Terre des hommes (Tdh) has been providing a range of services to children, young people and their families in eastern Ukraine since 2015. Prior to the full-scale invasion, Tdh implemented diverse projects with a strong focus on psychosocial support, child participation, skills development and access to innovation, youth entrepreneurship, and individual support for mine victims.
After the start of the full-scale invasion in Ukraine and the relocation from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts to Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, Tdh resumed its work in in June 2022, providing support to internally displaced families with children as well as to local host communities, together with partners across 12 oblasts: Ivano-Frankivska, Ternopilska, Khmelnytska, Dnipropetrovska, Chernihivska, Kharkivska, Zaporizhzka, Mykolaivska, Odeska, Sumska, Chernivetska and Zakarpattia. Through various projects, we provide humanitarian aid, child protection and psychosocial support.
Our impact in 2025
Humanitarian aid for internally displaced families
We improve the wellbeing of internally displaced children and their families by equipping accommodation centers, addressing their specific needs related to the winter period and providing cash assistance for families to cover basic needs.
Child protection
We strengthen the child protection system, improve provision of social services, and prevent risky situations by mobilizing communities and training social workers, teachers and other professionals in this field.
Psychosocial support
To help children and their families overcome stress and trauma, psychosocial support is provided through child-friendly spaces, learning spaces and mobile teams, based on Tdh methodologies. Positive parenting sessions are as well provided. The group activities are organized by local partners trained by Tdh or by Tdh mobile teams.
Case management
Case workers provide tailored individualized support to vulnerable children and youth: addressing basic needs, as well as building resilience, by providing psychosocial support, family mediation, and referrals to specialised services.
It's all about children
"I don’t have that many friends, but I do have two or three friends whom I really trust. Many of my classmates moved away and then came back, and now we rarely see each other because we live in different places. That’s why I’m always happy when I come to these events at community spaces," says Kyrylo, a 14-year-old boy from Kharkiv oblast.
Kyrylo attends activities at the Child-Friendly Space set up by Terre des hommes. Together with other children affected by the war, he finds there a safe space to play, reconnect with friends, and momentarily escape the fear and uncertainty of daily life under air raid sirens. Supported by caring facilitators, children like Kyrylo are able to dream again, rebuild their confidence, and strengthen their mental well-being despite the hardships they face.
Child participation
In November 2025, Tdh, in partnership with the Advisor and Commissioner to the President of Ukraine on Child’s Rights and Children Rehabilitation, supported the establishment of the National Child and Youth Advisory Board, bringing together over 100 representatives from 22 oblasts of Ukraine to articulate shared priorities and engage directly with national decision-makers. The Board’s work focuses on the issues that children and youth themselves identify as priorities across regions.
In parallel, Tdh facilitated the creation of a Child and Youth Advisory Board within a detention centre in Kremenchuk, enabling children with lived experience of the justice system to contribute to policy consultations on pre-trial processes and safeguards with particular focus on remote hearings.
In addition, Tdh has established and supported 45 Child and Youth Advisory Boards across five oblasts – Khmelnytska, Ivano-Frankivska, Mykolaivska, Dnipropetrovska, and Kharkivska.