Gen.Hope Opens in Ukraine with Support from KSE — A Center for Research and Recovery of Childhood Wounded by War
21 November 2025
On 20 November, International Children’s Day, Kyiv hosted a conference marking the official launch of Gen.Hope — a new Center of Excellence on children’s and adolescents’ mental health, established by the NGO Gen.Ukrainian with institutional support from the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE).
The event brought together psychologists, educators, researchers, and representatives of civic initiatives working on the topic of childhood during wartime. Participants discussed the systemic challenges children and teenagers face today, as well as comprehensive approaches to supporting them.
A central element of the conference was the presentation of Gen.Hope. Its mission is to restore childhood shattered by war by combining science, practice, and both Ukrainian and international expertise. The project is implemented by Gen.Ukrainian with institutional support from KSE, and the physical space of the new Center will be located on the territory of the future KSE Obolon campus.
Gen.Ukrainian founder Oksana Lebedieva emphasized that supporting a child is impossible without working with the entire environment in which the child lives:
“A child does not exist in a vacuum — they interact with their school, doctor, and community. But when these systems fail to see one another, a child affected by war enters not a pathway of support, but a pathway of exhaustion.”
According to her, Gen.Hope is the next step in Gen.Ukrainian’s evolution — a model of systemic support that works not with fragments of experience, but with the full ecosystem that shapes a child’s life.
Gen.Hope Program Director Anna Borshchevska noted that the launch of the Center is an attempt to finally bring together everything the child-support system has lacked during wartime:
“At Gen.Hope we are building a strong safety net for children who have lived through war trauma. We collect best practices, cultivate a community of psychologists and educators, work on child rights protection, and develop modern ways to honour and understand their experiences.”
Thus, Gen.Hope becomes a space where the experience of war is transformed into knowledge — and knowledge becomes the support that will protect childhood now and in the future.
Svitlana Denysenko, Director of KSE Foundation, highlighted the value of the long-term partnership between the Gen.Ukrainian and KSE communities:
“Our psychology student Zlata has already worked twice with children at Gen.Camp — becoming for many of them that ‘anchor of safety’ that helps move from painful experiences toward recovery. This is a powerful example of how the cooperation between KSE and Gen.Ukrainian is built — it is not about institutional labels, but about communities supporting each other; about students who themselves were children not long ago and who now help other children cope with the impact of war. We believe in solutions that change lives not emotionally, but through evidence and systems. Gen.Hope brings together what is most needed today to create sustainable support for children — practice, science, and community. This is deeply aligned with KSE. Thank you for choosing the Kyiv School of Economics as your partner.”
First Research on the Psychosocial State of Children Who Survived Deportation and Occupation
The event also featured the presentation of the White Paper — a joint publication by Gen.Ukrainian and KSE. This research examines the psychosocial state of children who experienced occupation, forced displacement, or loss of home. It includes children aged 6 to 17 who participated in psychological interventions within the Gen.Camp program, which is based on evidence-based trauma-focused approaches.
The materials provide practical recommendations for specialists and educators: how to create a safe educational environment, avoid retraumatization, and support the development of self-regulation, critical thinking, and a sense of control in children.
Academic Director of Psychology program at Kyiv School of Economics and researcher Valeriia Palii emphasized the importance of studying childhood already today:
“I am not only a researcher — I am a mother. My daughter’s name is Nadiia, which makes our work with Gen.Hope especially symbolic for me. A generation growing up in war will be different — with its own challenges and strengths. They are the future students of our universities, the future professionals and citizens. To understand how to support them as they grow up in wartime, we must study their experiences now.”
Full research publication: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j9zX-y6SC6gi6TFv9-cSgFl7yTqVVn4r/
Liberov Photography Exhibition: Two Worlds Meeting in One Space
An important part of the event was a photo exhibition by Kostiantyn and Vlada Liberov. The photographs combine two worlds: the reality of war and destruction they have documented in Ukraine’s hotspots, and the environment of Gen.Camp, where children receive support, access to safe spaces, and a chance for recovery.
This visual dialogue became a powerful representation of the mission behind Gen.Hope: to build a bridge between trauma and healing.
Until Wednesday, 26 November, the exhibition is open in the Kovalska space at 100 Velyka Vasylkivska St., Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 18:00.
Gen.Ukrainian is an NGO that studies childhood during wartime and develops innovative psychological rehabilitation programs for children and adolescents who experienced traumatic events due to war: loss of parents, captivity, forced deportation, and occupation.
Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) is an educational and analytical ecosystem uniting KSE University, KSE Graduate Business School, the KSE Institute think tank, KSE Foundation, and KSE ProfTech. KSE is among the leading universities in Central and Eastern Europe, hosts one of Ukraine’s largest think tanks, and its charitable foundation ranks 5th among the country’s largest charitable organizations according to Forbes Ukraine.
Kostiantyn and Vlada Liberov are Ukrainian documentary photographers from Odesa who shifted to war photojournalism after the full-scale invasion. Their images from Ukraine’s frontline regions, capturing civilian life and the consequences of Russian attacks, have reached audiences worldwide through international media and social platforms.