Visits and Meetings with the Teams of Urban Camp, National Rehabilitation Centre UNBROKEN, Interregional Vocational School of Automotive Transport and Construction, and Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (4.04.2025, Lviv)
On 4 April 2025, Luís ALVEIS, Head of Agência Nacional Erasmus+ Juventude/Desporto e Corpo Europeu de Solidariedade, Svitlana SHYTIKOVA, Coordinator of the National Erasmus+ Office – Ukraine, and Kateryna ZHDANOVA, Senior Manager and Coordinator for youth and sport actions of the National Erasmus+ Office – Ukraine, carried out a series of institutional visits in Lviv. With support of Bureau for European Integration of Lviv City Council, the delegation visited key educational and youth institutions, including Urban Camp, National Rehabilitation Centre UNBROKEN, Interregional Vocational School of Automotive Transport and Construction, and Ivan Franko National University of Lviv.
The delegation aimed to learn more about the local organisations’ work, challenges duiring martial law, needs for post-war recovery, and explore cooperation opportunities with Portuguese partners under the Erasmus+ Programme and the European Solidarity Corps.
At UrbanCamp, co-founders Yehor MATIUKHYN and Viktor CHULANOVSKYI introduced the community’s vision and infrastructure, which includes hostel-type temporary housing for displaced families, event and education hub, youth development centre promoting street culture, and public sports places. Luís ALVEIS expressed strong interest in youth exchanges between Portugal and Ukraine and proposed ideas for supporting the enlargement of youth spaces. He highlighted the importance of sharing Ukraine’s unique story of youth resilience and exchanging good practices.
The next visit took place at the National Rehabilitation Centre UNBROKEN, where Mariiana SVIRCHUK and her team presented the centre’s ecosystem, capacities, achievements, international collaborations and future initiatives. Together with the UNBROKEN leadership, the Erasmus+ representatives discussed possibilities for joint projects with Portuguese institutions focusing on knowledge exchange in rehabilitation and joint research. They also discussed the possibilities to support the new initiative of “UNBROKEN University” through the Programme.
The delegation continued the programme meeting two educational institutions: the Interregional Vocational School of Automotive Transport and Construction and Ivan Franko National University of Lviv.
At the Vocational School of Automotive Transport and Construction, Sviatoslav VYTVYTSKYI, Deputy Director, presented the institution, their experience of successful cooperation with local and international companies, results from ongoing Erasmus+ projects, and how those partnerships helped boosting the school’s competitiveness in the region. Participants discussed current challenges and explored collaboration with Portuguese institutions under Erasmus+ to strengthen the school’s capacity.
The final visit of the day brought the delegation to Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, where they met with members of the University: Oksana MOLDERF, Head of the Centre for International Cooperation; Adriana TEREKHOVSKA, Specialist at the Centre for International Cooperation; Markiyan MALSKYI, Professor and Dean of the Faculty of International Relations; Marianna HLADYSH, Associate Professor at the Department of International Security and Strategic Studies; Kateryna NAIDION, Representative of the Student Government of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv; Mykhailo MYKIEVYCH, Professor, Head of the Department of European Law, and Deputy Dean for Research and Educational Affairs at the Faculty of International Relations; Yurii HUDYMA, Head of the University History Museum. The university team presented youth-led initiatives supported by the institution and its cooperation with local communities through Erasmus+ projects. They also shared their successful mobility and cooperation experiences with Portuguese universities in capacity-building and partnership projects highlighting the value of such cooperation and sharing ideas for future joint projects involving youth in international activities, as well as agreed to co-organise events in summer 2025.
The participants visited the University’s EU Integration Centre and Youth Space, Faculty of International Relations, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and the University Museum.
Throughout all day meetings, the National Erasmus+ Office – Ukraine provided consultations to each institutions on opportunities under Erasmus+ calls and discussed next steps to ensure sustainable and long-term cooperation.
Moving Forward Together!