Offline Component of the Certification Programme “Basic Mediation Course” and “Specialised Course in Mediation: Social Mediation in the Community”

From 5 to 8 November 2025, the Education and Research Institute Karazin Business School held the offline component of the certification programme “Basic Mediation Course” and the “Specialised Course in Mediation: Social Mediation in the Community” for the second cohort of participants.

On 5 November, the event was opened by child protection specialists and UNICEF Ukraine project coordinators Goktan Kochildirim and Nataliia Bykova.

Mr. Goktan welcomed the participants, spoke about how the entire project team had been eagerly awaiting this event and worked hard to organise it, and highlighted the importance of mediation for the communities of Kharkiv region and our shared commitment to promoting it in society.

The project manager and Director of the Education and Research Institute Karazin Business School, Volodymyr Rodchenko, also delivered a welcome speech. He emphasized that once a person begins to study mediation, they dive deeply into the topic, and it becomes an integral part of their life.

The mediation programme coordinator, Yuliia Kvitka, also welcomed the participants and wished them a productive and successful training session.

After the opening, participants worked together with trainers to apply all the knowledge gained during the three-month online course: conducting simulations, examining biases, practicing techniques, assessing the mediability of conflicts, mapping conflicts, and more.

On 8 November 2025, the final stage of the “Basic Mediation Course” and the “Specialised Course in Mediation: Social Mediation in the Community” took place.

Twenty-three participants from the Kharkiv, Shevchenkivska, Zlatopilska, Izium, Kehychivska, Chuhuiv, Bohodukhiv, Lozova and Valky communities successfully completed the programme and received their certificates.

We celebrate the success of the programme participants and hope that in the near future they will begin to implement and advance mediation in their communities, help people, spread information about mediation, and contribute to positive change in our society.

Background:
This programme is implemented within the UNICEF project “Introducing a Pilot Trauma-Informed Approach to Mental Health, Psychosocial Support, and Mediation”, carried out by V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University with the financial support of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ) through the German Development Bank KfW, and with the financial support of the European Union.