A year after the start of hostilities in Ukraine, citizens are somehow trying to continue living “as if everything is normal”. The schools are open and the teaching staff continue the education of the children. Initiatives for mutual help are emerging in various circles. We talked about this with an employee, Valentin Kravchenko, when he was in Kiev.

Valentin Kravtchenko, born in Ukraine, immigrated to Montreal with his family in the early 1990s, is now President and CEO of greybox, a social innovation startup that sets up portable WiFi hotspots that provide access to educational content. Anyone who describes themselves as a digital nomad has already implemented projects in several regions of the world. It was normal for him to go to Ukraine to act on the ground. “You have to be there to connect with people, understand their reality and get into solution mode with them. »

A few days ago he visited the Nest Academya private elementary school is located in Kyiv, where teachers draw strong inspiration from Canadian teaching practices. “They are moving away from the traditional model of the teacher passing on information and the students memorizing, a model that is still very much present elsewhere in the country. The academy offers bilingual classes (Ukrainian and English) in an intensive format, which means that half of the classes are in English, regardless of the subject.

Although the school has lost around 40% of its students since the conflict began, activities are maintained. “Keeping children busy and engaged is especially important right now. » The environment is always stressful; the basement is secured and everyone can flee there in an emergency. Despite this, the school team is constantly working to give young people security and enable them to continue their learning. Efforts are also being made with parents to counteract the misinformation that is rife both online and on the street.

Computer equipment (tablets, computers and interactive whiteboards) is available in the school. Educational resources tend to be scarce due to lack of funds to pay for user licenses. Valentin noted this reality during his visit and appealed to the members of Edteq Association. Since then, Quebec education technology companies have agreed to offer user licenses for their products in English. This applies in particular toeduMediafrom Nanomonx and D’Ululab.

technology for good

During our conversation, Valentin told us about various initiatives related to technologies that are taking shape across Ukraine. “It’s all about technology. It is the best expression of “Tech for Good”. Connections between people are maintained through their cell phones. It’s easy to geolocate services. There are many QR codes to access information. »

As an example, he cited a movement led by the Wikipedia Foundation to speed up efforts to translate the online encyclopedia’s pages into Ukrainian. “We see the power of the digital. People quickly mobilize around specific projects. »

Through various open data platforms fed by organizations and citizens, it is possible to monitor near real-time statistical data on the situation on the ground. It becomes easier to find humanitarian services, know what kind of help is available where, etc.

The service Relief Web Answer (RW Response) from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is constantly fed. THE Ukraine data explorer is a data visualization tool that presents useful statistics, just like the service LookerStudio from Google.

More than 12 million Ukrainians left their homeland last year. For those who stay, security fears abound and life is not easy. Nonetheless, mutual aid is there and everyone who can join the effort to continue living as normally as possible.

Additionally : A video filmed at Nest Academy