Youth Empowerment Support in Ukraine Project (WB-P505079)

Regions
  • Europe and Central Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Ukraine
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • World Bank (WB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Nov 30, 2026
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Government of Ukraine - Ministry of Youth and Sports; ISAR Ednannia
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Education and Health
  • Law and Government
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Grant
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 2.75 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 2.75 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ WB website

Updated in EWS Sep 16, 2026

Disclosed by Bank Jul 20, 2026

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the objective of this project is to improve employment outcomes and opportunities for vulnerable young people to engage in their communities in select project areas.

The Youth Empowerment Support in Ukraine project is a US$2.75 million grant, financed by the Japan Social Development Fund, that responds to the impact of Russia's invasion on young Ukrainians, including displacement, disrupted education, income loss, deteriorating mental health, and eroded youth infrastructure and services. Its development objective is to increase access to employment opportunities and civic initiatives, and to improved facilities, for young people in select project areas.

The project will be implemented by ISAR Ednannia, an experienced Ukrainian civil society organization, and comprises four interconnected components.
- Component 1 improves labor market outcomes for vulnerable youth, focusing on young people not in employment, education or training who are registered with the State Employment Service (SES). Delivered as a targeted pilot in locations agreed with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Economy and SES, it provides employment support through results based contracting of service providers, who deliver packages combining technical skills, socio-emotional skills, counselling and intermediation. Specialized service providers will also aim to serve the more intensive and targeted needs of vulnerable groups such as veterans and persons with disabilities. The component is designed to mirror the anticipated Youth Guarantee Program and to generate lessons for future nationwide scale up.
- Component 2 builds skills and provides opportunities for young people to lead civic initiatives that address socioeconomic challenges of importance to youth in their communities. Applying the YouthBank approach, it provides competitive subgrants to youth councils and civil society organizations to identify, design and implement practical responses to local recovery and development priorities.
- Component 3 ensures that there are physical spaces of sufficient quality for youth groups to organize and implement activities at the local self government level, at a time when resources are severely constrained. Through packages of materials, equipment and minor rehabilitation, it revitalizes youth centers and encourages local self governments to invest sustainably in youth infrastructure.
- Component 4 finances project management, stakeholder coordination, monitoring and evaluation, and knowledge dissemination, ensuring effective implementation and adaptation to evolving challenges based on lessons learned.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

Environmental and Social Risk Classification (ESRC): Moderate

Core project activities include training, mentorship, youth-led civic engagement, and the rehabilitation and equipping of youth centers, along with capacity building for local governments and civil society organizations. Potential ES risks from small refurbishments of youth centers are worksite-related and include waste generation, air emissions, noise, occupational health and safety, and community health and safety risks. They are expected to be minor, localized, and reversible. The project does not involve large-scale infrastructure, significant resource extraction, or activities in environmentally sensitive or protected areas. Key social risks relate to transparent and equitable selection of beneficiaries such as youth centers and youth including vulnerable groups such as internally displaced persons, persons with disabilities, and those in remote areas.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

A US$2.75 million grant, financed by the Japan Social Development Fund.

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

ISAR Ednannia is a Ukrainian public organization that has supported the development of civil society and a culture of strategic philanthropy for over 25 years, strengthening initiatives for building democracy in Ukraine.Strategic areas of our work include sectoral support of civil society, ensuring enabling legal environment for civil society, developing a culture of philanthropy at the international and local levels, empowering Ukrainian youth through the Resilient Generation Project Cluster, creating a platform for intersectoral dialogue and cooperation, and building and establishing democracy in Ukraine.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - ISAR Ednannia Client -

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

CONTACT POINT - World Bank

Task Team Leader: Cornelius Claus Von Lenthe
Title: Economist
Email: cvonlenthe@worldbank.org

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

To submit an information request for project information, you will have to create an account to access the Access to Information request form. You can learn more about this process at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/access-to-information/request-submission

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE WORLD BANK

The World Bank Inspection Panel is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by a World Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Inspection Panel, they may investigate to assess whether the World Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can contact the Inspection Panel or submit a complaint by emailing ipanel@worldbank.org. Information on how to file a complaint and a complaint request form are available at: https://www.inspectionpanel.org/how-to-file-complaint

How it works

How it works