Where war leaves a mark, women create space for hope. This is happening in two Ukrainian communities – Shakhtarsk and Oleksandrivka – thanks to active displaced women participants of the NGO "Smarta" project "Ambassadors of Peaceful Change."
The public organization has a long-standing partnership with the Donetsk Regional Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education. In the city of Shakhtarsk in the Dnipropetrovsk region, two important projects have been implemented aimed at supporting different groups of women: "Creation and arrangement of a safe women's space 'Strong. Protected. Free' and 'Gender Equality – from Mom to the World'."
As part of these initiatives, scientific and pedagogical staff of the institute conducted a series of training sessions for participants focused on psychological health, psychosocial support in crisis situations, violence prevention, and also introduced them to art therapy methods for rehabilitating children with special educational needs.
Special attention was paid to the peculiarities of teaching students with autism spectrum disorders, as well as action algorithms for ensuring organizational-methodological and psychological-pedagogical support for the development of gifted children in the context of today's challenges.
This collaboration opens up prospects for further scaling of successful practices, developing new educational and rehabilitation programs, as well as for the systemic integration of psychosocial support into the educational space of communities, which will contribute to long-term recovery and strengthening of their resilience.
The project is implemented by the public organization "Smarta" with the technical support of UN Women Ukraine and funded by the Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) – a flexible and responsive funding tool that enhances the capacity of local women in conflict prevention, crisis response, and the implementation of peacebuilding initiatives.