Students themselves decide whether they need a new sports area, a modern library, or a space for creativity. They discuss ideas, vote, and see their decisions come to fruition. This is exactly how the School’s Public Budget (SPB) works – a digital tool that fosters youth and children’s participation, shaping conscious and influential Ukrainians.

The courses will help make the process of participation by children and youth in decision-making simple and clear for all participants of the educational process.

Oleksandra Radchenko, EGAP Program Public Participation Expert, spoke about the structure of the courses and their practical benefits:

• local government representatives will learn how to support youth initiatives and help implement them;
• teachers will find out how to integrate the School’s Public Budget into the educational process;
• students will learn to initiate changes, vote, and contribute to the school’s development.

The educational courses contain short modules, practical tasks, and real-life examples from Ukrainian schools and communities. Three separate tracks allow each participant to choose content relevant to them – knowledge, tools, or ideas for the next project.

The courses are available free of charge on the Zrozumilo! online educational platform via the link.

The online courses were developed jointly by the Swiss-Ukrainian EGAP Program, implemented by East Europe Foundation, and the Council of Europe “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine’s recovery” project, which is implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Multi-level Governance under the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2023–2026 “Resilience, Recovery, and Reconstruction”, and with expert and methodological support from the Civil Society Development Forum NGO.