Senior EU official visits recovery camp for children and teachers from Ukrainian frontline city of Pokrovsk

On 18 May, Peter Wagner, Head of the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) of the European Commission, visited the ‘Green School Recovery Camp’. 

The retreat camp is organised by the Lviv Sincere Heart Charity Foundation as part of  ‘Integrated support for war-affected children, families and communities’ project, funded by the European Union and implemented by the Solidarity Fund PL in Ukraine.

The camp brings together around 70 high school students and teachers from a lyceum in the frontline city of Pokrovsk (Donetsk Oblast). Before joining the camp, the participants had been studying and working remotely under constant shelling and were forced to relocate.

The retreat camp aims to create a safe space for in-person interaction and help address educational losses caused by prolonged remote learning and living in wartime conditions. The agenda combines educational, social, and psycho-emotional components.

During his visit to the camp, Wagner said that places like the ‘Green School Recovery Camp’ provided the young generation of Ukrainians “with the opportunity to learn in at least some relative peace, build friendships in person and enjoy a sense of normality”.

As part of the ‘Integrated support for war-affected children, families and communities’ project, the Solidarity Fund PL in Ukraine, together with 16 partner NGOs, plans to conduct 103 camps between April and September this year for approximately 4,300 children, their families, and teachers affected by the war. The camps are intended to strengthen psychological resilience through rapid access to psychosocial rehabilitation and educational support for children, adolescents, and their families.

Last year, the Solidarity Fund PL in Ukraine, together with 10 NGO partners, organised and conducted 29 retreats, camps, and rehabilitation programmes for approximately 2,000 children, their families, and educators. Children and adults from 23 regions of Ukraine and the city of Kyiv participated in these rehabilitation initiatives.

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