DECIDE and Chernihiv Regional Military Administration sign Memorandum of Cooperation until 2030

The Swiss-Ukrainian DECIDE Project and the Chernihiv Regional State Administration have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation until 2030 – a document that opens up new opportunities for the restoration and development of education in the communities of Chernihiv region and the region as a whole.

Chernihiv region is one of those where the war left a particularly deep imprint. Destroyed schools, lost infrastructure, long months of anxiety and threats. For three years, DECIDE worked alongside communities in the region, helping to restore access to quality and safe education, implement reforms, and plan the development of general secondary and vocational education strategically, taking into account the economy of the region.

Valentyna Poltorak, DECIDE Project Manager, noted, ‘We will continue to work with Chernihiv region to ensure that every community has real opportunities to create quality and modern education – from academic lyceums to new career guidance spaces. Children should receive education that opens up prospects even in times of war.’

During the signing ceremony, Viacheslav Chaus, Head of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, emphasised, ‘For our region, DECIDE and the support of Switzerland are not merely support. It is a partnership that helps the region and communities build modern, safe and future-oriented education.’

Under this partnership, a strategy for the development of education in the region until 2027 has been developed, modern bomb shelters and educational centres have been created in schools, career guidance hubs have been opened for the first time in Ukraine, and communities have received systematic assistance in management, strategic planning, public and student engagement, decision-making in communities, and the introduction of democratic governance in schools. Gradually, Chernihiv region is developing an education model that simultaneously responds to the challenges of war and forms the basis for development.

The new Memorandum provides a broad framework for cooperation until 2030. The joint work will focus on establishing and developing a network of academic lyceums, implementing vocational education reform, providing grants for the development of community cooperation in establishing lyceums, promoting local democracy and active citizenship for children and adolescents, and creating opportunities for young people, in particular through internship programmes in communities and Regional Military Administration. An important part of the cooperation will be the further expansion of the career guidance system, which has already changed the approach to career choice in many communities in the region.

The next step is to select six partner communities for in-depth work and implementation of a number of strategic directions for the introduction of senior school reforms and comprehensive development of education in communities.

Cooperation with Chernihiv region has been focused on the comprehensive development of education at the regional and local levels for over three years.

During this time:

• Strategies for the restoration and development of education in Chernihiv region for 2025-2027 have been developed;

• more than 50 communities and 100 representatives of local governments, including education authorities, have participated in training sessions, consultations and project initiatives;

• infrastructure projects have been implemented: bomb shelters have been repaired and educational centres and digital hubs have been created in 14 schools; Gymnasium No. 13 in Chernihiv has been repaired and refurbished; two career guidance hubs have been created in vocational education institutions in the region;

• 23 communities in the region are participating in the development of a career guidance system;

• over a thousand schoolchildren have joined the Public Budget for Children's Dreams initiative;

• Regional Education Development Strategy and education development strategies for four partner communities have been developed;

• over 1,000 teachers, heads of educational institutions, school psychologists and IRC specialists have joined the ‘Getting Stronger Together’ Initiative;

• communities in the region have signed agreements on inter-municipal cooperation in education.

Chernihiv region will continue to be one of the key regions of DECIDE partnership – a region where the restoration of education is becoming the foundation for the future development of the region.

The DECIDE project is implemented by NGO DOCCU and PHZH International Projects in Education with the support of the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine.

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