World Vision's soft skills training for displaced Ukrainian children aim to help fill the education gap
Following the pandemic’s impact, the war in Ukraine poses more challenges for the educational sector. Since February 24, 2022, 363 kindergartens and schools have been destroyed and 2246 damaged in Ukraine, and the figures are continually increasing.
The eastern part of Ukraine, including Donetska, Luhanska, Kharkivska, Mykolayivska, and Khersonska Oblasts, faces the highest level of damage.
While local governments work to restore conventional education, the humanitarian sector plays a vital part in assisting students, particularly those displaced by the war.
According to the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) 2023, the war has significantly impacted an estimated 5.3 million preschool and secondary school-aged children and teachers in Ukraine, with 4.8 million children requiring immediate educational support.
The “Building the Future” project, supported by World Vision UK, aims to strengthen the education gaps of Ukrainian children, and comes up with a series of language, vocational, and soft skills trainings.
“Within the project, we provide a variety of educational and language courses, as well as vocational trainings for both children and adults, particularly in the Donetska and Kharkivska areas, where the majority of students can attend only distant classes. However, due to power outages, they may be unable to access even remote learning,” explains Olena Beloliptseva, project manager of the NGO Responsible Citizens, one of World Vision’s local partners.
As for adolescents, the main challenges are external factors that are within their control, among them evacuation, frequent air raids, power outages, limited or no access to the internet.
“For example, Kharkiv has been without electricity for months, and we have a large number of children that we support there,” says Olena.
74% of children who study online use smartphones, drastically reducing their learning capacity. Distance learning is hampered most by a lack of devices and connectivity. Many students and professors attend online classes from home.
Along with recovering from learning losses, Ukrainian children and adolescents suffer from mental health issues. Such psychological challenges highlight the need for soft skills to bridge social and emotional gaps.
Responsible Citizen’s soft skills trainings for youth, supported by World Vision, aim to increase interpersonal skills, communication abilities, emotional intelligence, and other non-technical abilities. They improve communication, leadership, problem-solving, and teamwork/collaboration skills.
Andriy, a 15-year-old student in Dnipro, emphasizes the importance of such training in preparing for life beyond academics. “These courses help me to think about the things I am interested in, to find common ground with different people. They teach us to work as a team”, shares Andriy.
“These skills, though not taught through textbooks or exams, significantly influence professional success and resilience to stress, particularly in today’s challenging settings,” explains Alina Garanchenko, the facilitator of the training, who worked as a psychologist for more than 13 years in different educational institutions.
Olena Belolipetska underlines also demotivation in the parents, as a result of their own losses and mental health issues. To address this, Responsible Citizen and World Vision provide English and retraining classes for those facing job loss or displacement, including social media marketing, accounting, and web design.
“They found a circle of like-minded people and started to communicate with each other. Besides socialization, the course will bring these women the opportunity to work as certified professionals,” concludes Olena.
To date, World Vision Ukraine Crisis Response has supported more than 262,000 children with education programming.
Story by Anna Lukianenko, Communications Officer I Photos by Laurentia Jora, Communications Manager