The summer of 2025 became a vivid example of how Ukrainian youth can not only learn, but also change their communities.
In June-August, 12 youth centers across Ukraine successfully implemented a paid internship program for youth. Among them is the Donetsk Regional Youth Center, which became a platform for active cooperation, creative ideas and true leadership.
The program brought together eighteen interns who came with a single goal - to act, change and inspire. Thanks to their energy and perseverance, dozens of events were implemented: trainings, safety campaigns, cultural events and creative meetings. All this contributed to the development of teamwork, communication and social activism skills.
A special direction of the internship was research activities. The center's intern Liliya Korotych conducted a survey among the youth of the community to identify their needs and expectations. It was the results of this study that became the basis for new youth initiatives aimed at developing civic participation.
Four projects were selected under the support program to strengthen democratic values, develop civic competences, and enhance the role of youth in public life.
One of them is “Pallet”, which the Donetsk Regional Youth Center implements jointly with the NGO “Youth Center “Territory of Initiatives”.
The project provides comprehensive support for internally displaced young people: six trainings on civic participation, ten creative meetings and twelve sessions of psychological support. The program will end with an online event “Democracy in a Dilemma: Preserving Values in Times of Challenges”, which is designed to unite active youth around common democratic principles.
The internship program was implemented by Democracy Reporting International (DRI) with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the State Institution “All-Ukrainian Youth Center” within the framework of the mini-grant program for youth centers within the framework of the project “Democratic Integration, Resilience, and Engagement” (Ukraine-DARE), with financial support from the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.