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During training sessions the participants could formu-late rules and traditions of a club-cafe, address broad rangeof problems and conflicts in youth environment. Role-plays and communicative training sessions with various sit-uational tasks were offered to the participants. One sessionwas dedicated to club-cafe staff safety.

The trainees had a chance to apply the acquiredknowledge in practical situations. The seminar pro-gramme stipulated participants’ work in children’scamps in the afternoons.

In the course of training the issues of sex and reproduc-tive health were also addressed; relevant conceptual andcategorising tools were identified; the social factor impacton sexual and reproductive health of the young people wasinvestigated. Seminar participants discussed a number ofstrategic issues aimed at harm reduction and STD spread-ing prevention.

At the final session the participants were offered a ques-tionnaire, in order to identify positive and negative aspectsin the course of the seminar. The questionnaire resultsshowed that all the participants were satisfied with theprogramme and expressed their wish to take part in morerole-plays and to have a manual based on the seminarmaterials.

All training participants were involved in the programmeimplementation in their respective organisations. Traininghelped them to concentrate their efforts on finding newresources, needed for the completion of the project. That’swhy the clubs showed significant diversity in their opera-tion. Thus, the club at the youth social service of Kharkivskydistrict functioned in the open air as a sort of play-ground,the club in Zhovtnevy district – as a club for students,NGOs have chosen Health Centre form with work-outequipment.

On May 5-10, 1999 the seminar «Promotion of healthylife styles among teenagers and young people» was con-ducted for the staff workers and volunteers of youth club-cafes. Altogether 41 people participated in the seminar,among them volunteers from district youth social servicesof Kyiv, youth club-cafes staff from Kyiv, Odessa,Dnipropetrovsk.

Club-cafe in Zhovtnevy district eventually expandedand started to invite the students from other Kyiv educa-tional establishments. By late 2000 it became a real youthcentre for the young people who not only wished to findnew friends and participate in the trainings, but also todisseminate new practices in their own universities. Theclub name «Soul kitchen» came into being after the firstyear of operation. The number of permanent membersreached 25, while the number of frequent patronsamounts to 50 and more.

In the club the youngsters can listen to the amateurs’songs; learn more about the life of celebrities, participate in

the debates on harm caused by alcohol, cigarettes anddrugs; get psychologist’s consultation; address the chal-lenges of students’ life.

To evaluate the efficiency of youth club-cafes operation,a survey was conducted among the members of club – cafe«Soul kitchen», which functions under the auspices ofNational Technical University «Kyiv Polytechnic Institute»-the most renowned school in Ukraine, and the youth club«Sakura» under NGO «Our Children» from Odessa.

All the guests of club-cafe «Soul kitchen» at the age of 16- 22 study, while 53% of them work at the same time.

The frequency of club meetings’ attendance testifies toits good operation. 54% are permanent visitors, 33% camefor the first time. 87% learnt about the club from theirpals; all the rest came by chance. It leads us to the conclu-sion that the youngsters are not interested in ads, so theyare not efficient for the promotion of a club. The systemof peers’ information is much more efficient However, itcan be really effective only if the meetings are attractivefor the young.

The club meeting was dedicated to «The Beatles» anddrug abuse issues. All the participants said the topic wasinteresting and only 20% sustained from participating inthe discussion.

As to the meeting itself, the respondents confirmed thatit was well organised; however, many expressed their wishto have more time for communication, as there was certaintime limit.

The respondents offered their own criteria for the evalu-ation of club activities: number of people participating inthe meetings, the whole atmosphere of calm, chance toparticipate in discussions personally, availability of interest-ing and useful information, meeting people who think andfeel the same way. 89% of respondents have given the clubthe highest mark on most of these criteria - «5», which tes-tifies to the high efficiency of club operation, proper choiceof topics, and ability to create the right atmosphere duringthe meetings. All club guests confirmed their intention toparticipate in the next meeting and its preparation.

These young people are the champions of club-cafes;they help to engage new volunteers. It is noteworthy, thatprogramme is implemented by National TechnicalUniversity «Kyiv Polytechnic Institute» students who haveexperience in providing social services for the young peo-ple.

Youth and family club «Sakura» was created in Odessaunder NGO «Our Children» in November 1997. It is attend-ed by children and young adults at the age of 17 to 23.

The main goal of the club’s activities is negative phe-nomena prevention among the young people, involving

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them in healthy life style promotion, organising qualityleisure for the young. First the club activities were targetedmainly at children of 7-14 years of age, but soon the agelimit was raised to 18 years. The audience did not changesignificantly in the course of the club’s operation, althoughnew categories of visitors, i.e. social orphans (childrenneglected by their parents) appeared. They found heretheir right place, many participated in the activities of theclub and «Our Children», became volunteers.

Within these years the club members succeeded inengaging young people in various forms of entertainmentand recreation, supporting their creative initiatives. Manyinformation events covering negative phenomena preven-tion in youth environment and children’s rights wereorganised, e.g. young artists competitions, discussions onchildren’s rights and related issues etc; «School for leaders»,«School for future businessmen» are in operation; a volun-teers’ group to work at schools was formed.

Over the years 1997-2000 youth and family club«Sakura» carried out:

� about 230 information and educational events forteenagers and young adults; they were aimed at devel-oping personal skills, professional orientation,HIV/AIDS prevention, learning individual rights etc.

� 43 «peer to peer» trainings and seminars on projectpreparation, NGO management, work with volun-teers, youth leadership etc

� 36 «round tables» addressing the issues «Healthy lifestyles»; «How to bring up healthy young generation»;«Youth leadership» etc;

� 27 training seminars with non-governmental part-ner organisations from Odessa and other cities ofUkraine;

� 56 lectures on healthy life styles for the young peoplefrom Odessa and Belgorod-Dnistrovsky;

� about 32 competitions of drawings on the suggestedtopics «Healthy Life Style», «Children’s rights» etc.

� published 3 thousand booklets prepared by the pro-gramme participants for their peers ;

� about 50 thousand children, teenagers, youngstersand their parents attended club-cafe and participatedin its activities;

To support the public initiatives and activity of the«Alcohol and Drugs Prevention Information Centre»(ADIC-Ukraine) there were also launched the Campaign«Tobacco Free World» in May 2000. At the first stage, con-ducted within the framework of the «Youth for healthy lifestyle» All-Ukrainian open-air Gathering, children designedcomics on proposed topics. About 200 participants from

Ukraine, Russia andBelarus took part in thecampaign. 50 partici-pants, whose works werepublished and distribut-ed in schools and youthclubs of Kyiv, became thewinners.

Within the «TobaccoFree World» Campaign,the second stage includ-ed competition betweennon-smoking youthclubs under Kyiv NGOs.

The competition wasorganised to enhanceyoung people’s participa-tion in tobacco smoking prevention, to introduce newmethods of healthy life style promotion in children’s andyouth non-governmental organisations. A task forceincluding the club members was formed; CompetitionRegulations were designed; promotional materials cover-ing the event were prepared.

Between April 15 and May 15, 2000 the terms and condi-tions of the competition were announced through massmedia, district SSCYP, Kyiv youth NGOs at the YouthOrganisations Fair (15.04.2000). The youth clubs accredita-tion for their participation in the competition was complet-ed by June 1, 2000. The task force received information con-cerning various clubs’ activities. Three clubs«Hart», «Vidrada» and «Mangup» were recognised as the best

The Statute of «Hart» scout organization requires of itsmembers to take proper care of their health. That’s whyparticipation in «Tobacco Free World» competition was nota novelty for «Hart»members. They pro-posed to start a youthclub «Tobacco FreeWorld» with the follow-ing ground rules:

1. Offer alternative tosmoking by youractions;

2. Inform your friendsa b o u t s m o k i n ghazards;

3. Actively participatein club’s events.

Children and youthorganization «Vidrada»developed its own con-cept of non-smokingclub: each teenager iscapable of making aresponsible decisionand consciously abs-tains from smoking,even if his peer or palsmokes. The club’s con-cept was based on con-viction that even achild of the school ageshould act responsibly,i.e. not to start smoking.

Children should beaware of the fact that

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they have enough self-respect and self-control to decidenot to smoke.

It is noteworthy that the name «Tobacco Free World» waschosen so as to avoid the traditional system of prohibitions.There is absolutely no need to smoke in order to feel up-to-date and confident among peers

Young people were involved in the club’s activities on«peer to peer» basis. At the club meetings members identi-fied the non-smoking areas, and then presented them onthe district map as «Smoking-free areas».

At the same time, the district schools organised students’parties where the video clips depicting smoking hazardsand promoting healthy life style were shown; surveys andpolls were conducted.

Over the whole preparatory stage the events under thetitle «No to tobacco», aimed at banning any cigarettes pro-motion, have been carried out in the city streets.

Club members published and disseminated anti-adver-

tisements of tobaccoproducts in theNGOs, schools andyouth centres.

Club-cafe mem-bers from NGO«Mangup» suggestedtheir own ways ofsmoking prevention:join their organiza-tion and becomeh i k e r - v o l u n t e e r .Hiking and ethno-graphic expeditionsand trips, break-dan-ce present, in theiropinion, an excel-lent alternative tosmoking.

The second stage included the competition, which washeld on November 16, 2000 in Social Work Centre forChildren and Young People in Kyiv. 120 children and youngadults took part in the competition; the club-cafes of youthorganisations «Vidrada», «Hart» and «Mangup» became thewinners.

The Youth club «Intellectual Collegium» was officially regis-tered as NGO in August 2000. The club’s activities are specifi-cally oriented at creating the centre for creative young peo-ple, introducing educational valeological programmes, con-

ducting trainings onvarious youth-relatedissues, including pro-motion of healthy lifestyles.

Challenges.Youth club-cafes

challenges arise fromthe necessity to rentthe premises andequipment. Such aproject requires inter-action with other pro-gramme components,in order to providepermanent back-upneeded for the club’soperation. Another challenge is the constant need forreinforcing educational and counselling component toprovide regular individual support to the club members.

Conclusions.Implementation of «Youth club-cafes» project made it

possible to design and introduce new approaches andmethods of social work, to engage substantial number ofvolunteers into the programme, to promote informationconcerning healthy life style in its diversity.

The programme interacts with other subprojects withinthe project «Youth friendly environments», involving theirparticipants in their activities and events.

Since year 2000 the setting up of club-cafes has beenincluded into the work plans of the youth social services inKyiv.

4.3. Introducing interactive and outreach forms ofyouth and social work

Despite of the fact that the system of extracurricularactivities has been in place in Kyiv for many years,

offering children and teenagers interesting and diverserecreation as alternative to the hazardous phenomena (i.e.drug use, misdemeanour, spread of STIs), still remains acrucial issue.

UNICEF, proceeding from the Convention on theRights of the Child, considers support and promotionfor its provisions and creating conditions for children’sintegral development in safe environment as one of itspriorities.

With that end in view, in 1999 UNICEF launched in Kyiva pilot model of subproject «Street playgrounds» which isone of the new forms of outreach work with children andtheir families.

Project goal:

� ensure the interpersonal communication and partici-pation in the social life by the way of establishmentand development of youth clubs’ and street play-grounds’ activities, providing occupation and enter-tainment for teenagers and young people, who spenda major part of their time in the streets;

The following manuals were designed to help preven-tive activities in schools, youth clubs and centres:

T .Andreeva, K. Krasovskiy. Survival course for non-smokers. 2000;

- How I quitted smoking ..: Anthology of real stories, /ed. T. Andreeva, K. Krasovskiy – 2000;

Life situations approach to tobacco-smoking preven-tion. Guidelines for facilitator. l // T. Andreeva,K. Krasovskiy, A. Gavrilchenko, A .Dovbakh, E. Mit-rofanova, A. Ovechkina, T. Salyuk, A.A. Bogoslovski / Ed..A. Andreeva, K.Krasovski, Part 1, 2000.

Life situations approach to tobacco-smoking preven-tion. Myths and facts // T.Andreeva, K.Krasovskiy,A. Gavrilchenko, A. Dovbakh, E. Mitrofanova, A.Ovechkina, T. Salyuk, A.A. Bogoslovski / Ed.. A. Andreeva,K.Krasovski, Part 3, 2000.

� negative phenomena prevention among children andyoungsters.

Activities: process, results.Topical relay races, mobile games, competitions, festive

events have been organised within the framework of«Street playgrounds» subproject. Street playgrounds canbe roughly divided into two categories: permanent andmobile. Altogether, there are about 25 permanent play-grounds in Kyiv. Over the year 2000 each programme hascarried out about 160 playground events, so that over100 thousand children and their parents were given achance to enjoy quality entertainment; specialists and

volunteers re-ceived individualcounselling, mai-nly of social andp e d a g o g i c a lnature. The re-ports show that20 thousand chil-dren and youngpeople were offe-red such coun-selling,

In 1999 the first training course was designed and aseminar for the street playgrounds’ instructors was con-ducted. Eventually it became a permanent school of«play specialists» for Kyiv volunteers.

The observation of 23 playground events, which tookplace in May-June 2001, each event lasted, on the average,about 2-3 hours; the events were carried out in the spe-cialised children’s playgrounds, district parks, yards andschool playgrounds, movie theatres and cultural centres’premises, and in such crowded places as Khreshchatykstreet and Hydropark recreation area. It is a positive resultthat almost all Kyiv districts organise these events on aregular basis (once or twice a week).

Playground events are a number of games and playsoffered to children and teenagers to provide qualityentertainment and promote healthy life style. The surveyconducted with children and parents showed that usual-ly sports and mobile games are offered in the majority ofthe districts;: 70% of children play with other kids andtheir friends, 10% - play with brother or sister, and about20% (i.e. one in five) – with volunteers ( this concernsmainly young children). It is characteristic of Kyiv youthsocial services to distribute information materials on psy-chological and legal issues during such events: they handout booklets on children’s rights, parents’ guidelines etc;they invite free-lance lawyers and psychologists, whoprovide on-site counselling for parents and leave theircredentials encouraging parents to approach them incase of need.

The review of answers given by playground events’ partic-ipants to the question «Have you approached YSSC staff forhelp during the event?» clearly shows that the main task of

such events isproviding qualityentertainment forthe children andt e e n a g e r s ,because 73% ofr e s p o n d e n t snever approa-ch e d a n y b o d yfor help, 27%, i.e.each third res-pondent only

asked staff and volunteers for information. Practically allthe questions concerned the rules of the games, 2 ques-tions – how to become a volunteer and what a volunteer is,1 question – when the next event will take place, and onlyone respondent seeking social assistance approached apsychologist.

The situation is oppositewith the questions add-ressed by the parents tothe YSSC staff were notlimited to information ( i.e.when and where the nextevent will take place), butalso concerned the possi-bilities of obtaining psy-chological, legal and otherassistance. All the parents-respondents stated theywould be happy to cometo the next events.

Within the frameworkof the programme «Odessabackyards» the local sport and educational centre «Start-1» and NGO «Our children» organised with UNICEF sup-port 5 playground events for neglected children.

It turned out that the main playground events partici-pants were children at the age of 11-15 years (75%), andyoung people at the age of 17-18 years (25%).

The majority of children like to play tennis, football andbadminton, i.e. active sports games; they also like to meetnew friends.

During these events about one third of participantsasked for assistance. All of them are counselled by the psy-chologists from the youth social services.

Developing further the «Street playgrounds» subproject,UNICEF took into account Social Services Centre’s initia-tive and purchased the playground equipment for thestreet playgrounds in Chernihiv, Ternopil, Luhansk, Kyivregions and Simferopol to improve social work on thelocal level.

Challenges:

� Insufficient advertising of the fact that all servicesare free in the playground can be considered a draw-back.

� Some youth social services under KCSA sometimeschange sites for playground events, which reducessubstantially the efficiency of social work with chil-dren that spend major part of their time in the streetsand the effectiveness of social and pedagogical workout in the streets.

Project’s results:Programme’s positive impact and efficiency hardly can

be assessed in statistical terms, as it is a long-term pro-gramme targeted at remote results.

The immediate results of the subproject, on Kyivexample, are as follows:

� Eventual increase in the number of volunteers. Thebest subproject result is children’s and teenagers’involvement in the volunteers movement, whichbecame possible due to their participation in the play-grounds events

� The best volunteers, who have been trained andacquired practical experience, were recommended for

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work in district social services for the young people asinvited specialists;

� The analysis of observa-tions and parents’ answersto the quest ionnaireshows that both parentsand children are veryhappy with playgroundsas a form of entertain-ment. Among the mainreasons for parents’ beingcontent are: kids’ satisfac-tion (40%), friendliness ofsocial workers and volun-teers (30%), opportunityfor children to meet otherchildren and play withthem (20%), availability of playground and playmatesfor the kids (10%), a chance for the parents to havesome rest;

� The fact that 80% of volunteers-respondents havebeen working within this programme for 1 to 3 yearsand 20% became volunteers in 2001 contributes sig-nificantly to the programme’s efficiency. Thus, on theone hand, they are fully aware of the social work theyare doing, while on the other, the youth social ser-vices have found effective ways and methods forenhancing volunteers’ motivation in this pro-gramme.

The main asset of this project is that from pilot it becamea planned project for the youth social services and is nowfinanced by the state.

Today the playground events organised by youth socialservices of Kyiv districts demonstrate the quantitative ten-dency towards growth: compared to 1999 their number in2000 increased 1.4 times (see Graph 5).

In 2001 a permanent children’s playground re-con-structed with support from UNICEF and Robert Bosch Ltd.company and in co-operation with the Kyiv CityAdministration, was inaugurated in Taras Shevchenko Park.

Executors.The executors of the project are the staff workers of

youth social services centres, invited specialists and volun-teers, as well as non-governmental organisational

The quantitative composition of the volunteers teamsinvolved in the project, differs by the districts. For exam-

ple, in summer 2001 the total number of volunteers inRadyansky district amounted to 75 persons, inShevchenkivsky district – to 54, in some districts it waslimited to small teams of 15 volunteers (youth social ser-vices in Starokyivsky, Podilsky, Zhovtnevy and other dis-tricts). Volunteers’ groups are composed mainly ofschool and institute students; only the workers ofMoskovsky district youth social service involved even theactors of «Vis-a-vis» theatre into the playground events.All volunteers are trained in the district volunteers’schools, they are offered trainings and seminars. Thecomparison of the volunteers’ age within the years 1999-2001 shows that by now the main body of volunteershave become younger: if in 1999 the volunteers wererecruited mainly among the first-year students and voca-tional schools graduates (average volunteer’s age was16.5), in 2000-2001 the age limit decreased to 15 yearsand it is mainly high-school and vocational school stu-dents that become volunteers.

As a rule, the project is co-ordinated by a staff member ofsocial service; professionals are involved to perform specif-ic tasks in the project: teachers, social trainers, lawyers, andworkers of entertainment industry. Altogether over theyear 2000 13 staff specialists primarily trained in seminarsand trainings were involved in the programme implemen-tation in Kyiv.

In Odessa playground events are organised by NGO«Our Children». In Chernihiv, Ternopil, Luhansk and Kyivregions this work is undertaken by the municipal and dis-trict YSSC.

Conclusions.The programme «Street

playgrounds» launched byUNICEF is a new practice ofstreet social work custo-mised to the local conditions.Now it has become popularnot only in Kyiv, but also inother regions of Ukraine.

The street playgrounds arehighly appreciated by bothchildren and parents; thenumber of programme partic-ipants is eventually growing.

The example of playground construction together with«Robert Bosch Ltd» shows the possibilities of attracting pri-vate businesses to the resolving of children’s problems. Itwould be expedient to disseminate this experiencethrough describing it and submitting the information inthe form of guidelines to the youth social services, NGO,and private business agents.

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Graph 5.