‍Nataliia Dmytruk: How security changes when mindsets shift.

Most discussions on security focus on infrastructure: shelters, lighting, and resources. Yet far less frequently do they focus on what lies at the core of these decisions. The mindset.

This is exactly what Nataliia Dmytruk works on. A sociologist and gender expert, she is one of the key voices shaping the conceptual framework for implementing the 'Women, Peace, and Security' agenda.

'Without a shift in mindset, there will be no systemic change. The system is a reflection of our minds,' she notes.

Throughout 2022–2026, as every day has tested society's resilience, her work has focused on ensuring that change is more than just another line in a report, becoming instead the living fabric of experience: tangible, clear, and, ultimately, deeply human.

The 'Climate Justice 360' project occupies a special place in her portfolio. For Nataliia, this is not just an environmental agenda, but a radical deconstruction of our perceptions of security. Through her lens, climate challenges emerge as 'threat multipliers' that hit hardest those whose voices are traditionally pushed to the periphery of decision-making.

This concept evolved into the creation of the 'Justice 360 Degrees' Gender Expert Network. The name is symbolic: it is an intellectual call to see society without 'blind spots'. Bringing together 14 women experts from across the country, the network approaches climate justice primarily through the lens of intersectionality: examining how gender roles, economic vulnerability, and unequal access to resources intertwine to shape communities' capacity to adapt.

But how do you turn complex concepts into a tool for change? Nataliia and other experts from the Network found an elegant solution: gamification. The Network developed a specialized educational game for women’s organizations. It is a space where complex ideas become clear through interactive play. This is the 'soft power' of education: through the game, women master the art of analyzing how gender roles and resources shape the resilience of their communities.

'Justice is not a mechanical equality of outcomes. It is the transformation of the systems that generate vulnerability,' Nataliia is convinced. 'Within the "360 Degrees" Network, we are building a panoramic view of security, where climate resilience and human rights are inseparable parts of a single whole.'

Here, security ceases to be a one-dimensional concept; it becomes a multidimensional system where resilience is impossible without gender equality.

Nataliia applies this logic in practice. In 2025, a spatial audit was conducted in the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv. It was a comprehensive assessment of the environment, taking into account not only infrastructure, but also people's lived experiences. The study examined spatial accessibility, lighting, route safety, and the risks faced by different population groups.

Yet the primary focus of the analysis was not infrastructure, but vulnerability. Nataliia sought answers to these questions: How does a space 'speak' to a woman, an older person, or a female social sector worker? Is this space welcoming, or does it conceal risks? One of the practical outcomes of the audit was the introduction of safety buttons for female social service workers in the Holosiivskyi district. This solution became a response to specific challenges and an example of how analytics translates into effective tools for protection. This case demonstrates that gender-responsive social engineering is about creating a 'cocoon of safety' in a big city, where a technological solution becomes the answer to a human challenge.

Alongside this, Nataliia works on how to talk about complex topics. Within the activities of the NGO 'Gender Creative Space', an unusual product came to life: a comic book dedicated to security policies in the civic sector. It is a subtle intellectual game: explaining physical protection and complex protocol algorithms through a visual story.

'When a person does not understand the purpose of rules, they do not make them part of their life. We, however, strive to ensure that security protocols for women's organizations become not a burden, but intuitive protection,' Nataliia explains.

Another area of her work is contributing to policy development. In the context of UN Resolution 1325, this is of fundamental importance: it concerns how Ukraine reflects on its experience today to build a space where security is an unconditional right rather than a privilege.

At the same time, her role in the '1325 Kyiv' Coalition goes beyond formal functions. Nataliia is known as someone who helps keep sight of the meaning behind the processes: structuring ideas and preventing the work from being reduced to a mere formality.

'Ideas need a favourable environment. Without living intellectual soil, no strategy will take root,' she says.

For Nataliia Dmytruk, Resolution 1325 is, above all, a cognitive revolution. Her story is proof that global shifts are set in motion not by slogans, but by the inner strength of a single person. By one timely question. By one conversation that becomes an avalanche of change. This is the path of a woman who shapes meaning – one who does not merely observe the architecture of security, but writes it with her own hands: step by step, meaning by meaning.

This is precisely how the most profound changes happen: through a daily commitment to one's values and conquering the 'mountain' of self-improvement. Because it is on this inner foundation that the security of an entire country is built.

Useful links:
‍For the first time in Kyiv, female social workers and social work specialists will carry safety buttons while working on client visits
Kyiv becomes safer: safety audit results presented for the capital's Holosiivskyi and Darnytskyi districts
'Climate Justice 360'