Since the invasion of Russian troops on 24 February 2022, war has been raging in Ukraine. Millions of children, women and men have been affected by the war. People are falling victim to the bombs; there are serious human rights violations; children, women and the elderly are on the run. Man-made violence often leads to severe traumatisation. Children and young people in particular suffer because the experienced distress overwhelms them.

Since March 2022, Emergency Pedagogy has been supporting war-traumatised people in Ukraine and in the neighbouring countries of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The first acute intervention focused on stabilising children and young people who had fled in the western Ukrainian town of Horondenka. In addition, people working with war-traumatised children and young people in Horondenka and the Polish city of Krakow were trained in emergency education. This was the starting signal for a series of emergency and trauma pedagogy training units for educators, teachers and psychologists in the crisis region.

The growing need for knowledge about trauma and stabilising, emergency pedagogical methods prompted the Friends of Waldorf Education to offer a certified modular training course in trauma pedagogy in Ukraine. In a total of eight modules, 25 people from all parts of Ukraine are certified as emergency educators. Some of them work directly in disputed areas, others have direct contact with internally displaced persons. The training of a local network of emergency education experts creates sustainable structures.