Creating a Youth Center in the Village of Zelenyi Hai

This project aims to create a Youth Center for the education and development of children and young adults the village of Zelenyi Hai, Mykolaiv region, Ukraine. As a result of the armed aggression of the Russian occupation forces, the village’s school and community center were destroyed. Children and young adults need to communicate, participate in art clubs, and have a place to discuss their ideas for the development of their village. The Youth Center, which this project aims to create, would become such a place.

What is the problem?

Before the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the village of Zelenyi Hai had a school and a house of culture. More than 200 children studied and attended various art clubs; dancing, playing musical instruments, cutting and sewing, embroidery, and many others. As a result of the war, the village’s school was destroyed, 40 houses were damaged, and many families with children left for safer places in Ukraine and Europe.

However, as of November 2024, 80% of the residents have returned to their village. Currently, 167 school-age children and about the same number of young people under 35 live in the village. Due to the danger of enemy air strikes and the invasion of combat drones, schoolchildren study online only, and outside of school hours, they gather at each other’s homes or at their teachers’ homes to watch films, learn to play musical instruments, and learn how to dance.

The village has an old, damaged two-story building. The children dream that this building will become the youth center of their village, where they will carry out all their activities.

How will this project solve the problem?

The youth center will fully meet the need of children and young people for a place for leisure and development. The residents of Zelenyi Hai have very clear plans and visions for their center. They want to open a library on the second floor and start a book crossing. There should also be a cinema hall where young people will choose films to watch and discuss. On the ground floor, there will be an art school and a coworking space. The young people are ready to manage the facility themselves and want it to be open throughout the day. Schoolchildren will study after school, and workshops for older people will be held at other times.

Potential long-term impact

The idea of creating a youth center is a completely youth-led initiative. Adults only support children and young people and help with organizational issues. Thus, by planning what the center should be like and making efforts to create it, children develop managerial skills, take responsibility, and learn to make adult decisions. A youth center is an encouragement for young people to live in their village and develop it. By having a place where they can choose what to do according to their interests, they will no longer say that they need to leave their village because there is nothing to do there. Ukraine is fighting for its independence and the preservation of its people, because territories without conscious people are nothing.