Change Drivers 2022: vote for best initiative

Богдан Петришин

Voting for change drivers 2022 has begun.

Bendukidze Free Market Center, in cooperation with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation Ukraine and Belarus, Atlas Network, and  Rubryka solutions media, are implementing the Change Drivers project for the second year in a row. This year, the most exciting projects, working on cardinal areas of education and social support, were selected out of more than 500 applications. Voting for the most effective initiative is underway—winners in each category will receive financial assistance. The general aid fund is 200,000 hryvnias. Voting continues until 14:00 on October 19.

We briefly talk about the TOP-5 change drivers in education and social support:

💡 Reconstruction of educational infrastructure (savEd)

SavEd is a charitable foundation created to restore and improve the educational infrastructure of the de-occupied Ukrainian cities destroyed by the russians during the unprovoked brutal war against the Ukrainian people.

The foundation's activities began in Chernihiv: when the city was bombed and shelled daily, the townspeople were saved by educational institutions in their shelters. What are the consequences?

• 13,000 m2 of broken windows.
• Shell holes in the roofs.
• Crushed boiler rooms.
• Destroyed equipment.
• Two schools were destroyed entirely because the russians systematically attacked them with high-powered bombs. It is impossible to restore schools.

The former Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Hanna Novosad, and the savED team set themselves the goal of restoring the city's educational infrastructure and children's right to education.

💡 School Without Walls/Online school (NGO Smart Education, Space of Knowledge)

On April 4, 2022, Atlantyka School and the NGO Smart Education successfully launched the School Without Walls educational program to support Ukrainian children who have lost the opportunity to study.

School Without Walls is for children whose families:

• are internally displaced persons from occupied territories and war zones
• live in places where schools have been partially or entirely destroyed
• live in temporarily occupied territories
• found refuge in countries that offer temporary residence.

This full-fledged online Ukrainian school provides free quality education, psychological support, and jobs for teachers who have lost their jobs.

Children from Kharkiv, Mariupol, Kherson, Sievierodonetsk, Popasna, Brovary, and other towns and villages of the Kyiv Region, Chernihiv Region, Donetsk Region, and Luhansk Region study at the School Without Walls. Thanks to the program, until June 30, one hundred and fifty-six children studied for free in a full-fledged online format with a "live broadcast" of teachers.

💡 Educational hub Inspiration Cafe

Inspiration Cafe is a new format of school education. The organization works so internally displaced children can continue their schooling and find inspiration. In addition to lessons in the school curriculum, the students reveal their strengths, implement interesting mini-projects, and participate in volunteer work in the local community.

The educational hub provides quality education for children in four areas: training, psychological support, integration into the community, and career guidance. All students will be able to receive documents on the standard state education.

💡 Education/mentoring/employment of migrants (Vinnytsia IT Academy)

It is a program to support Ukrainians who suffered due to russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. The project creates and constantly develops a worldwide network of offline/online support centers for Ukrainians affected by the war's consequences, especially those forced to leave their places of permanent residence.

The project provides the following:

• intensive training of refugees/ internal migrants in IT specialties
• personal support of everyone to guaranteed employment
• guaranteed return and adaptation to their cities and villages in Ukraine after our victory.

💡 Educational project about Ukrainian statehood (Stay on top)

It is an educational project about the history of Ukrainian statehood in 15 articles in 5 languages, aimed to introduce Ukraine's development. After all, what unites Ukrainians? "A passport or everyday life, traditions, or innovations? TikTok videos or the victory at Eurovision? Everything is much more complicated, and we must take many steps toward unity. Let's remember…" the project's initiators suggest and immerse in the history of Ukraine in just 15 steps.

💡 Evacuation and humanitarian aid (Rescue Now)

Rescue Now deals with the return of the civilian population in the east of Ukraine: evacuation, shelter, and humanitarian aid. "We evacuate people and animals, help with shelter, hot lunches, and deliver food, medicines, hygiene products, children's and pet products," the volunteers say. The evacuation is taking place from Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions.

💡 Legal assistance (YurShtab)

The initiative of free legal assistance to Ukrainians brings our joint victory closer. They help for free, anonymously, qualitatively, efficiently, quickly, and informatively. "We are Ukrainians, volunteers from various professional fields: legal, IT, PR, and consulting. In difficult wartime for the country, we are people who founded the initiative of free legal aid to Ukrainians to bring our common victory closer," says the initiative's team. In total, more than 18,700 Ukrainians have already used the services of YurStab.

💡 Help with items (rechi.support)

This initiative helps Ukrainians who lost their homes due to the war. The work results so far are: 3,000 people have received clothes, shoes, household appliances, etc. How does it work? The initiative collects things with caring people's effort (both people and businesses) and directs help to those who need it. They work in Kyiv and throughout Ukraine.

💡 Reconstruction of Kyiv region (Brave to rebuild)

Brave to rebuild are volunteers who gather on weekends and rebuild the Kyiv region after the russian occupiers. During the 22 weeks of "Brave" volunteering, the initiative:

• helped more than 180 families
• dismantled rubble in 93 private houses and the Irpin Stadium
• cleared 118 apartments
• built and equipped three modular houses
• removed the five-story building from the consequences of the fire
• helped to prepare the school in Irpin for the academic year
• repaired 11 roofs
• cleaned four entrances.

💡 Homes for displaced persons (Zirka Charity Fund)

The DODOMU social project is a joint initiative of the Zirka charity fund and the IWHome construction company. Here they are working to provide displaced persons and veterans of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with comfortable and safe housing. They are building using a unique technology that has undeniable advantages for solving the problems of migrants: speed, ease of construction, and energy saving. The mission of the project is to give Ukrainians who were forced to leave their homes comfortable and safe houses to live in, to provide housing for veterans of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and to create hundreds of paid jobs in the Lviv region, stimulating the recovery of Ukraine's economy.