On December 10, the national online event “Educational opportunities for male and female veterans: needs and reality” took place. It was the final event within the project “Reintegration of War Veterans through the Creation of Educational Opportunities”, which was implemented by DVV International in Ukraine together with seven partner organizations of the Representation office with the financial support of the German Federal Foreign Office.
The event program included a presentation of best practices from seven partner adult learning and education centers, stories of the winners of a business grant competition, speeches by experts from leading organizations in the field of veteran policy: the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, the Ukrainian Veterans Fund, LOBBY X, the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” and others. In particular, the meeting was opened with reports of the acting executive director of the Ukrainian Veterans Fund Nina Rogovets, head of the Domestic Policy Department of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ukraine Stefan Raffeiner, and regional director of DVV International in Moldova and Ukraine Levan Kvachadze. The event was moderated by the co-founder of the first Ukrainian online civic education platform “Open University of Maidan”, veteran Ostap Stasiv.
“The issue of reintegration of veterans in Ukraine is currently very acute. Firstly, veterans are worried about whether society is ready to accept them after the war. And secondly, veterans are worried about whether we are ready to provide them with educational opportunities, whether we are ready to retrain them so they could immediately return to civilian life. And this is a very important stage of reintegration. Therefore, such events and platforms that are created in this direction are very important in Ukraine,” said Nina Rogovets, acting executive director of the Ukrainian Veterans Fund.
The head of the domestic policy department of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ukraine Stefan Raffeiner noted in his speech: “During my first weeks in Ukraine, everyone told me about the problems with veterans and wondered what would happen to them after the war, how they could be helped. Germany seeks active cooperation in this direction and understands the strength of Russian aggression now. And, of course, Ukraine can count on our political and diplomatic support.” He also added that December 10 marks International Human Rights Day: “I think it is very important to remember about the support and implementation of human rights. You can expect only my sincere support for this project because it is really important and interesting.”
Participants could also listen to the speakers' speeches and join the discussion of a number of issues within the framework of the panel discussion “Opportunities and challenges in the educational sphere for veterans, veterans, and their families in Ukraine”. Among the speakers were Oleg Smirnov, director of DVV International in Ukraine, Nina Rogovets, acting executive director of the Ukrainian Veterans Fund, Yana Chapaylo, director of the Center for Leadership of Defenders of Ukraine NaUKMA, Taras Lelyukh, veteran, winner of the business grant competition, director of the Public Organization “BAZUKA”, and Olha Bandrivska, head of the LOBBY X Military Department. At the end of the meeting, the participants could join a virtual journey to partner centers of adult learning and education, accompanied by their managers and veterans.
Project coordinator Yana Dragovenko-Kalyukina within the presentation of the results emphasized that the team tried to strengthen both existing and new competencies of veterans and their family members: social, professional, legal, business competencies. “My team and I tried to put all possible efforts to make this project for people and about people,” she noted. It's worth mentioning that as a result of the project, educational and consulting services were provided to more than 3,000 veterans and their family members in the communities of Vinnytsia, Zaporizhia, Lviv, Mykolayiv, Nikopol, Poltava, and Sumy. Over 14 months of the project, more than 100 educational programs in the field of informal education for veterans and their family members were implemented, and about 10,000 hours of individual and group consultations in legal, psychological, professional and business areas were provided. 36 veteran businesses also received support of up to 10,000 euros. Moreover, more than 14 events in 7 communities of Ukraine took place bringing together more than 500 stakeholders at the local and regional levels in the field of veteran policy.
The recording of the meeting is available by the following link.