Education and retraining of veterans is another key to their successful reintegration and return to a peaceful life.
This and other things were discussed during the second panel of the forum “Respect. Experience. Perspective”, which took place on Tuesday, June 27 in Kyiv.
Thus, in a study of the needs and requests of veterans and active military personnel conducted by the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, 24.4% of the interviewed veterans noted that now and in the future they will need support in getting an education. They also called the possibility of retraining as a tool of resocialization important.
“All available resources should be involved so that veterans have opportunities for training and education. It’s about practical things. They need to be given something that will help them earn a living,” says Ruslana Velychko, the First deputy Executive director of the UVF.
In particular, the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation jointly with the Ukrainian Catholic University launched the online course “Returning from the war: mind, body, society”.
According to the head of UCU-online, Roksolyana Voronovska, the course started recently, but 350 people are already taking it.
“We believe in partnerships, because individually we can do less than when we unite. We plan to make the next online course a hybrid one: to combine online learning and communication. We also want to work with the wives of soldiers and veterans – it should be training for wives and widows so that they can develop their entrepreneurial potential, expand their businesses, and look for new ideas,” says Roksolyana Voronovska.
In addition, the UVF together with American University Kyiv has started accepting applications for individual full scholarships for veterans and their families.
“We are grateful to the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation for the opportunity to join and help the future of veterans and their children. This year, we started a scholarship for soldiers of the Armed Forces, veterans, and members of their families, by signing a memorandum of cooperation. Our master’s programs provide real opportunities, and here we are also talking about opportunities for professional skills, and therefore — and the reintegration of veterans into social life,” — Olga Svatova, head of the brand marketing department of American University Kyiv.
Ilya Shpoliansky from the organization “Movement of Veterans of Ukraine” emphasized: it is important to remember that a veteran has the right to study and receive retraining for any profession any number of times.
“It is more profitable for society to give a veteran the opportunity to study four times, than to deal with the consequences later. The training service should be increadibly accessible. A veteran should feel loved while receiving an education. And for this, the entire methodology of our perception of state service for veterans must be demolished and a new one should be built,” he emphasized.
“Veterans are people with a keen sense of justice – and in business it’s difficult. But it is very pleasant that more than 60% of the veterans we surveyed say that they want to start their own business. It is wonderful when people take the initiative into their own hands and want to change something in this country. I am amazed at how they, our veterans, conduct their affairs. Businesses that have been relocated three times work with us – and they have not given up, they continue to work. And sometimes they give 50% of the profit to the army. The strength of these people is amazing,” summed up Ruslana Velychko, the first deputy executive director of the UVF.
The Ukrainian Veterans Foundation creates opportunities for capacity building of veterans after returning from the war. Education, retraining, and new skills are what will contribute to the reintegration of defenders, strengthen the state, and strengthen the economy.
We are already expertly communicating and researching these topics, and we are already creating opportunities for veterans.
The event was also attended by:
🔹 Yulia Laputina — Minister of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine
🔹 Natalia Kalmykova — CEO of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs
🔹 Taras Chmut – director of the ’Come Back Alive’’ Charity Foundation, member of the Supervisory Board of the UVF
🔹 James E. Baker is a former infantry officer of the US Marine Corps, former chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, director of the Institute for Security Policy and Law at Syracuse University, professor at Syracuse College of Law and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
🔹 Ruslana Velychko-Trifonyuk – First deputy of the Executive director of the UVF
🔹 Olga Svatova is the head of the brand marketing department at American University Kyiv
🔹 Roksolyana Voronovska – head of UCU-online
🔹 Ilya Shpolyanskyi is a veteran, the Movement of Veterans of Ukraine
🔹 Tetyana Zhukova – VMGO “Social Vector” (Education for women: female veterans, wives of veterans)
🔹 Svyatoslav Nikolaychuk – NGO “Podilskyi Development Agency”
🔹Dmytro Dubrovskyi – co-founder of Uklon, ambassador of the UVF
🔹 Oleksandra Adaynik is the manager of the Social Policy Department of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia.
🔹Andrii Remizov – director of the State University “Office for the Development of Entrepreneurship and Export”, Diia.Business
🔹 Maksym Pylypenko is the communications director of Work.ua
🔹 Victoria Shinkarenko – veteran, NGO “Regional Veteran Union of ATO Participants of Rivne Oblast”
🔹 Tatyana Rozumiy is the wife of a veteran, the owner of a shoe store
The event was moderated by: Vladyslav Grezev, CEO Lobby X, coordinator of TEDxKyiv, Marichka Padalko, news anchor, and Oleksiy Tarasov, editor-in-chief of Radio NV.Ukrainian veterans: Denys Dudnyk, Volodymyr Skosohorenko, Taras Yakobchuk and the veteran’s wife Oksana Makarova told their stories of strength and resilience.
