Displaced Ukrainian Youth: Displaced Futures?

Displacement from Ukraine affects people from very different walks of life. Their experiences, needs, and strategies vary. Through two contrasting case studies, this ZOiS Report considers the different trajectories of displaced young Ukrainians, examining the implications of their journeys and highlighting the agency of the individuals involved.

• The report focuses on the youth (those aged 18–34), a dimension of displacement that has not yet gained sufficient attention in public debate beyond the issue of schooling. Ultimately, young Ukrainians are a vital component of Ukraine’s recovery. Their experiences, identities, and intentions to either return home or engage from abroad are important aspects of their potential roles in Ukraine’s future.
• Young Ukrainians share a strong commitment to playing an active role in Ukraine’s recovery, but their ideas about how to do so vary considerably. Some are in a holding pattern, waiting for the possibility to return, while others are making their lives and careers abroad and want to have a stake in Ukraine’s recovery from there. The policy challenge for Ukraine and its international partners is to enable both approaches, rather than assume the large-scale return of young people based on a narrow definition of human capital.
• Members of this age group typically find themselves abroad without their parents or other family members. They keep in close contact with relatives in Ukraine but have to rely on the networks they build in their new places of residence, often around Ukrainian or local contacts they already had. The displaced youth seem not to rely much on the help of non-governmental organisations or social benefits paid out by host countries. They also tend not to consider themselves refugees entitled to support. Some receive support from their families in Ukraine.
• Young displaced individuals face particular challenges, for example finding a job despite incomplete education or limited work experience. However, they may on average have fewer problems with learning or using the language of their host country, in particular in Poland.