"For the first time, I was able to explain what I was feeling and I was listened to. Before, I used to fight, I carried an aggression with me that I couldn't explain, but now I realise that I can talk, relate in a different way."

The words of K., a high school student from Zaporizhzhia, which we collected at the end of a course on emotionality and restorative practices, clearly convey the sense of our intervention this past year in Ukraine.

Among the most serious consequences of the Russian aggression, in fact, in addition to the humanitarian crisis, the devastation of territories and the environment, and the pain of so many families, there are also the hidden wounds: the impact that more than three years of war are having on the mental health of adults, young people and children, and on the relationships within communities, both those coming from the occupied territories and those that have welcomed them.

This is where we have chosen to focus our intervention with the Ukraine-Romania Joint Initiative for Social Recovery, Inclusion and Community Cohesion project, working on mental health, education, protection and dialogue as foundations for recovery and resilience.

For 16 months, together with the Bukovinian Agency for Initiatives and Development (BAID), theInstitute for Peace and Common Ground (IPCG) and the Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR), we worked with 25 local communities (hromadas) in 11 oblasts, creating spaces where people could meet, recover psychological resources and rebuild relationships fragmented by war and displacement.

THE SCHOOL AS A PLACE OF RECOVERY AND SOCIAL COHESION

We have imagined schools as centres of resilience, privileged places where change can take place starting with the younger generations, active protagonists of the community's response to the crisis.

Through training courses, 500 teachers were involved, strengthening their capacity to recognise trauma and promote psychological recovery, and 73 school leaders, training them in restorative management courses. In addition, 607 students between the ages of 5 and 17 attended courses in psychological support and resilience development. These schools have become safe and inclusive spaces that promote youth participation, dialogue and civic initiatives, contributing to long-term post-conflict social cohesion.

Listening to them also resulted in a desire to give strength to their ideas and concreteness to their abilities to face the daily challenges that war imposes. So we financially supported 15 community initiatives, focusing on social infrastructure, security, inclusion, entrepreneurship and ecological projects. And the results left us speechless.

In Kolomak High School (Kharkiv Oblast), families needed a space to provide first aid to students. The concern of parents and the inability to guarantee the safety of their children was creating a climate of growing anxiety and tension. Thus, a series of facilitated meetings between the administration, medical professionals, representatives of the parents' committee and the community gave rise to the idea of creating a medical centre within the high school. Thanks to the funding, equipment and furniture were purchased, and a medical point was also created in the shelter to ensure safety during emergencies. This was accompanied by courses on first aid and how to act in an emergency.

In the community of Hruhn (Sumy Oblast), in the border area where air raids are the order of the day, the constant threat and interruptions to the electricity supply have made it impossible for the children to continue their studies. Community representatives, educators and parents wondered how to provide them with a safe and accessible educational environment, to the point of imagining an educational space within the shelter itself. And with the funding they received, they made it possible: fire doors were installed, furniture, an uninterruptible power supply, cooler, lights, stationery and creativity materials were purchased.

In both cases, the work of our partner IPCG's experts was crucial in facilitating meetings and enabling communities to fully express fears, needs and share solutions.

HEALING INVISIBLE WOUNDS IN COMMUNITIES AND INDIVIDUALS

I worked many years in Iraq, dealing with mental health and the consequences that the violence of war leaves on people. In Nineveh Governorate, where Daesh's occupation had left deep trauma as well as destruction, we provided psychosocial support, mental health and reproductive health services for women. I know well the value of each listening, each psychological consultation, the need for accompaniment to bring out and manage trauma.

In Ukraine, this intervention was also a key part of the project. Together with our partner BAID, we trained 679 professionals - including psychologists, doctors and social workers - on mental health and psychosocial support: trauma-sensitive care, psychological first aid, and stress management during interventions under complex operational conditions. The latter has been a key component: we have to imagine that, since the beginning of the large-scale invasion, Ukrainian medical personnel and nurses have been working under conditions of constant overload and stress. Every day, they have to deal with hundreds of people suffering physically and psychologically from the war. At the same time, they themselves are under pressure from losses or worrying about their loved ones at the front.

More than 5,600 people were able to access psychosocial support services thanks to the work of trained professionals. These pathways will be integrated into the Ukrainian health and education system to ensure continuity beyond the emergency.
In addition, thanks to a targeted awareness-raising campaign, 5,500 people were informed about the support centres on the ground and the specially created care pathways.

Finally, the Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) programme reached more than 2,500 people. "In the classroom, we no longer just talk about safety, but put it into practice. The students already know how to act when it is really necessary: wearing a gas mask, providing assistance, recognising a dangerous object. It's not just about knowledge, it's about tools for life,' a teacher at Zavodskiy High School (Poltava Oblast) told us.

WITH REFUGEES IN ROMANIA

Finally, in Romania, together with the PATRIR organisation, we supported the thousands of Ukrainian refugees who left the country in the hope of finding a safe haven.
Through our intervention, we provided health, protection and legal services to over 2,100 people, as well as remedial courses, extracurricular activities and Romanian language classes, which involved 143 Ukrainian students. In parallel, cultural activities and vocational training programmes, in which over 2,000 people participated, fostered integration and strengthened links with host communities.

It has been an intense 16 months, in which we have built important ties, which we chose to conclude with an international conference in Kiev: 'From Dialogue to Action'. Hundreds of participants came to share results and relaunch our common commitment to an inclusive, peaceful and lasting recovery.

A long journey of solidarity, together with our partners and the Ukrainian communities, which proved once again that even during a war, communities can build bridges of solidarity and trust, laying the foundations for a cohesive and just future.

The Joint Initiative for Social Recovery, Inclusion and Cohesion of Ukrainian Communities project was implemented with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation through theItalian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) Kiev.

Lia Pastorelli - Desk Program Ukraine