The fifth year of the full-scale war. Ukraine continues to hold the front line, yet people here are already thinking about the day after victory. What kind of country will emerge? Around which values will its reconstruction take place? And will those who live not in the capital, but in small towns and villages, have a voice in this process? These questions became the starting point for a new project launched by the NGO “Sophia Brotherhood.”
Not Only About Orthodoxy: Why the Brotherhood Is Launching a Youth Project
For many people, the Sophia Brotherhood is primarily associated with interchurch dialogue, the study of the Orthodox tradition, and the spiritual resilience of Ukrainian society. However, the organization’s new initiative goes far beyond purely religious topics.
The project “Youth for the Future of Ukraine: Dialogue, Research, and Creative Media Work for the Consolidation of Ukrainian Society and Orthodoxy” focuses on something critically important for any democratic state today: involving young people from the regions in shaping the agenda of post-war reconstruction. Here, the Brotherhood acts not as a religious institution, but as a platform connecting different social, ideological, and regional groups for the sake of a common goal.
“The reconstruction of Ukraine is not only a matter of infrastructure and finances,” the organizers emphasize. “It is a matter of values. And we are convinced that young people from small towns and villages should not be mere objects of other people’s decisions, but their authors.”
What Will Take Place Within the Project
The program is designed for seven months (May–December 2026) and brings together 16 youth teams from different regions of Ukraine (5 participants in each team). The participants are leaders and activists aged 20–35 representing youth organizations, civic initiatives, religious communities (including different Orthodox jurisdictions), as well as communities of internally displaced persons and people who have experienced loss. The main selection criterion is not denomination or political views, but the willingness to act for the common good.
Key project activities include:
- Youth Forum (two stages: June and September) — the main event where participants meet, discuss visions for the future, and present their own projects.
- Summer School (August) — a five-day training program in two tracks: dialogue facilitation and journalism/media work.
- Webinars — 16 online meetings devoted to trauma psychology, communication, leadership, and project management.
- Community Dialogues — 54 local discussions independently organized by participants in their own towns and villages.
- Academic Conference — reflection on the concept of the “common good” together with leading intellectuals.
The program will conclude with the publication of two documents created by the participants themselves: “The Future of Ukraine We Want to Build” and “Ideas for a Unifying Meta-Narrative of Ukrainian Orthodoxy.” These texts are not academic essays, but concrete proposals for public dialogue.
Why This Matters Right Now
Almost five years of large-scale war have accumulated not only pain and exhaustion within Ukrainian society, but also deep internal divisions. Between those who fight and those who help in the rear. Between those who left and those who stayed. Between the capital and the periphery. Between different church traditions.
The “competition of victims” — the struggle over who has suffered more — sometimes divides society more effectively than any propaganda. The project “Youth for the Future of Ukraine” sets itself an ambitious task: to create a space where different experiences of pain become not a basis for confrontation, but a starting point for a shared conversation about the future.
A special emphasis is placed on young people from small towns and villages. They are the ones least often included in the “central” discussions about reconstruction. Yet they are also the ones who will continue living in the country that is now being designed without their participation.
Partnership with Germany: Support That Matters
The project is implemented with the financial support of Zivik / the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (IFA), funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
The Zivik program supports peacebuilding and conflict prevention initiatives in different parts of the world. The fact that this time its support was granted to a Ukrainian civic project focused on youth from the regions is a meaningful signal. It is a recognition that the issues of values, dialogue, and social cohesion in Ukraine are of pan-European significance.
How to Participate
The program will begin with the academic and practical conference “The Common Good: Values and Meanings Around Which the Reconstruction of Ukraine Is Possible,” which will take place on June 2–3 at the State University “Kyiv Aviation Institute.”
You can fill out the registration form for participation in the conference here: https://forms.gle/ZcCMCZG19cG9xfjp9
Registration for participation in the full project program (16 teams, forums, school, mentoring, and community dialogues) will begin soon. Young people aged 20–35 who wish to influence the future of their communities and country are invited to participate.
The application form will be published on the Sophia Brotherhood’s information platforms (website, Facebook, Telegram). Stay tuned for announcements!
If you have any questions regarding participation in the project, you may call: +380677984064 (Sergij)
or send an email to: email@sofiyske-bratstvo.org
All participant expenses within the framework of the project (travel, accommodation, and meals) will be covered by the organizers.
A country in which young people from small towns become co-authors of the future cannot be broken either by war or by internal divisions. This is precisely what the new project of the NGO “Sophia Brotherhood” seeks to demonstrate.