The Lviv City Council and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) agreed on cooperation to prepare Lviv for activities in the status of the European Youth Capital 2025. The relevant memorandum was signed today, August 12, on International Youth Day, by the mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovy, and the head of the UNICEF Representative Office in Ukraine, Murat Shahin .
“Thousands of young people will come to Lviv in 2025 – we will have the honor of opening the youth capital of Europe here. This is an important step towards membership in the European Union. And Lviv takes this step with all the cities of our country.
Actually, UNICEF helps us both ideologically and financially. It is also about internships for a large number of young people. Because people are the foundation of any state. That’s why we need to be together, learn together,” said Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy.
According to the memorandum, UNICEF will provide the city with technical and expert assistance in preparing for the key events envisaged by the status of the European Youth Capital. It will also contribute to the creation and development of the city’s youth council, development of the youth strategy for 2025-2035, etc.
“In the extremely difficult conditions of the war, Ukrainian youth show extraordinary resilience, innovation and determination to rebuild the country,” said Murat Shahin, head of the UNICEF Representative Office in Ukraine. — The unique innovative potential of the city creates excellent prerequisites for the implementation of solutions for children and youth, which will contribute to early recovery and can later be extended to other regions. We are also happy to share UNICEF’s many years of experience in implementing youth initiatives such as the UPSHIFT program. It aims to engage teenagers and young adults in developing creative solutions to challenges in their communities, to increase their civic engagement and entrepreneurial potential. Together with the authorities of Lviv, we strive to create the best possible opportunities so that the proposals of young people are heard and implemented for the benefit of their communities.”
Within the scope of cooperation, Lviv will be provided with support in the following areas:
– development of the city’s youth infrastructure;
– promotion of Lviv as the youth capital of 2025 among Ukrainian and European youth, establishment of partnership between Ukrainian and European cities;
– development of cross-border cooperation between cities and support of the Lviv Bureau of European Integration for the implementation of the best European practices in working with children and youth at the municipal level;
– preparation of programs to ensure barrier-free urban space.
certificate
The Youth Capital of Europe is a title that the European Youth Forum assigns to a European city for a period of one year – in order to expand opportunities, activate young people and strengthen European identity through projects focused on the cultural, social, political and economic life of young people. The first capital was chosen in 2009. Lviv is the 17th owner of this title.
The initiator of the application for participation in the “Youth Capital of Europe” competition and the coordinator of this project is the Network of youth spaces CREATE!