The war in Ukraine has created unprecedented challenges for the education system. Thousands of students lost access to quality learning due to forced displacement, destroyed schools, lack of access to education, and chronic stress. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the civil sector has become a key element in supporting the restoration of quality education.
This section covers new research shedding light on the needs and opportunities of civil society organizations working in education.
One of the main goals of programs addressing educational losses is to support students who need it the most — those with low academic achievement or belonging to vulnerable groups.
However, engaging these students is challenging due to low motivation among both students and their parents, limited awareness about educational projects, and technical barriers such as lack of gadgets, poor connectivity, and internet issues in frontline areas.
Another crucial aspect is supporting teachers. For educators, participation in extracurricular educational projects often becomes an additional unpaid burden. NGOs offer financial compensation to motivate teachers to join these initiatives. To attract new teachers, NGOs organize training, simplify access to resources, and provide support in mastering new teaching methods.
But how can learning gaps ultimately be overcome? Which regions need the most educational support? Can NGO solutions become part of a national strategy?
To answer these and other questions, Teach for Ukraine NGO supported by the international organization Save the Children, conducted research on the role of NGOs in studying and overcoming educational losses in Ukraine, within the project “Overcoming Educational Losses in Secondary School Based on a Tutoring Approach.”
“Teach for Ukraine” is a civil organization working to ensure every child in Ukraine can realize their potential regardless of birthplace or residence. The NGO launched the largest program to compensate educational losses, “Educational Soup,” which uses tutoring and mentoring approaches in student learning. To increase effectiveness, the team decided to conduct this research.
The study covered organizations implementing programs and projects addressing educational losses. Its main goal was to highlight the role of NGOs and understand their needs and challenges. The research was authored by sociologists and education experts Iryna Kohut and Yuliia Nazarenko.
“NGOs were the first to launch activities addressing educational losses and to put this issue on the agenda. Over the past three years, NGOs have conducted educational events for students both online and offline, in field camps, education centers, and digital platforms. They have also trained teachers in diagnosing and overcoming educational losses and developed educational content for such programs,” says co-author Iryna Kohut.
The researchers also analyzed interactions among key stakeholders in this field and identified major challenges organizations face during their work.
“This research describes how the system actually works — its main participants and the links between them, their functions. We saw that NGOs quickly respond to the demand and need regarding educational losses, develop and implement various innovative practices to address them, accumulate experience that can be scaled, and operate in areas where others lack resources. These are unique functions for the Ukrainian education system that no one else performs,” says Iryna Kohut
Sociologist and education expert Iryna Kohut. Photo: Teach for Ukraine
Infographic from the research
How does it work?
A key part of the programs is working with vulnerable children, such as those with special educational needs, from temporarily occupied territories, or from families in difficult life circumstances.
Infographic from the research
Programs to overcome educational losses mostly rely on interactive approaches, distinguishing them from regular school lessons. During such sessions, students gain not only academic knowledge but also develop cognitive skills, learning abilities, and psychosocial competencies.
The research revealed that the absence of a clear national strategy creates barriers for effective stakeholder cooperation, while regional imbalance in priorities leaves central and western regions less covered. NGOs emphasize the need to develop state policies to coordinate efforts and ensure systemic work.
Most educational recovery projects focus exclusively or mainly on eastern, northern, and southern regions severely affected by the full-scale invasion. These areas experienced longer disruptions and remote learning, with much worse access to educational services. However, some organizations operate throughout Ukraine. According to UNICEF data, about 100,000 learners have been involved in educational loss recovery projects.
Most surveyed organizations work at national (45%) and regional (40%) levels, with fewer operating at oblast or local levels.
Infographic from the research
Inna Steranets, project manager at Teach for Ukraine NGO, notes:
“Scaling programs to overcome educational losses remains a serious challenge for NGOs. Our resources are limited, preventing us from covering all interested communities and schools. Thanks to this research, we have shown many partners where and how we can strengthen each other. This is an important step in building an ecosystem of effective partnership. In particular, the expert team at ‘Teach for Ukraine’ has created unique guides for teachers and facilitators to help work with children on overcoming educational losses. We currently have guides for six subjects, as well as a special package for facilitators of Digital Education Centers.”
Inna Steranets, project manager at Teach for Ukraine NGO. Photo: Teach for Ukraine
The guides were presented on December 4 during the Annual Strategic Forum “From Challenges to Opportunities: Partnership of NGOs for Education.” The event, organized by “Teach for Ukraine” with support from Save the Children, was held for the second time and united education experts, civil society representatives, government institutions, and international donors. By early January, more than 4,000 professionals had already downloaded the guides.
Anastasiia Donska, head of the educational loss recovery direction at Teach for Ukraine, comments:
“The research results highlighted key challenges requiring solutions: ensuring accessibility of programs for the most vulnerable children and coordinating efforts between NGOs, the state, and donors. We believe that partnership, experience exchange, and mutual support among all actors involved in overcoming educational losses will help scale existing effective practices and create a solid foundation for restoring continuous access to quality education for all children in Ukraine. Overcoming educational losses is a shared responsibility of the state, civil sector, and international partners.”
Anastasiia Donska, head of the educational loss recovery direction at the Teach for Ukraine NGO
