Project “Support for children and youth with experience of staying in alternative forms of care”

The Ukrainian Child Rights Network, with the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), together with the DIYMO Office for Children and Youth at the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, is implementing a comprehensive project aimed at providing systemic support to children and youth with experience of living in institutional care. The goal of the project is to create conditions for the sustainable development, socialization and self-realization of children and youth who live or have lived in institutional care facilities, as well as to promote the transformation of the care system in Ukraine in accordance with the principles of child-centeredness.

The project focuses on developing mentoring as a model of individual support, creating a safe space in the form of a legal clinic, building the DIYMO Office for Children and Youth, and developing life skills and financial literacy among vulnerable children and youth.

Project objectives

1. Mentoring as a model of personalized support
   Developing a community of mentors through training programs, online courses, supervision, communication campaigns, and involvement in community mentoring practices.
   
2. Legal clinic as a safe space
   Creating a space for children and young people with experience of institutionalization where they can receive legal advice, support in difficult situations, and the opportunity to be heard.
   
3. Support for the Office for Children and Youth “DIYMO”
   Team building, trainings, experience exchange, development of regional presence.
   
4. Development of life skills (soft skills)
   Conducting trainings on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, career guidance, emotional management, digital literacy, etc.
   
5. Grant program for youth initiatives
   Implementation of a program to support young people in creating their own social and educational projects.
   
6. Advocacy and communications
   Conducting campaigns on the dangers of institutional care, promoting alternative forms of family upbringing, supporting children and youth with experience of living in institutions as active agents of change.

Expected results

• Increase the number of children who have mentors or other significant adults in their lives;
• Increasing the level of social adaptation and independence of young people with institutional experience;
• Sustainable functioning of the Office of Children and Youth “DIYMO” as a platform for youth participation in policy-making;
• Promote mentoring, soft skills support, and inclusive youth participation in communities;
• Improving public opinion on the need for deinstitutionalization and alternative forms of care.

Duration: 2025 – 2026.

Geography:

Ukraine, with a special focus on communities in Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Khmelnytsky, Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Volyn, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhzhia, and Zhytomyr regions.