That is why, in cooperation with the Small Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, we have developed a training system within the framework of the project “Equal — To Equal: peaceful communication and cooperation in society”, which took place in several stages.

First, activists from different cities and regions of Ukraine aged 13-19 years went through several stages of training near Kyiv. There they mastered the basics of conflictology, restorative communication, working with groups and facilitation. After that, they had the opportunity to independently choose the topics that interest them and, together with the mentors, develop a program of their own trainings (two or three sessions of 1.5 hours). Young facilitators worked in different pairs and threes. They traveled with adult mentor coaches to their own and neighboring regions, where they conducted trainings for peers. In total during this time, 14 trainings were held and reached up to two hundred participants in cities such as Kyiv, Yasnogorodka, Lyshnia (Kyiv region), Zhytomyr, Nizhyn, Cherkasy, Kramatorsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Odessa during the year. Each mini-project in the regions on a “level-even” principle was accompanied by supervision from professional coaches and facilitators, to support young colleagues and inspire them to continue their work.

The first phase of the project ended with a joint meeting of young trainers in Kyiv, where they had the opportunity to discuss and analyze the experience gained and understand how they could move forward in the direction of peacekeeping after training. Immediately after the completion of the project, some participants were invited to work with both youth and adult groups, helping the partner organizations of the DUP.

Several young facilitators also had the opportunity to expand their own practice to several days of training, in particular in the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, on the basis of secondary school №10. In this project, the graduates of “Equal — To Equal" Yana Serdyuk, Sofia Bambulya and Alina Voytjuk held two trainings for 2-3 days together with their mentors and could experience their work at a new level. In total, they accompanied about 20 peers, after which they continued their coaching activities in their own communities with other organizations — on an equal footing with adult facilitators.

Thanks to partners from Germany (Gewaltfrei Handelen e.V. and Ev. Schüler*- und Schülerinnen*arbeit im Rheinland e.V.) a group of Ukrainian facilitators “Equal — To Equal” spent a week in the German town of Monschau near Aachen, where they had a joint training with German youth. It was a nice opportunity to chat with peers from different regions of Germany
and try new forms of group work, in particular in the Forum-Theater or Theater of the Oppressed.

Thanks to this project, which took place in several stages, a group of young coaches was created. We hope that partner organizations are ready to join us in strengthening youth initiatives on the ground. We believe that such projects have great potential for development and are evidence of the interest and ability of young people to disseminate restorative practices.