Safety Policy: The UCU Child Dignity Centre ran a certification programme for representatives of the civil society sector

On 7–9 September, the Centre for Child Dignity at the Ukrainian Catholic University, in partnership with the ZMIN Foundation, ran a three-day training course as part of the new intake for the certification programme ‘Creating a Safe Environment for Children: Safety Policy within Organisations’. This time, 22 representatives from the civil society sector took part in the event.

“This is already our 12th certification programme. Such training courses are a priority for the Centre, as they enhance the culture of child safety within the civil society sector, and the civil society sector takes on an educational role, that of safe adults. We are proud of all the organisations that look after children not just on a project-by-project basis, but systematically,” says Khrystyna Shabat, head of the UCU Child Dignity Centre.

This intake for the training programme is special.

“This time, thanks to our partnership with the ZMIN Foundation, we had the opportunity to independently select organisations to participate in the programme. After all, a child protection policy is a vital component in creating a safe environment for children within an organisation,” emphasised Iryna Vakulina, head of the ‘Civil Society Sector’ division at the UCU Child Dignity Centre.

The ZMIN Foundation stresses that this programme is important because it focuses, in particular, on the capacity of the organisations themselves to create a safe environment for children.

‘A child’s safety cannot depend solely on the goodwill or competence of any one individual. It must be embedded in the institution’s rules, processes and culture. This is precisely where we see the systemic nature of the programme: it shifts the focus from responding to individual cases to preventing risks and creating an environment in which the organisation takes responsibility for the child’s safety. In this sense, a child protection policy is not merely a document, but a way of agreeing on standards of behaviour and accountability and making them part of day-to-day work,” notes Nataliia Paslavska, the foundation’s programme manager.

Representatives of civil society organisations from various parts of Ukraine took part in the training. As well as the Lviv region, there were participants from Zakarpattia, Volyn, as well as from Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Kyiv.

“During the selection process, we did not set ourselves any geographical restrictions – for example, that only organisations from frontline areas should be included. Colleagues from Zakarpattia told us that our training is very valuable to them, as most donor programmes are focused on the eastern and central parts of Ukraine. We also understand that in Zakarpattia, a relatively safe region, there are a great many children who have relocated, and working with them presents its own challenges,” adds Iryna Vakulina.

Tetyana Vovchok from the ‘Life’ Charitable Foundation has come from Khust to take part in the training. She emphasises that their organisation is in dire need of a safety policy.

“Most of our activities involve children. That is why we need to understand how to deal with them, and who should respond to particular incidents and when. I believe that training like this is essential for all civil society organisations and charitable foundations working with children. It is the foundation of our work,” says Tetiana Vovchok.

Representatives from relatively new organisations, which have been in existence for just over a year, took part in the training.

The NGO ‘Prime’ was founded in June 2025. Its founders recognise the importance of a safety policy, which is why they joined our certification programme.

“We work with teenagers. Their safety is our priority. We organise various events and outings for them. To ensure our work is effective and of high quality, and to reduce stress and minimise the use of our resources on various unpleasant situations, we need to have a safety policy. It will help create a safe and comfortable environment for teenagers, teachers and mentors,” says Kateryna Taushkanova, co-founder of ‘Prime’.

Over the course of three days, participants attended lectures and practical sessions.

Khrystyna Shabat spoke about child dignity, threats to children’s safety, and how experiences gained in childhood influence later life. She presented the findings of the Centre’s first sociological study on sexual violence in Ukraine and emphasised that a safety policy is an effective tool for preventing violence against children.

“A child’s dignity is the stance of justice towards the child held by adults,” emphasises Khrystyna Shabat.

Yuliana Maslak, a child psychiatrist and psychotherapist specialising in cognitive-behavioural therapy, spoke about the causes of childhood trauma and how adults can minimise it.

“What traumatises children most is the absence of eyes that look at them with love,” emphasises Yuliana Maslak.

Addressing the programme participants, she noted: “You are developing safety policies, so it is important to understand that a child can be traumatised in various settings. And a great deal depends on adults. However, this does not mean that danger is everywhere.”

Anastasia Shyroka, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCU, explained during her lecture what a safe environment entails and who ‘safe adults’ are in a child’s life.

‘Adverse childhood experiences shorten life expectancy,’ emphasises Anastasia Shiroka. ‘A reliable adult possesses key traits that enable them to form a bond with a child. For this bond to form, a child must know that they are being listened to and that an effort is being made to understand them. They must also feel safe – not just physically, but emotionally too – where no one criticises them or lectures them. This allows them to relax and recover, and gradually to understand who they are and what their strengths are.”

Ivanka Rudakevych, a safeguarding expert and head of the ‘Church’ division at the UCU Centre for the Dignity of the Child, led a practical session in which participants identified risks to children’s safety and sought ways to minimise them, as well as developing a response plan for potential reports of abuse.

During the training, participants actively engaged in discussions and shared their own experiences.

“It is very valuable that representatives of the civil society sector had the opportunity not only to listen to us, the lecturers, but also to their colleagues who work with children on a daily basis. In this way, they were able to receive help or advice and be of use to others,” emphasises Iryna Vakulina.

Danylo Vasylenko is a co-founder of the NGO ‘Prime’. He speaks highly of the programme.

‘Here, we had the opportunity to listen, share and discuss, amongst like-minded people, issues related to safety and the prevention of the sexual exploitation of minors. This is a highly relevant topic for our organisation. We were able to analyse all the challenges we face, as well as organise them, learn how to respond and deal with them, whilst drawing on the support of like-minded colleagues,” says Danylo Vasylenko.

Over the next two months, programme participants will have online consultations with experts from the Centre for Child Dignity to draft safety policies for their organisations.

Photo: Vitalii Hrabar, Maksym Oshchsipko