From restoration of schools to creating new opportunities for youth: Swiss delegation visits Chernihiv region!
On 3 November, a Swiss delegation headed by Jacques Gerber, Swiss Federal Council Delegate for Ukraine, visited Chernihiv region. Tetiana Stefiuk, Deputy Minister for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, also joined the visit.
The visit focused on the results of the partnership between Switzerland and Ukraine in the restoration of educational infrastructure, the development of education, and the creation of new opportunities for children and young people.
The Swiss delegation also included:
Manuel Battegay, President of the Swiss Cooperation Office and Consular Agency;
Jean-Luc Bernasconi, Head of Cooperation at the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine;
Sandra Aeschlimann, Project Manager at the Swiss Humanitarian Aid;
Ilona Postemska, Senior National Programme Officer at the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine;
Oleksii Dmytruk, National Humanitarian Programme Officer at the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine.
DECIDE project was presented by Valentyna Poltorak, DECIDE Project Manager, and Yuliia Molchanova, DECIDE Coordinator of Component 2, Nadiia Balabust, DECIDE National Expert and Coordinator of the Career Guidance System Development Component, Serhii Omelichkin, Grant Manager for the Community Recovery and Local Participatory Budgets Component, and Kateryna Nemyrovska, Head of the DECIDE Expert Group on the Development of Career Guidance Hubs.
During the visit, the Swiss delegation visited Chernihiv Gymnasium No. 13, which has been comprehensively restored with Swiss support as part of the Swiss-Ukrainian DECIDE Project.
The delegation was briefed on the results of the restoration of the facility, including the renovated classrooms, laboratories, canteen unit, and bomb shelter. A meeting was also held here with Viacheslav Chaus, Head of the Chernihiv Regional Military Administration, as well as representatives of the regional and city authorities – Yurii Muzyka, Head of the Department of Education and Science of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, Viktoriia Pekur, Deputy Mayor of Chernihiv responsible for the activities of the council’s executive bodies; Vasyl Bilohura, Head of the Education Department of the Chernihiv City Council; and others.
The participants discussed the key challenges and needs of the region, the results of cooperation with Switzerland, and the priorities for the further restoration of infrastructure, the development of education and communities.
The next location was the DECIDE career guidance hub at the Chernihiv Professional College of Engineering and Green Energy, established with the support of DECIDE.
Here, schoolchildren can learn about modern professions, work with interactive equipment, test their own abilities, and gain their first practical experience. In its first year of operation, the hub hosted over 160 career guidance events, involving more than 3,000 participants.
During the visit to the hub, a round-table discussion was held on “Education, Community and Business: Partnerships that Create Opportunities for Young People”.
The representatives of the Swiss delegation, public authorities, vocational education institutions, DECIDE Project, and the companies REHAU Ukraine, Kernel, “Druzhba-Nova”, and “Pet Technologies”, GAZMEREZHI discussed the development of partnerships between education and business, involving employers in career guidance for young people, promoting technical and blue-collar professions, and training specialists in line with the needs of the modern labour market.
Chernihiv region shows how international support and the joint efforts of the authorities, the education sector, and business produce tangible result!
We are grateful to Switzerland for its consistent support for reforms in education and decentralisation, as well as for the implementation of recovery projects that contribute to the development of communities and the creation of new opportunities for children and young people in Ukraine!
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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