Representatives of the Centre for Innovative Educational Technologies of the Education and Research Institute “Ukrainian Engineering Pedagogics Academy” of Karazin University in partnership with the “Innovation Generation” NGO (INNOGEN) became partners of the international project “Social Student Businesses to Support Youth in (Post)War Ukraine” (STUDBIZ Ukraine), implemented by the School of ME (“School of Mindful Entrepreneurship” NGO) with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and ChildFund Deutschland e.V.
In Kyiv, on 10-11 March 2025, in the UNIT.City Innovation Park, the School of ME team held the 1st module of the training for trainers and mentors of the project for representatives of 10 youth centres for the development of social entrepreneurship in educational institutions.
Our team was represented by specialists from the Centre for Innovative Educational Technologies of the ERI “UEPA” Tetiana Kostrova and Maksym Baturin and Deputy Head of the International Relations Department of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University Roman Nesterenko.
During the two-day training for trainers and mentors in social entrepreneurship in educational institutions, participants worked on generating ideas and completed practical tasks to strengthen their skills in social entrepreneurship. The training programme included consideration of the following issues:
- What is ‘school-based social entrepreneurship’?
- Review of case studies of school-based enterprises in Ukraine and abroad.
- Roles and interaction of students, curators, administration, parents and other stakeholders.
- Who is involved in the launch and operation of social enterprises in educational institutions?
- Ecosystem for the development of social entrepreneurship in educational institutions - opportunities, materials, stakeholders.
- Generating business ideas based on educational institutions. Practical work in groups to fill in the business canvas.
- Formats of entrepreneurship education. Curriculum development - what should be taken into account?
- Effective methods and features of teaching teenagers.
A meeting with representatives of an existing school enterprise from Kyiv, a Q&A session: “How to launch a social enterprise based on educational institutions?” and a final reflection were also organised for the trainers.
The trainers of the event were:
Anna Hladka, Head of Education and Consulting at School of ME, trainer, facilitator, entrepreneur, developer of curricula and materials on social entrepreneurship (SE) in educational institutions, developer and author of online courses on SE and project management, methodological support for several SE projects.
Alina Bocharnikova is a social enterprise development coordinator at the Future Development Agency and a certified social entrepreneuship trainer. She has experience in developing educational programmes and supporting the launch of social enterprises based on educational institutions.
Two more sessions of the training of trainers (ToT) programme are ahead for Karazin University representatives, and three years of fruitful work on conducting trainings and providing mentoring support to schools that decide to create new social enterprises on their basis.
The STUDBIZ project will also provide grant support in the amount of EUR 2,000 to equip and build the capacity of the Centre for Innovative Educational Technologies at ERI “UEPA” as a student business hub for supporting and developing social entrepreneurship for secondary, vocational and professional pre-higher education institutions.
