“Despite the uncertainty, young people generally aspire to study and live in Ukraine”

At the end of 2024, the British Council published the study entitled “Understanding Ukrainian young people’s current concerns, needs and hopes: looking ahead to a future rebuilding of Ukraine”. Could you briefly explain what prompted this study and what data it is based on?

The British Council has a long-standing presence in Ukraine, working since 1992 to foster positive connections, mutual understanding, and trust among people. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, our work has accelerated. Our goal with this research was to gain insight and evidence on the evolving experience of Ukrainian youth, ensuring their voices remain central to future policy and programmes. To achieve this, the British Council commissioned LSE Consulting’s Youth and Civic Engagement Hub to explore the challenges, needs, and aspirations of young Ukrainians amidst the war.

The research delves into how young people in Ukraine, aged 14 to 35, have experienced the ongoing conflict. The study draws on data gathered through six focus group discussions conducted in the Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovs’k, Poltava, and Vinnytsia regions. To capture differences in perspective, the focus groups were divided into two age brackets: 14-19 and 20-35. Each group included internally displaced people. A further ten in-depth interviews were conducted with representatives from vulnerable youth groups, including individuals with disabilities, Roma youth, LGBTQ individuals, military personnel, and those temporarily under protection abroad. The fieldwork was carried out between January and March 2024 by InfoSapiens, a Ukrainian research agency.

To ensure the research genuinely reflected the perspectives of Ukrainian youth, LSE Consulting collaborated with a Youth Sounding Board made up of young Ukrainians. This board played an active role during the data analysis stage, helping to validate the findings, conclusions, and recommendations, and ensure the youth voice remained central throughout the research process.

From your perspective, what are the key findings of the study?

It may seem obvious, but one of the main findings from the research is just how profoundly the war has affected young Ukrainians. When asked to rate the impact on a scale of 1 to 10, most respondents gave scores between 8 and 10. Those near the frontlines feel the strain most intensely, but even in calmer areas, the stress and uncertainty of the conflict are deeply felt. Young people frequently point to this unpredictability as well as decreased income or access to employment as significant challenges. For the youngest respondents, the disruption to their education – whether due to teachers being conscripted, exhaustion from missile alerts, or being forced to change schools – further compounds this negative impact.

When asked about current needs, security comes high on the list, as expected, but this is defined as both a sense of physical safety and the sense of stability that comes with steady employment and secure housing. For internally displaced people, access to quality accommodation remains critical given acute challenges with securing affordable, stable housing. The most significant concerns identified were the security and health of relatives, the unpredictability of the future, and the threat of further Russian occupation. For the youngest respondents, the war’s impact on their education and the broader implication for their futures is also concerning.

Looking to the future, most young Ukrainians lack long-term plans, typically limited to one month ahead. Their aspirations are shaped by the war’s duration and the circumstances of its end, leading many to feel they would live more proactively if not for the conflict. Despite the uncertainty, we found that young people generally aspire to study and live in Ukraine. Young Ukrainians expect the war to continue for several more years but are optimistic that it will end in Ukraine’s victory, and accession to the European Union and NATO. Encouragingly, select participants in each focus group showed a strong interest in contributing to Ukraine’s reconstruction, particularly through NGOs or political channels.

What are the most important recommendations for action that you derive from these findings? And which target groups are addressed with these recommendations?

The researchers developed a set of seven recommendations, each outlining actionable steps for implementation. I will focus on just a few of them.

Ukrainian youth demonstrate an interest in civic activities but often feel they lack the agency to make a difference and face barriers such as limited resources, knowledge, and funding. Programmes that involve young people in the planning, implementation, and evaluation process and support skills development would be well received. The additional challenges faced by vulnerable groups should be considered in programme development. Conducting inclusion feasibility studies before launching programmes can help identify and address barriers to participation. The recommendations also emphasise the value of augmenting or replacing online with in-person activities to provide young people opportunities for socialisation amidst the breakdown of social ties.

One key recommendation focuses on addressing emotional exhaustion, a widely reported challenge among young people. Providing trauma resilience modules and access to mental health support should become standard practice in youth programmes. This insight has directly shaped the recently launched UK-Ukraine Schools Partnership Programme, delivered by the British Council and the National Literacy Trust. As part of the initiative, participating teachers will receive training and guidance on trauma-informed practices to ensure positive engagement with young Ukrainians.

In addition to the British Council, the recommendations target policymakers, donors, educators, community leaders, and grassroots organisations, encouraging collaboration to meet young people’s immediate needs while building long-term resilience for Ukraine’s recovery.