisis, anxiety, and separation. We extended a helping hand to those who needed it most. And while our defenders were defending the country on the front line, we did our best to provide support and protection to children and women.” – says Victoria Fedotova , head of the NGO “Martin Club”

Charitable organization “Rinat Akhmetov Foundation”

The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation has been helping children for more than two decades. In total, five million Ukrainian children from vulnerable social categories and those who have experienced trauma and upheaval due to the war have received various types of assistance since the launch of the Rinat Akhmetov for Children program.

In 2024, the Foundation’s team focused its efforts on several projects that take care of physical and emotional health and create opportunities for children’s personal development.

In this context, an important initiative of the Foundation is the “Peaceful Vacation for Children of Ukraine “, which is implemented in the format of the Blogger Camp children’s camp in Zakarpattia. Over 5,000 children from all over the country have already improved their health, received psychological assistance, gained useful knowledge and mastered blogging skills.

In the winter of 2024, 25 children who had been illegally taken to Russia and managed to return to their homeland took part in the shift for the first time. In addition to the Foundation’s team, qualified psychologists who have been trained by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation under the War Trauma program also work with children during the camp shifts. They help young people cope with the emotional consequences of war.

“Their adolescence was superimposed on a full-scale invasion: trauma on trauma. These children will be in a state of rehabilitation for a long time. And our task is to talk to them, to provide them with psychological help and psychotherapeutic support. They are very patriotic and determined to ensure Ukraine’s unconditional victory,” said Olga Puchina, a psychologist at the Foundation.

To improve the emotional state of children, the Foundation developed and presented in 2024 a unique psychological self-help guide called Time to Take Care of Yourself. The guide contains exercises and tips to help children restore emotional balance and cope with stress in a playful way.

“When you write down all your feelings, you seem to separate the good from the bad. You emphasize the right things, and it shapes you. It’s a very useful and necessary thing,” says singer and composer Svitlana Tarabarova, who has personally reviewed the guide’s content.

In 2024, the Rinat Akhmetov for Children. Rehabilitation of wounded children”. Thanks to this initiative, boys and girls seriously injured as a result of the war were able to undergo rehabilitation and psychological recovery using individually selected methods in the best sanatoriums in Transcarpathia.

Photo: akhmetovfoundation.org

The biggest challenge for the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation last year was to provide prompt assistance to the Kyiv Children’s Hospital Okhmatdyt, which was targeted by Russia in the summer of 2024. The Foundation donated a variety of state-of-the-art equipment to the hospital. Thanks to this, more than 4 thousand children will have the opportunity to undergo accurate diagnostics and receive life-saving treatment every year.

A special contribution of the Foundation to children’s health is assistance in hearing prosthetics. Thanks to the Rinat Akhmetov for Children. Now I Hear” project, more than 240 boys and girls have already received highly sensitive hearing aids.

Also in 2024, the implementation of the Rinat Akhmetov for Children. No to Orphanhood!”. The goal of the initiative is to prevent orphanhood and popularize family-based forms of raising orphans and children without parental care. The Foundation organized regular webinars with psychologists, trainings and online meetings for foster parents, candidates for adoption and social sector professionals. Separate assistance is provided to family-type orphanages.

Thanks to the “No to Orphanhood” program, almost 11 thousand children from Ukrainian orphanages have found new families.

Photo: Instagram.com/akhmetovfoundation

“To get new photos and videos for the children’s profiles, the Foundation’s representatives organize trips to orphanages. This information became a kind of bridge between the orphanage and the candidates for parents. We also broadcast social videos in the media and spread the information on social networks,” says Oksana Ishchuk, project manager of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.

The largest event organized by the Foundation in 2024 was the traditional New Year’s campaign “Rinat Akhmetov for Children”. According to it, the Foundation sent holiday greetings to boys and girls from boarding schools, family-type orphanages and displaced children. In particular, children in YaMariupol support centers across Ukraine received such greetings.

NGO “Dnipro League of Social Workers”

Since 2010, he has been working on the development of social services, training of social workers, and assistance to families with children. Thanks to UNICEF support, the multi-component project “Social Initiatives for Families with Children at the Community Level in Dnipropetrovska Oblast” was launched in July 2023 and continued in 2024. Main directions and achievements:

1. Psychosocial support for children and their parents based on Child Friendly Spaces.
   
   Currently, there are 19 Spaces operating in 18 communities. These are places where safety, trust and support reign. That is why we create a variety of activities for the whole family:

• A school of mental growth for teenagers;
• The Little Minds Club for children aged 3 to 8;
• Lectures, trainings and interactive events for all ages;
• Mutual support groups for parents;
• Reading and discussion clubs for the whole family;
• Eco-workshops for teenagers;
• Flash mobs for all ages.

As part of this component, 2,608 group events and 36,517 individual consultations were held for 47,630 people.

2. Case management of families in need of external support.
Comprehensive support for socially vulnerable families with children – psychological and legal assistance, referrals to the necessary specialists, close cooperation with all services, institutions and organizations related to the life and well-being of the child. Over the course of the project, case managers reached 14,839 people, psychologists – 869 people, lawyers – 79 people, family assistants – 25 families, speech therapists – 31 children, and inclusive nannies – 60 families.

3. Creating an inclusive environment for children through the provision of social services in communities.
In 2024, we conducted a study of communities in the Dnipropetrovska oblast (Dniprovska city, Kryvyi Rih city, Synelnykivska, Pidhorodnenska, Vasylkivska, Petrykivska, Pereshchepynska), which will be used to develop a program for the development of community inclusiveness. In 2025, we are already planning to open a day care center for children with disabilities in Kryvyi Rih. The premises are currently being renovated.

4. Developing the capacity of social service providers in territorial communities through training and professional support.
The Social Services Development Hub was created, where trainings, workshops, webinars, seminars, supervision, and consultations are regularly held. During the reporting period, 263 training events were held for 4,793 people. This is a unique platform for training, communication, new acquaintances and exchange of experience among social sector professionals.

“The conscientious work of each specialist, faith in a bright future and love for children makes this project positive and promising. Observing the changes that are taking place, we have the strength and inspiration to move forward for the sake of a sincere smile and happy eyes of every child,” comments Oksana Vereshko, Chairman of the Board of the Dnipro League of Social Workers.