On June 21, 2022, the first meeting of the Steering Committee of the "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase II" project took place in an online format. The project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase II" was launched within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine for 2018-2022. The project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase II" is built on the results and experience of the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine" and will expand the systemic impact by strengthening the provision of youth work and expanding the reform of youth policy at the local level.

The meeting was opened by Sten Nørlov, head of the Office of the Council of Europe in Ukraine, Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe for coordination of cooperation programs of the Council of Europe. Andriy Chesnokov, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine for European Integration, Maryna Popatenko, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, and Antje Rotemund, Director of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe gave welcoming speeches.

Andriy Chesnokov noted that for the Ministry, the Project is a model for implementation and assistance in resuming work with young people in Ukraine. He also indicated that the continuation of the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase II" involves responding to new challenges faced by young people. Cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine helps to include youth policy and sports issues in the post-war reconstruction aid package.

Maryna Popatenko informed about the latest events and the current situation in youth policy in Ukraine. She admitted that there are new challenges facing young people at the moment, to which they had to respond adaptively due to lack of experience, because this is caused by military actions on the territory of Ukraine. Due to the suspension of funding under the state program "Youth of Ukraine", there is currently cooperation with international partners, which is extremely valuable. It was also noted that 2 million young people became internally displaced persons, more than 2 million young people left Ukraine. That is, about 40% of young people in Ukraine were forced to leave their homes. There is also the problem that many young people have nowhere to return to, because there are temporarily occupied territories, and there are large destructions of civil and residential infrastructure. Despite this, youth centers and youth infrastructure have very actively adapted youth work. As of today, 23 youth centers are damaged, 53 are occupied. In March 2022, a survey was conducted, which indicated that 93 youth centers continued to operate, provided humanitarian aid and shelter.

Antje Rothemund, in turn, emphasized that the Youth Department of the Council of Europe is ready for cooperation and maintains contact with partners in Ukraine. She mentioned that there were participants from Ukraine at the Forum on Citizenship and Human Rights Education held in Turin on April 11-13, 2022. A youth delegation from Ukraine is also scheduled to participate in the Youth Action Week in Strasbourg, which will take place during the campaign "Democracy here, democracy now", which is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the youth sector of the Council of Europe.

Rui Gomes, head of the Education and Training Division Education and Training of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, spoke about the working group on actions in support of Ukraine of the Joint Council on Youth Affairs, which is developing an action plan for Ukraine in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine. The working group met twice and, in particular, discussed the measures implemented by the "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase II" Project.

In turn, the head of the Project Olena Chernykh provided information on the evaluation of the first phase of the Project, the current course of activities in 2022 within the framework of the second phase and the updated work plan of the Project until December 2022. Iryna Belyaeva, director of the Department of Youth Policy, emphasized the importance of the Project's prompt response to the request of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine regarding support for youth workers, revision of youth policies, and support for youth centers, youth organizations, and youth councils.

Members of the Steering Committee provided positive feedback regarding the continuation of the second phase of the project and approved the updated Work Plan of the project until December 2022.

The next meeting of the Steering Committee is tentatively scheduled for September 2022.