Girls and Young Women Are Key to Ukraine’s Recovery

Ukraine is entering its fifth year of war. I write these words with a heavy heart from Odesa — a city where life is punctuated with the blaring of sirens and the falling of bombs. It is cold, with average temperatures hovering around freezing. Frequent Russian strikes on energy infrastructure mean many of us are unable to heat our homes. 

Global media coverage of this grim milestone will likely focus on painstakingly slow peace talks. Some outlets will recap years of tit-for-tat military exchanges. But for most of us here, the immediate focus is survival. 

Men pay a heavy price on the battlefield. Girls and young women pay it behind the frontlines. 

Children in frontline areas have spent an average of more than 5,000 hours in underground bunkers since the war began. Across the country, 17% of educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed. And one in five young people has lost a friend or family member.

In frontline areas, more than 80% of preschool-age children show signs of emotional distress or developmental delays. There has been an alarming rise in conditions such as PTSD, speech impairments and behavioral difficulties. 

The war has burdened girls and young women with additional caregiving duties, exposed them to greater risks of gender-based violence, and left many in a state of grief. It has had other consequences, too. 

A generation has been left traumatized. 

As a youth engagement specialist with Plan International, my work centers on helping young Ukrainians continue learning and building skills despite the war. We provide education and training in schools, universities, and online — offering courses in financial literacy, cybersecurity, career development, and advocacy.

Through our Champions of Change program, we also back youth-led initiatives and forums that give girls and young women space to voice their experiences and shape their vision for the future. Even under relentless strain, young people here continue to show remarkable resilience. More than half are actively involved in volunteer efforts, supporting their communities while navigating a war that has upended their own lives.

The hundreds of thousands of girls and young women my team and I work with every day are hungry for opportunities. At youth forums, in festivals and in classrooms, they tell us that they want their voices heard, that they want the opportunity to lead. They know that they will be the ones who shoulder the enormous task of rebuilding Ukraine when the war finally ends.

Listening to girls means more than just hearing their voices – it's about handing them real decision-making power. In a Plan International project at a Kyiv school, teenage girls alongside their peers led the redesign and transformation of an underused patch of land into a vibrant open-air space for students. As part of Earth Day, they organized tree planting activities and proudly brandished the slogan: “We Are Equal on This Planet – We Have Equal Responsibilities.”

On the surface, these may seem like modest efforts set against the backdrop of a brutal war. Yet they offer a glimpse of what rebuilding Ukraine could — and should — look like. By shaping their school environments and contributing visibly to their communities, these young women began to restore a sense of agency that years of conflict had tried to take from them.

When partners of Ukraine look towards the future, they cannot afford to leave girls and young women behind. Urgent investments are needed in education and psychosocial support to equip the next generation of leaders with the skills needed to rebuild a country. Funding gaps in 2025 had a clear negative impact on the provision of mental health, gender-based violence and child protection services. 

Success will not only be measured in the number of bridges repaired or homes reconstructed, but also in whether today’s girls become tomorrow’s engineers, teachers, social workers, entrepreneurs and political leaders. These outcomes are not mutually exclusive — they go hand in hand.

The choices made today by policymakers, donors and humanitarian actors will shape whether Ukraine’s recovery, when the guns stop blazing, lasts. Girls and young women must be heard — and given real opportunities to shape their futures. A stronger Ukraine will emerge only when they are equipped and trusted to lead its future.