gro.tutinbirtop%40laiciffo

We are implementing the UPSHIFT program

Illustration

UPSHIFT is a global program of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), implemented in over 40 countries. The program provides opportunities for young people to create socially important projects, receive resources to implement them, and change their region for the better.

The program does not work with ready-made projects at the entrance, but helps to learn how to develop them step by step. In their applications, teams formulate a problem, determine its consequences that they want to overcome, and mentors and mentors help to find an effective solution during training sessions. The trainings are conducted according to the Human Centered Design methodology, which helps to involve those for whom these projects are developed in their projects, to hear and understand the final beneficiaries and partners. In addition, young people learn to work in a team, think outside the box, and find like-minded people and new friends.

UPSHIFT has been implemented in Ukraine for 5 years, but we launched it for the first time in Odessa and Mykolaiv regions in October 2023. We also launched this program in Kherson region in April 2024. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Government of Belgium support us in implementing the program.

Our organization strives to ensure that young people, despite the war and its consequences, have opportunities for development and self-realization. It is important for us to increase the capacity of young people and thereby contribute to solving socially important problems in communities, because it is now that future changemakers are growing up.

Among the 13 sets for the program, we had two combined sets for the Southern region (not 10 teams entered the wave at the same time, as in the classic waves, but 20 and 21) and one multinational set. Youth from the national minorities of the south — Poles, Bulgarians, Moldovans, Palestinians, Crimean Tatars and Roma — who were looking for solutions to the problems of their minorities were involved in the multinational wave.

We are happy for every questionnaire we receive, every interested pair of eyes at meetings, every question — we are happy for everyone who wants to join the UPSHIFT community and change Ukraine for the better!