Around a board game, young Scouts in Ukraine are learning that every choice has another side

“Who wants to go first?"

Around the table, the room falls quiet for a moment. Six Scouts study the cards in front of them. Each has taken on the role of a different character, each with their own personality, experiences and way of seeing the world.

There are no winners or losers waiting at the end of the game. Instead, there is a dilemma.

The group reads the scenario together. They begin to discuss. Different opinions emerge. Some hesitate before speaking, while others quickly defend their ideas. Little by little, the conversation shifts. The goal is no longer to convince others that one answer is right, but to understand why someone else might see the situation differently.

For Anastasiia Kyslytsia, a 24-year-old leader and creator of the game, watching that happen was the moment months of work became real.

"I remember during one of the first games, a shy and quiet Scout from the playtest group got to play the active and proactive character, while a loud and lively Scout from her group got the 'New Scout' character," she recalls. "By the end of the game, they both admitted that acting opposite their real-life personalities was difficult, but it made them think more about how and why another person, who is not them, would act.”

In a country where young people continue to grow up surrounded by uncertainty, difficult decisions and an overwhelming flow of information, creating opportunities to slow down and reflect has never felt more important. While board games are popular across Ukraine, Anastasiia noticed that very few encouraged dialogue or helped young people practise skills such as empathy, critical thinking and shared decision-making.

Together with a team of fellow volunteers from the Scouts of Ukraine, she decided to change that. The result was The Scout Choice Board Game, the first board game created specifically for the organisation. Supported through the Local Actions and National Dialogues subgranting programme of the Voices of Change project, the team set out to build more than a game. They wanted to create a practical educational tool that Scout leaders could use long after the project itself had ended.

The first stage focused on bringing the idea to life. The team wrote realistic scenarios inspired by situations young people may encounter in everyday life, created six Scout characters with different personalities and backstories, and designed the artwork, cards and supporting animations that would shape the experience. Finding an illustrator willing to join such a short-term project was not easy, but once the creative team came together, the game gradually took shape. The next step was to see whether it worked beyond the drawing board.