All-Ukrainian Youth Forum «Ukraine 2036. Architects of the Future»

On September 8, the All-Ukrainian Youth Forum «Ukraine 2036. Architects of the Future» was held in the Rivne region – a large-scale event designed to unite active student youth and opinion leaders around the formation of a vision of post-war reconstruction and long-term development of our state.

The event was organized by the Association of Frontline Cities and Communities with the support of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, the International Republican Institute (IRI) and UNICEF Ukraine. The event was attended by over 300 delegates from about 70 higher education institutions from all over the country. Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University was represented by the Head of Student Government – Anastasiia Steshenko, Deputy Head of Student Government, Head of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering – Mykyta Dorofeyev and Deputy Head of Student Government, Head of the Faculty of Information Security and Electronic Communications – Vladyslav Patalakh.

Within the framework of the forum, participants had the opportunity to hear speeches and ask open questions to key speakers and guests of the event, including the head of the Association of Frontline Cities and Communities, Mayor of Kharkiv Ihor Terekhov, People’s Deputy of Ukraine and Olympic champion Zhan Beleniuk, head of the Rivne OVA Oleksandr Koval, acting mayor of Rivne Viktor Shakirzyan, as well as representatives of relevant ministries and international institutions.

The forum program was packed with panel discussions and workshops dedicated to the role of youth in rebuilding the country. Participants discussed Ukraine’s strategic priorities until 2036: preserving human capital, developing high technologies and engineering, rebuilding destroyed communities based on the principles of inclusiveness and accessibility, and implementing Council of Europe standards in youth policy.

A key part of the meeting was an open dialogue on how frontline cities and university communities can integrate their own initiatives into national recovery projects today.

Participation in the forum opened up new vectors of cooperation, horizontal partnerships with colleagues from other regions, and a clear understanding of the challenges of the next decade.

Ahead is the integration of the acquired insights into student and city projects, because it is we who must be the real architects of the future of our country!