Over the past six months, the SYWOR project has reached an important stage of implementation as partner organisations across Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Poland and Turkey turned their organisational development plans into practical changes. Through new inclusion strategies, safeguarding procedures, trauma-informed approaches and youth-participation mechanisms, the consortium has strengthened its collective capacity to support displaced and vulnerable young people.
Implemented by Young Agents of Change together with international partners, the SYWOR project — Stronger Together: Strengthening Youth Workers and Organisations for Displaced Youth Integration and Resilience — is designed not only to provide activities for young people, but also to help youth organisations become safer, more inclusive and more sustainable. During the first implementation period, partners worked on internal policies, staff wellbeing, crisis response, communication, youth leadership and the meaningful inclusion of young people with displacement experience.
Organisational Change in Practice
The organisational development process showed that inclusion is not limited to a written strategy. It requires everyday decisions: how organisations communicate opportunities, select participants, protect personal data, respond to emotional distress, support staff and create real opportunities for young people to influence decisions.
Across the partnership, the organisations developed and implemented practical tools that respond to different national realities while sharing a common objective: ensuring that displaced youth are not treated only as beneficiaries, but as active participants, co-creators and future leaders.
In Georgia, the Georgian Youth Development Association (GYDA) focused on making every stage of participation more inclusive — from outreach and selection to follow-up engagement. The organisation strengthened cooperation with trusted local NGOs working with displaced and regional communities, allowing it to reach young people who may not have access to international opportunities through standard online calls alone.
GYDA also introduced clearer selection mechanisms that give real weight to fewer-opportunity status, first-time participation and follow-up potential. The organisation’s social-media outreach expanded significantly after appointing a dedicated content creator, reaching around 120,000 people through Instagram and helping bring Erasmus+ opportunities to young people who had not previously heard of GYDA or international youth mobility programmes.
A key milestone for GYDA was the adoption of the Policy on Voting Rights for IDP and Refugee Youth in Organisational Decision-Making on 21 August 2026. The policy grants eligible internally displaced and refugee young people formal voting rights in bodies such as programme planning committees, youth-exchange selection and design panels, and advisory structures with decision-making functions. This represents an important step from consultation towards shared governance.
The value of this approach is reflected in the story of Luka Soselia, a 19-year-old internally displaced young person from Abkhazia. Luka joined GYDA’s youth exchange Beyond the Game as a newcomer with no previous experience of international youth activities. After taking part in further training on psychological first aid in Tbilisi, he became involved in GYDA’s work and is now preparing to join the organising team of an upcoming youth exchange in Ureki. His journey from participant to organiser illustrates the project’s broader vision: inclusion should lead to responsibility, confidence and leadership.
Wellbeing, Safety and Trauma-Informed Care
In Moldova, MilleniuM Training and Development Institute placed trauma-informed care and team wellbeing at the centre of its organisational development work. Recognising that youth workers and facilitators supporting displaced young people may also experience stress, overload and secondary trauma, MilleniuM invested in strengthening the resilience of its own team.
On 6–7 June 2026, MilleniuM organised a two-day outdoor retreat in Hîjdieni, Glodeni district, facilitated by Mariana Turcan. The 15-hour programme combined guided reflection, nature-based activities, communication exercises and team-building tasks. Participants explored early signs of stress and burnout, identified individual and organisational support resources, practised healthy boundaries and developed a shared wellbeing plan for the team.
The retreat resulted in concrete commitments, including regular team check-ins, reflection meetings, clearer task distribution, breaks, access to external supervision and continued team-cohesion activities. By prioritising wellbeing within the organisation, MilleniuM strengthened its ability to provide safe, balanced and sensitive support to displaced and vulnerable young people.
MilleniuM also developed a trauma-informed organisational framework and the Trauma-Informed Peer Support Framework for Young People (TIPS-YP). In August 2026, the organisation finalised its Crisis Intervention Protocol, which provides staff, facilitators, volunteers and partners with clear guidance for responding to emergencies or critical situations during activities. The protocol prioritises life, physical safety, safeguarding, psychological first aid, referral to specialised services and appropriate follow-up.
Youth Participation and Ethical Standards
In Ukraine, Young Agents of Change worked on embedding inclusion, ethical responsibility and crisis-sensitivity into its internal structures and long-term planning. The organisation developed its Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2026–2029, the Organisation’s Development Strategy for 2026–2029, and an Ethical Code and a Crisis Response Protocol.
These documents provide a structured basis for YAC’s work in a context shaped by war, displacement and continuing psychosocial pressure on young people and communities. The strategy strengthens the organisation’s approach to accessible communication, inclusive participation and the involvement of young people with different backgrounds and experiences. The Ethical Code establishes shared standards for respectful conduct, accountability and safe cooperation among staff, volunteers, participants and partners.
The Crisis Response Protocol contributes to preparedness by defining responsibilities, communication procedures and response mechanisms in situations that may affect the safety or wellbeing of participants and team members. Together, these measures support YAC in integrating inclusion and safety into the everyday planning and delivery of youth activities.
Accessible Information and Protection Standards
In Poland, Europejski Dom Spotkań – Fundacja Nowy Staw (EDS) concentrated on accessible information, protection standards and inclusive communication for refugees and people with forced-displacement experience.
The organisation developed the START W LUBELSKIEM information package for refugees and people with experience of forced displacement. The resource is designed to make practical information more understandable and accessible for people navigating life, services and opportunities in the Lublin region.
EDS also updated its personal-data protection standards, an especially important step when working with people whose personal information, migration experience and contact details may require additional care. Alongside its Diversity & Inclusion Strategy and Implementation Plan 2026–2029, the organisation prepared practical resources on retraumatization and a glossary of migration-related terminology. These tools help staff and volunteers use more accurate, respectful and non-stigmatizing language, while recognising situations and communication practices that could unintentionally cause harm.
From Participation to Leadership
In Turkey, European Integration Group (EIG) implemented a broad set of organisational-development actions focused on the participation, emotional safety and leadership of displaced young people.
The organisation adopted its Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Implementation Plan, developed a mechanism for involving displaced youth in programme design and prepared a Displaced Youth Co-Creation Checklist. This tool supports the meaningful involvement of young people in designing, delivering and evaluating activities, ensuring that their experience and feedback can influence organisational decisions.
EIG also developed and tested an Internal Protocol for Managing Emotional Breakdowns of Displaced Youth During Activities. The protocol gives facilitators practical guidance on responding safely and respectfully when a young person experiences acute emotional distress, panic or other intense reactions during an activity. It clarifies responsibilities, supports immediate emotional safety and encourages appropriate follow-up and referral when necessary.
In addition, EIG strengthened inclusive recruitment and onboarding procedures for displaced young people who wish to become volunteers, trainees or team members. The organisation prepared an Inclusive Volunteer & Trainee Onboarding Checklist, as well as an IDP Youth Leadership: From Participation to Leadership framework. In July, EIG delivered its first leadership training for displaced youth, focusing on advocacy, project-management and representation skills. At the same time, peer-to-peer communication and awareness activities were prepared to increase young people’s knowledge of their rights, available opportunities and ways to become involved.
Looking Ahead
The first six months of organisational development show that sustainable youth work begins inside organisations themselves. Strategies and protocols are important, but their real value lies in how they shape practice: a more accessible call for participants, a safer response to crisis, stronger team support, better protection of data, clearer ethical standards and more meaningful youth participation.
In the next phase of the SYWOR project, partners will continue testing, improving and sharing these tools. The consortium will focus on strengthening cross-border learning, supporting youth leadership, expanding inclusive outreach and documenting practical methods that can be used by other youth organisations and civil-society actors.
Through this process, SYWOR partners are building more than individual activities. They are developing organisational cultures in which displaced young people can access opportunities, be heard, take responsibility and contribute to the communities in which they live.
About the Project
The course was part of the SYWOR project, implemented by Young Agents of Change in collaboration with:
- Georgian Youth Development Association – GYDA (Georgia)
- European Integration Group (Turkey)
- MilleniuM Training and Development Institute (Moldova)
- Fundacja Nowy Staw (Poland)
The project is funded by the European Union and aims to strengthen youth workers and organizations involved in supporting displaced young people through capacity building and cross-border collaboration.
