The Regional Forum of Youth Councils started in Drohobych on 21 February. The forum brought together representatives of Youth Councils from a number of neighbouring cities, including Drohobych territorial community, Medenytsia, Sambir, Stryi, Truskavets and Boryslav. Each of the cities was represented by a local Youth Council or an initiative group of young people.
The honorary guests of the forum were Taras Kuchma, head of the Drohobych territorial community, Olha Spodaryk, leading specialist of the youth policy department of the Lviv Oblast Youth and Sports Department, Ivan Sapsa, head of the Lviv Oblast Youth Centre, and Oleksandra Pashko, the main organiser of the forum – the Department of Family and Youth of the Lviv City Council, who moderated the event.
The forum began with greetings from the guests of honour. Taras Kuchma called on active young people to engage in constructive dialogue and work closely with local authorities to develop creative and thoughtful youth policy in communities.
“Drohobych is a youth city. We have a lot of educational institutions of various forms and levels, and, accordingly, a lot of young people, pupils and students. I am pleased that our young people are active, open and ready to cooperate. After all, only in a joint symbiosis of ideas and in the process of organising certain events do interesting ideas and plans come up, which we will jointly implement in the future. This year, the active youth of the city received a modern space for their meetings and communications – thanks to the support of the Lviv Oblast Council’s Department of Youth and Sports and the Lviv Regional Youth Centre, the Youth Centre “Pid Kotsom” was opened in Kotermak. Here, the youth of our city can gather for their own meetings, develop ideas for their development and hold interesting and thematic presentations and workshops. Our youth is our support, our future, which will build our country after the war,” said Taras Kuchma.
When Olga Spodaryk took the floor, she noted that there are 30 Youth Councils in the Lviv Oblast and a well-developed network of Youth Centres. Such indicators show that the youth of Lviv region are active, effective and ready to be a driver of positive changes in their own cities and in Lviv region as a whole.
In the second part of the forum, the Youth Councils presented their personal composition, shared their successes and achievements in recent years, got to know each other and exchanged interesting experiences and implemented projects.
The forum is scheduled to continue at the Pid Kotsom Youth Centre, where a simulation game will be held in the form of a strategic session on the Future of Community Volunteering.