UN Global Compact Network in Ukraine completes the partnership project IT nation, the results of which are free IT education for citizens of different ages and social status, employment of participants, improving the quality of life and development of new partnership agreements.

Duration – 1 year

Realization period – 2020-2021

Realization period – 2020-2021

Challenge: 

Due to the military conflict in the Eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with loosing its regional centres, faced serious socio-economic disruptions and decline of the investment attractiveness. As a result, the potential for further growth became strongly restricted and citizens of the area started to experience issues with employment opportunities, accessing to quality education and solving of crucial social problems.

Additionally, the digitalization process of public services, which is aimed to improve communication between citizens and state, is accompanied by insufficient digital literacy of the population for the full use of such opportunities.

During the project realization, the following challenges have been taken into account:

  • continuous relocation of project participants (some of them are internally displaced persons, without permanent residence; students that constantly change their location due to education and relatives);
  • COVID-19 lockdown and quarantine restrictions (prohibition of mass events, public transport limitations).

Solution:

 

Provide equal conditions for access to quality IT education, development of hard and soft skills for women and men, youth and retirees, employed and unemployed in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The goal is to provide quality online IT education for creating further employment opportunities (including remote work), improve the quality of communication and work using modern technologies.
All our students will be able to set up the foundation for their future profession, use the acquired knowledge and skills to get a new job in the IT sector, launch their own startup projects, systematize existing knowledge or implement skills as freelancers. By obtaining additional IT education, they will be able to grow as professionals and additionally use the acquired knowledge in everyday life.

Due to the implementation of the Program, the region will receive local specialists with basic and advanced qualifications in IT field. New and existing IT companies, other businesses, will be able to expand their activities and increase economic value using innovative IT solutions. By involving students of the Program, local government and other non-profit organizations will be able to increase their social value. According to various estimates, the need for IT professionals in Ukraine is up to 40 000 people. This need can be transformed into opportunities and jobs for our graduates.

Studying fields:

Advanced Frontend Web Developer,

Web Coder, 

Automation Software Tester, 

Manual Software Tester,

Digital skills 

The duration of the education process via online platform is six months.


The education program includes:

  • everyday lessons on the online platform;
  • soft and hard skills webinars for all project participants;
  • online bootcamps (webinar workshops) for testers and developers;
  • hackathons.

All additional activities aimed to enhance and consolidate acquired knowledge, and stimulate the employment.

Participants – citizens of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, over the age of 15.

The project was made possible through support provided under the terms of Award within the USAID Economic Resilience Activity.

Results:

2500+ registrations, age from 15 to 74 y.o., people of various social categories. Approximately, 50% of women and 50% of men.

Activities that have been conducted during the project and its results:

  1. Online education. As of November 2020, more than 600 participants completed their education.
  2. The grantee conducted 30+ online webinars that covered more than 20 IT topics.
  3. Online bootcamps (webinar workshops). During two online bootcamps for testers and developers, the participants, with mentors help and feedback, had created their own projects that became a part of the participants’ portfolio.
  4. CV Database. In order to share portfolios and the participants CVs with perspective employers and existing partners, the CV Database has been created within the project.
  5. Hackathons. Two online hackathons were conducted simultaneously: YouthHack-2020 (for 15 to 18 y.o. participants) and AdultHack-2020 (for 19+ y.o.). During 48 hours period, 150 participants had been working on solutions’ development for real IT cases. More than 20 mentors took part in the Hackathons. The jury praised the quality of participants training. The best teams and the most persistent students received prizes, certificates for training in IT academies and internships with the perspective to get a job.
  6. The final CAMPs and job fair are scheduled for December. Expected result: employment of graduates of the program after the activities and online interviews.

Other results and facts (at the current stage of the project):

  1. Cooperation memos were signed with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and IT companies of Ukraine, which acted as partners of the program activities.
  2. IT professional from different IT areas provided around 200 hours of mentorship to the project participants.
  3. Adherence to the principle of “lifelong learning” and breaking the stereotype “IT – for young people only” is ensured. The age of hackathon participants is 15-55 years, including members of the winning team – 35-49 years.
  4. The Project Management team consists of 7 people.

 

Partners:

Grantor: USAID Economic Resilience Activity project.

Companies, that have been involved as partners during the project: IT Ukraine Association, DAN IT, PowerCode, INTECRACY DEALS, SupportYourApp, EPAM, BazaIT, Shell etc.

This publication was made possible through support provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), under the terms of Award to UN Global Compact Network in Ukraine within the USAID Economic Resilience Activity. The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the USAID or the United States Government.