The event with the theme “One Humanity” brought together governments, UN representatives, NGOs, and experts to tackle one of the world’s most urgent threats: landmines and explosive remnants of war.Ukraine played a leading role, represented by the government, UN agencies, working on the ground, civil society, and the private sector. As one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world, Ukraine continues to drive new approaches, using innovation, data, and inclusive practices to transform mine action.Supporting survivors beyond clearance Across the world, landmines continue to harm civilians long after conflicts end. Farmers in Ukraine are injured while working in the fields. Children in Afghanistan and Myanmar have been hurt after unknowingly handling explosives. Communities in Cambodia, the Solomon Islands, and beyond still endure health issues long after hostilities ended.Survivors often face lifelong challenges, including amputations, sensory loss, and deep psychological trauma. Their families often have to deal with invisible and underspoken burdens. From government representatives to scientists and deminers, there is a shared understanding: mine action must go beyond clearing land.Representatives of the Danish Refugee Council in Ukraine, the occupied Palestinian territory, and Libya underlined the collective responsibility to provide long-term support, promote inclusion, and uphold dignity, so survivors can rebuild their lives and fully take part in their communities.Using data to save lives and restore landUkraine showcased a new AI-powered system that helps prioritize mine clearance. By analyzing data such as soil type, population density, and proximity to schools or hospitals, the system identifies where clearance is most urgently needed.Developed by the Center of Humanitarian Demining and the Ministry of Economy with UNDP support, the GRIT system also tracks broader impact, like restored farmland, access to services, and economic recovery. With the potential to be expanded to other countries with similar concerns, the systems highlight how mine action can drive resilience and development with proper prioritization and efficiency. Paul Heslop, Special Advisor to the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine on mine action, underlined: “Given the scale of contamination in Ukraine, we have to be smarter and more efficient. A system where data and AI help us to understand not just where contamination exists, but where clearance is to be prioritized will make the biggest difference for people and the economy.”Women’s untapped potential in mine action A dedicated session focused on gender equality in demining. Representatives from Ukraine’s government, UN Women, and deminers themselves emphasized a clear message: there is no place for stereotypes in this field.Women are already proving their value through skills, knowledge, and leadership. Programs like “She Demines” aim to expand opportunities for women, close workforce gaps, and break down barriers. Although the efforts to change perception within the society are ongoing, empowering women in mine action is not just a must; it makes operations stronger, more thought-through, and sustainable.Adapting to new threats and funding gapsModern warfare is evolving rapidly, especially with the use of drones to deliver explosives. Mine action efforts must adapt, improving how threats are classified, tracked, and addressed. The representatives of UNMAS - the United Nations Mine Action Service - highlighted that the scale of contamination in Ukraine and other regions is growing faster than available funding. However, when there’s a problem, there’s a solution. Experts are calling for enhanced partnerships and new approaches that attract private investment while preserving humanitarian principles.Closing the event, UNMAS Chief Kazumi Ogawa said, “This year’s theme, ‘One Humanity,’ encapsulates the idea that all of humanity, all of us, are in this together. It is our shared responsibility to uphold international humanitarian standards and human rights to rid the world of anti-personnel landmines, and to ensure that explosive hazards left after conflict are cleared before civilians, often children, become victims.” Background information: The 29th International Meeting of Mine Action National Directors and UN Advisers took place at the Geneva International Conference Center from 22 to 24 April 2026, gathering more than 800 people from across the global mine action community, including donors, UN entities, NGOs, the private sector, and academia. The NDM is co-organized by UNMAS and the GICHD on behalf of the UN Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Mine Action and with the support of Switzerland.

Across Ukraine, women are stepping into roles that go far beyond maintaining continuity. They are restoring production, rebuilding businesses, restoring and strengthening technical systems and introducing new approaches across sectors. In doing so, they are responding to immediate challenges while actively shaping the future of Ukraine’s industrial landscape.Their contributions span sectors and scales: from micro- and small enterprises rebuilding local communities and economies to engineers reinforcing industrial standards and quality, from sector leaders adopting advanced technologies and innovative business practices to entrepreneurs developing the next generation of sustainable and innovative solutions.Taken together, these stories reveal a broader transformation – one in which rebuilding is not simply about restoring what was lost, but about redefining how industry functions.Rebuilding livelihoods and local economiesFor many women, recovery begins not with investment strategies or policy frameworks, but with a firm decision: to stay in the country despite all challenges, to rebuild and to start again. Yulia Dobrutska’s story captures that reality with particular clarity. After losing the business she and her husband had built in Kyiv and relocating to Lutsk, they had to begin almost from zero. What followed was not an abstract idea of resilience, but a very practical process: reinvesting every available resource, acquiring equipment step by step and gradually launching their knitwear brand, Bavna.At one point, they considered shifting entirely to a different business just to survive. Training and mentoring provided through a UNIDO initiative helped them reassess that path and instead build on the expertise they already had. “Our contribution to the economy is simply that we stayed,” Yulia says. “We could have gone abroad, but we chose to live, work and grow here.” In a moment when leaving often felt like the only rational choice, staying became a deliberate decision to rebuild not only a business, but a future.That decision – to stay – carries economic weight in today’s Ukraine. It sustains jobs, preserves skills and maintains production capacity at a time when many businesses are forced to scale down.Similar stories are unfolding across western Ukraine. In Lviv Oblast, women such as Maryna Kosarieva, founder of the StekloCraft brand specializing in stained-glass design and Olena Trofymenko, who founded the artisanal cheese dairy CheeseFaino in Truskavets, rebuilt their businesses after forced displacement, transforming disruption into a new phase of development. Their journeys reflect a shift from survival to stability – where businesses are not simply restored, but restructured with clearer planning, stronger market positioning and a longer-term vision. For Maryana Yaskiv, the path into entrepreneurship came from everyday necessity. A former teacher, she and her husband opened a small grocery store in their village – a decision that quickly evolved into managing finances, staff and operational risks, including energy disruptions. “Now I am the employer who calculates salaries. Financial planning and budgeting suddenly become very real responsibilities,” she explains. The business continues to grow, with plans for expansion and investment in solar energy.Svitlana Moshchych’s work with peonies tells a similar story of transformation. What began as a passion became a structured business combining cultivation, breeding and online sales. “The Bulgarian-funded UNIDO project gave me an opportunity to systematize my knowledge and learn modern approaches to business,” she explains – a reminder that structure is often the turning point between effort and sustainability.Within Spromozhna, an initiative founded by Promprylad Foundation, women such as Olha Pylypiv and Marta Kliashtorna are building businesses rooted in both creativity and social impact. Their stories are part of one of the initiative’s programmes supported by UNIDO under its Austria-funded project. From architectural materials to inclusive tourism spaces, their work expands how industrial recovery is understood – not only as production, but as a broader ecosystem of services, design and local enterprise. These individual stories reflect one layer of transformation. As businesses cannot grow in isolation. Recovery also depends on the systems that enable industries to function, compete and access markets.Strengthening the foundations of industryRecovery does not depend on businesses alone. It also relies on the systems that allow industries to function.Across Ukraine, women are contributing to the technical backbone of industrial recovery – strengthening laboratories, testing systems and quality infrastructure that underpin competitiveness and access to markets.At BM-TEST in Rivne, this shift became particularly visible after many male engineers were mobilized. As Laboratory Manager Halyna Fursachyk recalls, the question was immediate and practical: who would continue carrying out the technical work? “The answer was clear: the women.”With UNIDO support, they underwent specialized training based on European methodologies, gained access to advanced equipment and software and helped bring the laboratory to a new level of technical capacity aligned with EU standards. For engineers like Olha Nepomiascha and Kateryna Kostiukevych, this is not simply about continuity. It is about redefining professional roles. Testing becomes part of a broader system of trust – ensuring that Ukrainian products meet international standards and can compete globally.In value chains such as berries and nuts, supported through the Switzerland-funded UNIDO Global Quality and Standards Programme, women entrepreneurs are also strengthening compliance, branding and export readiness. Businesses like “Nuts’N’Garden” and “Food for Thoughts” demonstrate how technical support translates into market access, linking local production with global demand. This work may remain largely invisible to the public. Yet without it, recovery cannot translate into long-term growth.Efficiency, sustainability and industrial transformationAs industries rebuild, efficiency and sustainability are becoming central to how production is organized.Within the UNIDO Global Eco-Industrial Parks Programme in Ukraine, supported by Switzerland, enterprises are working to reduce energy consumption, optimize resource use and integrate circular approaches into production processes.For professionals like Liudmyla Tereshchenko, Deputy Director, Trivium Packaging Ukraine, this work means translating sustainability from policy language into operational practice – identifying concrete ways to reduce waste, lower costs, integrating energy management systems and strengthen competitiveness. These changes are incremental, but cumulative. They represent a shift toward a more resilient and resource-efficient industrial model, where sustainability is not an external requirement, but a driver of performance.Technology, partnerships and co-creationRecovery is not only about restoring existing systems. It is also about introducing new ones.Through the Japan-funded UNIDO “Green industrial recovery project for Ukraine through technology transfer from and co-creation of new businesses with Japan's private industries,” advanced technologies are being tested and adapted across the Ukrainian industrial landscape. In Mykolaiv, AI-based systems are being used to monitor road conditions in real time, allowing municipalities to prioritize repairs and manage infrastructure more effectively. For Hanna Montavon of Mykolaiv Water Hub, the significance of this goes beyond technology: “When women lead in industry, innovation becomes more inclusive and solutions become more sustainable. This project connecting Japanese technology with Ukrainian expertise shows that cross-border collaboration, driven by diverse perspectives, can transform how we maintain and recover critical infrastructure.”A similar transformation is taking place in agriculture. In the pig farming sector, cooperation with the Japanese company Eco-Pork is introducing AI-driven tools that improve productivity, optimize resource use and support more sustainable production models. For Oksana Yurchenko, President of the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders, this reflects a broader principle: “Recognizing and promoting women’s contributions across industries is vital for building more innovative, inclusive and resilient sectors, particularly in agriculture, where diverse perspectives strengthen growth and sustainability.”These partnerships illustrate a shift from technology transfer to co-creation – where solutions are adapted through local expertise and diverse leadership.Innovation ecosystems and future industriesWhile traditional sectors adapt, a new layer of industrial development is emerging.In green chemistry and related fields, women scientists and mentors are connecting research with industrial application – supporting young innovators and building the foundations for more sustainable production systems. In Ukraine, this connection is being actively strengthened through initiatives such as the GreenChem Accelerator, supported by the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale University and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), where women scientists play a key role not only as researchers, but as mentors and ecosystem builders. Professionals like Professor Olha Paraska and Associate Professor Tetiana Ivanishena from Khmelnytskyi National University are helping translate scientific knowledge into practical applications, supporting young innovators as they develop solutions in green chemistry and sustainable materials. Their work extends beyond laboratories – fostering collaboration, guiding early-stage ideas and enabling the next generation of scientists and entrepreneurs to integrate into the emerging innovation ecosystem.At the same time, the GEF-funded UNIDO Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP), implemented by greencubator, is enabling women-led startups to develop solutions aligned with future markets. Marta Kondryn’s Mycelia Tech transforms agricultural residues into bio-based materials as alternatives to leather. Anastasiia Kondratieva’s SPOGAD creates high-end accessories from recycled plastic, responding to growing sustainability requirements in global fashion. Asya Syvolob’s Geodesic Life develops prefabricated eco-domes made from circular materials, offering low-carbon construction solutions.These ventures are not only environmentally driven. They are strategically positioned within European and global markets, demonstrating that recovery can also be a platform for competitiveness and innovation. Individually, these are stories of resilience. Taken together, they begin to explain how recovery actually works.Shaping the system: women's role in industrial recoveryAcross these stories, a clearer picture begins to emerge. Women are not contributing to recovery only at one level or in one role. They are rebuilding businesses, restoring livelihoods and keeping local economies moving. They are strengthening laboratories, improving standards and reinforcing the technical systems that make industrial growth possible. They are introducing new technologies through international partnerships, helping adapt global solutions to Ukrainian realities. And they are building the foundations of future industries through science, innovation and entrepreneurship.What connects these efforts is not only resilience, but range – the ability to move between immediate needs and long-term transformation, between community-level realities and national priorities, between local knowledge and global opportunity. This is not only a matter of inclusion. Strengthening women’s participation in industry is a driver of productivity, innovation and long-term economic growth. In one setting, this may mean helping a small enterprise survive and grow. In another, it may mean ensuring that a laboratory can apply modern testing methodologies, that a producer can meet export requirements or that a startup can bring a sustainable technology to market.Seen together, these contributions form something larger than a series of individual success stories. They reveal how industrial recovery actually happens: through many layers of work, often interconnected, often under pressure and often carried forward by people whose role is not always fully visible. Women are present across all of those layers. They are not simply part of Ukraine’s industrial recovery. They are helping shape the system behind it – making it more resilient, more inclusive, more innovative and better prepared for the future. Without their full participation, industrial recovery cannot reach its full potential.A framework for transformationThese efforts unfold within the broader framework of the UNIDO green industrial recovery programme for Ukraine (2024–2028).The programme brings together multiple initiatives under three priorities: creating opportunities for people, supporting businesses and fostering a green economy. Its strength lies in recognizing that industrial recovery is not a single-track process, but a system of interconnected actions across sectors and scales.Within this context, the role of women becomes even more visible. As Solomiya Omelyan, Chief of the Regional Bureau for Europe and Central Asia at UNIDO, notes: “The International Day of Women in Industry is both timely and long overdue. For decades, women around the world have been driving industrial transformation – often without sufficient visibility and acknowledgement of their contribution. Today, we have both an opportunity and a responsibility to bring these contributions to the forefront. In Ukraine, women are not only participating in industrial recovery – they are helping lead it.”Recognizing what is already happeningProclaimed in 2025 and observed for the first time in 2026, the International Day of Women in Industry takes on particular meaning in this context. It is not simply about recognition. It is about visibility – making visible what is already happening across sectors and countries.In Ukraine, women are not entering the industry as a new phenomenon. They are sustaining it, reshaping it and moving it forward under some of the most challenging conditions. As a newly established global observance, it also serves as a call to action – to accelerate progress, strengthen enabling environments and expand opportunities for women across industrial sectors.Looking aheadUkraine’s industrial recovery is still unfolding and the scale of the task remains immense. The pressures of war, displacement, damaged infrastructure and economic uncertainty continue to shape the environment in which businesses, institutions and communities operate. Yet even within that reality, a direction is becoming increasingly visible.It is a direction shaped not only by reconstruction, but by modernization. Not only by urgency, but by long-term thinking. Across sectors, Ukraine’s recovery is becoming more inclusive, more innovative and more sustainable – and women are central to that process.Their contribution is not always the most visible part of the story. It often takes place in the background: in technical decisions, in production processes, in the patient rebuilding of enterprises, in the introduction of new standards and in partnerships that open the way for new ideas and markets. Yet this is precisely where lasting transformation begins.Taken together, these efforts are doing more than restoring industrial activity. They are helping define what Ukraine’s industry will look like in the years ahead – more resilient in the face of disruption, more open to innovation and better equipped to compete in a changing world.The International Day of Women in Industry is, ultimately, a recognition of this reality – one that has long been present and is now becoming impossible to overlook.

Last year, humanitarian worker, Olha Kartashova, from Kherson experienced an unimaginable loss, when her mother was killed by a shrapnel from an exploded tank shell. Yet she continues to help people in her hometown — guided by the values her parents taught her: always help others. “My decision to become a humanitarian worker comes from my mother,” Olha said. “She showed me by example how important it is to help people.”  Her mother worked as Vice-Rector at Kherson State Agrarian University and was known for supporting students and colleagues. “Even after she left her position, she continued helping people,” Olha recalled. “My father was the same — he never refused anyone who needed support.” Before the full-scale invasion in 2022, Olha, was an Associate Professor and taught management and public administration at the university. “The war changed everything,” she said.   Becoming an aid workerToday Olha works with the local non-governmental organization, The Tenth of April, helping civilians survive in frontline Kherson — a city that remains under constant daily shelling.  As the Regional Implementation and Quality Assurance Officer, she conducts monitoring visits to communities affected by hostilities, meets with residents to understand their needs and helps them connect to access humanitarian assistance. She works with local authorities, civil society groups and volunteers to ensure people know where they can access support and protection services.The organization provides legal consultations, psychological support, assistance for survivors of gender-based violence, child protection services and social support for older people and persons with disabilities.“People come to us when they cannot solve their problems on their own or through institutions,” Olha explains.In March 2026, Olha spoke with Tom Fletcher, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, sharing firsthand the challenges aid workers face near the front line and the importance of continuing support for affected communities.   Personal loss  Working in Kherson means constant risk. Drone attacks and artillery strikes are frequent, and humanitarian teams follow strict security protocols. “Unfortunately, humanitarian status does not protect anyone from attacks,” Olha said. She learned this in the most painful way. On the morning of 24 November 2025, Olha and her mother were walking to work together. “I told my mother she should work less and take care of herself,” Olha recalled. “But she answered: I can’t, my daughter. I have a responsibility to people.”  Moments later, an explosion struck behind them.  “One of the fragments pierced my mother’s heart,” Olha said. “She died instantly.” Olha herself was wounded. “I was bleeding, but I didn’t even feel it. Two more strikes followed. I lay on the ground and tried to think about what to do — try to save my mother, call an ambulance, call the police.  It all felt automatic, unreal.” She was later taken to hospital. “One of the hardest moments was telling my father and my 95-year-old grandmother what had happened,” she said.   Caring for others  Caring for her family and the support of colleagues helped Olha begin to cope with the loss.  “We are all humanitarians. We know how to stand together for people,” she said. Despite the risks, she has never considered leaving. “Someone has to stay and support the vulnerable people who remain here,” she said. “When even one humanitarian leaves, it creates a gap in assistance.” Today, Olha continues her work — meeting residents and helping them access support. For many people who remain in Kherson, humanitarian aid is not just assistance — it is a lifeline. More than four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion—and 12 years since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2014—the crisis continues to cause widespread suffering across the country, with thousands killed, millions displaced, and extensive destruction.In 2026, 10.8 million people need humanitarian assistance. The Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan requires US$2.31 billion to reach 4.1 million people.  

Zakhar, 12, remembers that September evening in 2025 only in broken fragments. He and his friends were walking to the small local shop, the only place in their village in Kharkiv region where they could get a mobile signal. They were laughing and chatting when they stumbled upon a strange object in the grass. One of the boys kicked it. Then came a deafening blast – a blur of smoke, pain, and ringing silence.It was a hand grenade. The explosion left Zakhar and another boy with shrapnel wounds, burns, and concussions. Their two other friends, uninjured but terrified, ran to a nearby farm to call for help.“I hardly remember that day,” says Zakhar, a shy boy with serious eyes. “I just remember my friend finding the grenade and kicking it. Then the explosion. I fell. Everything spun around, and I crawled away. After that, I only remember bandages and the hospital.” A childhood disruptedBefore the accident, Zakhar and his mother lived in Kupiansk district, an area that was severely damaged during the first months of the war. They endured constant shelling, hunger, and isolation.“Our whole community was shattered,” his mother Natalka recalls. “Shells kept landing nearby. Windows were blown out. Shops didn’t work. Food was scarce. We lived off vegetables from the garden and cooked on open fires because there was no gas or electricity. It was getting harder to live there with a child.”Even when the fighting became less intense, hidden dangers remained in their community Four years into the full-scale war, the threat of mines and explosives to children in Ukraine persists. Ukraine is now one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, with more than 20 per cent of its territory – around 146,076 square kilometres of land and water – potentially contaminated with explosives. This includes spaces where children should be safe and protected, such as playgrounds and schools. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 179 children have been killed or injured by mines and explosive remnants of war since February 2022.  “Our teacher once told us online that mines are dangerous,” said Zakhar. “But the connection was poor — sometimes I couldn’t even hear the lessons.”However, according to a UNICEF survey, more than half of Ukrainian teenagers engage in risky behaviour around mines and explosive objects despite knowing the risks. “We used to roam around the village, go fishing, wander near the quarry,” Zakhar says. “There were no signs saying ‘Mines’. We just didn’t think about it.”“Your son has been blown up”On that fateful evening, Natalka had just returned home from working at a local farm when children came running and shouting: “Your son Zakhar has been blown up on a mine!”She sprinted out and found her son lying on the ground, his leg wrapped in his torn T-shirt. “A local man helped to bandage him. I was terrified but tried to stay calm,” she recalls. She quit her job to stay by his side through the surgeries and months of rehabilitation.Zakhar suffered the worst injuries of all the boys. “His leg muscles were torn. His body was full of shrapnel,” Natalka says quietly. “They even had to transplant skin. The hardest part was helping him stand again.” Starting the recovery journey The day after the accident, UNICEF’s mine victim assistance programme partner International Rescue Committee (IRC) contacted the family. “When we learned about the incident, we immediately developed a support plan,” says Viktoriia, a case worker at IRC. “That included psychological counselling and financial aid to support medical treatment. Natalka also received cash assistance from UNICEF to help cover essentials and urgent needs, since she’s a single mother who lost her job and had to relocate.”They moved to Kharkiv as renewed shelling forced villagers to flee once more. Zakhar now studies online while undergoing therapy for both his physical and emotional recovery. “He’s a quiet, sensitive boy who needs gentle communication,” Viktoriia explains. “Our psychologists and social workers provide him with stability and care. His condition has improved, but we’ll keep supporting the family as they adapt to their new life.” Zakhar now walks with care, after undergoing several surgeries and skin grafts on his injured leg. His wounds still ache, and air raid sirens make him flinch, but he says the worst is over.“Now I’d never go near a mine or something strange again. I tell other kids not to either. Because it was really hard to stand on my feet again,” he said. “Before the explosion, I loved cycling. It’s been a year since I last rode a bike. But this summer, I’ll try again.”###UNICEF’s mine victim assistance programme, in partnership with the International Rescue Committee and funded by the European Union's Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), provides holistic support to children injured by mines or other explosive weapons in Ukraine. UNICEF's mine and explosive ordnance risk education, conducted with partners like the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and Ministry of Education, equips children with life-saving knowledge on how to identify and protect themselves from mines, explosives and other hazards. These awareness sessions are conducted in classes and activities across the country, including in remote and high-risk communities.