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

Valentyna Poltorak, DECIDE Project Manager, and Mykola Kalashnyk, Head of Kyiv Regional Military Administration, signed the Memorandum.

The strategic partnership will continue as the education sector undergoes recovery and reform.

‘Our cooperation with Kyiv region over the next five years is not simply about supporting individual changes, but about the systematic implementation of reforms in education, strategic planning for development, and strengthening the links between education and the region’s economy and labour market through the creation of a career guidance system. Together with communities and the regional authorities, we are working to meet needs and create real opportunities for the development of children, young people, and education in the region. This is about a long-term partnership,’ said Valentyna Poltorak, DECIDE Project Manager.

The Kyiv Regional State Administration emphasises that the new Memorandum is primarily about specific support for communities in implementing educational reforms, ‘For the communities of Kyiv region, this Memorandum is, primarily, tangible support on education development issues that are currently of the utmost urgency: how to develop quality education, how to plan changes and implement reforms, where to find expertise, and how to put decisions into practice rather than leaving them on paper.’

Kyiv region joined DECIDE: VET initiative in 2024. Since then, a modern DECIDE Career Guidance Hub has been established at the Brovary Vocational Lyceum, and a culinary career guidance hub at the Vasylkiv Vocational College. Vasylkivska and Brovarska communities are active participants in piloting the career guidance system and have involved more than 6,000 children and teenagers in its activities.

Another initiative, DECIDE: VIDBUDOVA, has emerged as a separate area of focus. Within its framework, the reconstruction of the Inclusive Resource Centre of Borodianska community is underway.

DECIDE experts are already providing advisory support to 24 communities in the region on the implementation of specialised senior secondary school reform. Additionally, 16 communities are participating in the National Pilot of the career guidance system for children and teenagers.

In 2022–2024, within the framework of the DECIDE Summer Clubs initiative ‘We are at home – in Ukraine’, summer educational activities were held in 8 communities in Kyiv region. They involved more than 1,500 children and about 180 teachers.

Further cooperation up to 2030 includes an even broader range of support, including:

• support for the implementation of specialised secondary school reform, the development of a network of academic lyceums, and advisory and grant support for communities;

• support for the implementation of vocational education reform;

• support in developing the Development Strategy for Kyiv region and the Strategy for Education Development in the region for 2028–2034;

• strengthening inter-municipal cooperation between communities to establish academic lyceums;

• development of educational agglomerations and cooperation between communities in providing educational services;

• development of a career guidance system for children and adolescents through partnerships between education, business, and authorities;

• internship programmes for young people in regional administrations and local governments;

• DECIDE Summer Clubs initiatives ‘We are at home – in Ukraine’;

• professional development programmes for community leaders, heads and staff of education departments in all communities across the region.

Four pilot partner communities are also to be selected, with which the Project team will focus on the specified areas.

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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