Help Social AgroBusiness of Rural Youth in Ukraine

For now, it's still cold outside. But for us, this does not mean that there is nothing to do on our village farm.

On weekends we come here with a group of teenagers who are excited to learn new things. Young people first get acquainted with how a farm enterprise works, how greens and flowers are grown in a greenhouse.

Then, for two days in the premises of the Liebenthal Center, they are trained in emotional competence, communication skills, planning and other practical soft skills. We also, play games, play sports, do barbecue and have fun together.

These are difficult times for everyone in Ukraine. But we want to distract teenagers from their problems and troubles and give them something useful.

As we wrote before, our Liebenthal farm produces food and drinking water to feed war migrants in the accommodation center in Odessa during the war. However, we were able to restart our educational program too.

1. Educational program based on the social enterprise "Agricultural Farm Liebenthal" for teenagers in a crisis situation.

Despite the difficulties we were able to conduct 3 training courses of our dual training program, covering 38 children.

This program is extremely important for our target group, especially during the war. Involvement in the educational process helps, among other, to stabilize psycho-emotional state of children and youth. A clear daily routine, visiting the planned locations allows to plunge into the "pre-war" atmosphere of normality and stability. Of particular importance is the possibility of long-term planning for children who have lost certainty and a clear picture of the future.

The project allowed teenagers not only to learn about the basics of agribusiness, visit the enterprises, but also get live communication with their peers, shift the focus of attention, plunge into a healthy atmosphere of a friendly community, suburban silence and tranquility. Our training program becomes a part of therapy, besides of writing a business plan, as it allows children to look into the future with more confidence.

2. Educational course for adult IDPs on preparing business plan in agricultural niches

For IDPs who have decided to stay in Odesa, the issue of employment is acute. The economic crisis that always accompanies war has led to the collapse of the labor market and significantly increased competition among job seekers. According to our data, even for a low-skilled and low-paid job, the competition is from 4 people for 1 vacancy.

In such a difficult situation, the issue of self-employment and additional training, the possibility of mastering a new profession is especially acute. Thanks to Liebenthal training complex, we were able to quickly form a response to this challenge.

Our trainers and specialists adapted existing program for adult education. We opened an educational course for IDPs for writing real business plans and receiving mini-grants from the state under the “E-hroshi” program, thanks to which, now some of our graduates have already received money for start-up and became private entrepreneurs.

2 IDP training courses have already been held, in which 18 IDPs took part. Training for IDP also includes technical support and mentoring after the end of the full-time part of the training.