Project “Turn Ukraine around for all children”

The Ukrainian Child Rights Network, in partnership with the International Renaissance Foundation, is implementing the project “Take Back Ukraine for All Children”, which aims to develop a Children’s Roadmap with the participation of children, youth and leading experts from civil society organizations (CSOs), advocate for its inclusion in the Recovery Plan of Ukraine, and strengthen advocacy efforts to restart the deinstitutionalization reform (hereinafter – DI).

The project’s mission is to promote the inclusion and consideration of the concept of a future child protection system, as formulated by civil society institutions working in the field of child protection, in the agenda for the restoration of Ukraine, both at the national and international levels.

Project objectives:

• Developing a Children’s Roadmap with the participation of children, youth and leading CSO experts;
• strengthening advocacy efforts to restart the DI reform;
• Raising awareness of the public and key stakeholders about the need to restore and change the child protection system, especially during and as a result of war.

Project duration: July 2023 – July 2024

Territory of implementation: Ukraine

Expected results:

• A Children’s Roadmap for the medium term has been developed, supported by domestic and international society and decision-makers, and included in Ukraine’s reconstruction plans.
• The number of supporters of the CI reform among stakeholders has increased.
• Awareness among the general population about the new necessary vectors of development of the child protection system, social services, etc. has increased.

Expected long-term impact:

• DI’s values are shared by members of civil society and decision-makers in Ukraine.
• The number of boarding schools has decreased.
• The understanding of the best interests of the child in Ukrainian society has increased.
• Society’s attitude has changed, including to institutions as relics of the past and places of detention, rather than budget-generating “enterprises” in the country’s regions.
• The horizons for the heads of territorial communities (TCs) have expanded in terms of their ability to influence the development of the potential and prestige of TCs.

Project donor: The International Renaissance Foundation is one of the largest charitable foundations in Ukraine, which has been helping to develop an open society based on democratic values in Ukraine since 1990. Since its inception, the Fund has supported about 20,000 projects worth more than $350 million.

Results.

1. The Roadmap for Ensuring the Rights and Best Interests of Children was developed and published on a separate page of the website.
   
   The Roadmap materials were based on the fundamental international documents on human and child rights: The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Strategy for the Rights of the Child, the European Children’s Guarantee and the Council of Europe Strategy. Since the developed map was included in the Strategy for Ensuring the Right of Every Child in Ukraine to Grow Up in a Family Environment for 2024-2026, we can talk about the long-term perspective of improving the observance of children’s rights in Ukraine.
   
2. We created two large and thorough presentations on family-based foster care and patronage.
   
   These presentations provided a clear step-by-step guide on how to become a foster caregiver or how foster care differs from adoption and were distributed to community-based child services. We received warm feedback and high viewership rates, which demonstrates the interest in the material and its usefulness.
   
3. Creation of a separate website “Know De-I“
   
   We explain the complex topic of deinstitutionalization (abbreviated as De-I or DI) or reform of the system of care and support for children in simple language.
   
4. A video course “Institutional Care – Why a Different Approach is Needed” was created.
   
   The course consists of six topics and eight video lectures, dubbed by a sign language interpreter. The purpose of this course is to explain the harmfulness of boarding school education and the need for change, as well as to suggest options for how to better help children so as not to harm them.
   
5. 18 articles were prepared and published in the media
   
   18 author’s materials were published in the media, including 9 in the national media Ukrayinska Pravda, Hromadske, Forbes, NV, Platfor.ma and other media, 18 news items were disseminated and 14 rewrites were made. In addition, news and materials were posted on the UMDP website.