Meet Sofiia and Mariia, Ukraine Global Scholars 2025 finalists, who are co-creating a nonprofit project that helps young people develop and find opportunities. Sofiia Hrytsenko is 16 years old and from Kharkiv. She participates in various international and national projects and is professionally trained in art. Mariia Hryhurko is 17 and from Odesa. She represents Ukraine as a Rebuild Ukraine Ambassador at the European Youth Parliament and actively participates in many projects both in Ukraine and abroad. Together with Sofiia, they participated in the Ukrainian-American exchange program YouLEAD 2024, where they were inspired by the atmosphere of youth leadership and civic engagement. That’s when the idea to create the nonprofit organization, Global Youth, was born.
From left to right: Sofiia Hrytsenko and Mariia Hryhurko (UGS ’25)
“It saddened me that young people believe there are no opportunities for development in Ukraine and that many young Ukrainians leave the country without plans to return,” says Sofiia Hrytsenko. This feeling gave birth to the idea of creating an environment that would demonstrate: opportunities exist, they’re right here, and young people themselves are capable of creating change at home.
Their story began across the ocean. Mariia and Sofiia met during a 7-week Youth Leadership Engagement and Development Program in the USA, where they studied the work of nonprofit organizations, the education system, and community development at leading American schools and foundations. In Minnesota, they spoke with founders of nonprofits such as Bridgemakers, Protez Foundation, and H2O for Life, discussing the idea of creating their own NGO in Ukraine and ways to make it useful for people with diverse backgrounds. That’s when the idea was born to adapt international experience to Ukrainian realities.
“There are many platforms where you can learn about opportunities abroad, but our goal is to tell people about opportunities specifically in Ukraine,” adds Mariia Hryhurko.
“We’ve heard from many that Ukraine has no future, but we’ll never agree with this opinion, because ambitious youth are the future of our country, and they will contribute to its development,” they say.
After returning to Ukraine, Mariia and Sofiia, along with another YouLEAD program participant, began working on implementing their idea: creating an educational platform that would gather information about opportunities for Ukrainian youth and make them accessible to everyone. This is how the Global Youth project emerged. Its mission: to show that Ukraine can also be a space for development, and that educational opportunities can start right here.
The Global Youth team conducted its own research and created the first table in Ukraine featuring over 100 opportunities for young people – from educational projects to volunteer initiatives. Later, the girls organized an offline event in Kyiv featuring Ukraine Global Scholars finalists Oleksii Antoniuk, Maryna Hrytsenko, and Yeo Bondar. They shared why they decided to return to Ukraine, how they implemented their ideas and projects there, and visually demonstrated to young people that all these opportunities really work and that you can achieve your goals here.
“When applying to UGS, we talked about Global Youth because our mission aligns with the program’s values: gaining international experience to return to Ukraine and develop it. There are many opportunities for self-realization in Ukraine, and it’s important that they’re shared by those who have already walked this path,” they explain.
Mariia and Sofiia are both finalists of the Ukraine Global Scholars program, which aims to help young people obtain education abroad. In return, finalists commit to returning home after their studies to create positive change in the country. This is one of the community’s core values: learn abroad to change Ukraine at home.
Today, Global Youth has already reached thousands of Ukrainian teenagers through its events and webinars. Mariia and Sofiia have built their own team, which works together on new projects and strives to prove that Ukraine is a country of opportunities, not limitations.
Authors: Sofia Hrytsenko UGS’25, Maria Hryhurko UGS’25
