Support Ukrainian Women to Build New Future

Over the life of the project, 103 women participated in training. A total of 75 women found employment. Over 80% of those employed are are internally displaced persons who have now built new lives in their host communities.

Training proved to be the decisive factor: 65% of all successful employment cases were a direct result of learning a new profession through the project, and over 70% of graduates have already monetized their new skills. More than 40% of recent graduates chose self-employment — opening their own small businesses as hairdressers, confectioners, beauticians, and seamstresses.

New professions learned this period included pizzaiolo, embroidery craftswoman, manicurist, confectioner, accountant, and beauty/lash artist.

Psychological recovery remained central to our approach. Our team provided individual counseling sessions, continued Self Help+ peer support groups and ran our Women's Club, introducing new activities like yoga and DIY.

Two Stories of Transformation

Olena, a young woman from Kherson Oblast, had social anxiety after evacuating to Europe. She came dack to Ukraine. Through the project, she turned her passion for tattooing into a certified profession. Today she runs her own practice, often working with her father's brothers-in-arms and describes her craft as both her livelihood and her healing.

Mariia, a mother raising 10 children in a family-type children's home, lost everything when her family was displaced from Volnovakha. Through the project, she trained as a junior nurse and podiatrist. She now runs a home practice while teaching the profession to her own daughters. "You have to let go of what was and live in a new way," she says.