As emphasised by the ETF Director Pilvi Torsti during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in July 2025 in Rome: “Skills are not a side issue in Ukraine’s recovery – they are the foundation”. Ukraine’s reconstruction process must be based on investing in youth policies and skills development.

➡️ We are pleased to be part of these efforts through supporting the ETF’s dedicated Ukraine Task Force under the project ‘Support to Ukraine Task Force – #reconstruction, #recovery, #resilience and EU accession’ which we have been implementing in partnership with PPMI since September 2025. Our activities include supporting the EU accession, notably working towards a comprehensive #Employment Strategy and establishing a #Youth Guarantee scheme – a landmark policy that is now being introduced in Ukraine “to reconnect young people with work, training, and their own sense of purpose” as underlined by Director Pilvi Torsti.

➡️ In particular, we are working on review of policies and legislative provisions for setting up the YG scheme, as well as on developing a concept for a YG implementation plan for #Ukraine. Also, we are supporting the knowledge-sharing programme, which has so far included: the October in-person event in Warsaw on monitoring education, employment and youth policies, as well as two online events this month on the #ESF+ programme’s Employment and Social Innovation strand (Ukraine has access thanks to the signing of the ESF+ association agreement in July 2025), and on the outreach to #NEETs.

The next Ukraine Recovery Conference, which is planned to take place in Poland next year, will be another important milestone in the efforts of “building forward”, not just rebuilding Ukraine.