From November 27 to 29, 2025, a large-scale three-day forum dedicated to supporting, adapting, and expanding opportunities for young people among internally displaced persons took place in Dnipro.
The event became a powerful platform for dialogue between young people, representatives of central and local authorities, international donors, and civil society organizations, bringing together 70 young people from different parts of Ukraine.
The forum was organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine in cooperation with the Donetsk Regional State Administration.
During the official opening, Maria Basaraba, chief specialist of the regional youth policy department of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, emphasized: "Your resilience and desire to build your future are an undeniable source of strength for the whole country. We urge you to make the most of this opportunity to establish contacts, learn about all available resources, and ensure that you are not alone in your desire to create a new, strong Ukrainian future."
The work program was rich and comprehensive. The focus was on resources and financial opportunities, with programs presented by the Ukrainian Youth Fund, the All-Ukrainian Youth Center, and other civil society organizations.
An extremely important section was devoted to global support, where representatives of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UNICEF, UNFPA Ukraine, and UN Women talked about international projects open to young IDPs.
They also discussed in detail the important aspect of employment and grant opportunities for starting one's own business, with the help of experts from the Donetsk Regional Employment Center and the SpivDiya Fund.
One of the key elements was the discussion of mechanisms for protecting rights and increasing resilience, in particular through the activities of interdepartmental coordination and advisory bodies at central government agencies and the work of Youth Councils at the Ministry of Health and UNICEF.
Considerable attention was paid to the topics of psychosocial support, leadership, and preservation of local identity—speakers, including those from the Office of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Sloviansk Local History Museum, emphasized the importance of cultural heritage.
Evening events included group art therapy from the Donetsk Regional Youth Center and an evening of board games for informal communication.
The forum concluded with a field trip so that young people could see successful models of working with IDPs with their own eyes. Forum participants visited the Pokrovsky Sports and Youth Center, IDP support centers of the Kurakhiv and Selidovo city councils, and the Museum of the Modern Russian-Ukrainian War in Dnipro.
The three-day forum for IDP youth, "We Are Not Alone," not only provided participants with important information and resources, but also strengthened their sense of community and faith in their future, proving that resilience and determination are the foundation for recovery and development.