The European Commission's Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) has provided U-LEAD with Europe Programme with additional funding of over EUR 5 million to reconstruct 12 schools in Chernihiv, Kyiv and Kharkiv Oblasts and establish 25 Digital Learning Centres within the framework of the Local Schools Rehabilitation for Resilience Programme.

The money will also be used to provide consultations and trainings on creating a safe and supportive learning environment for children.

"The situation is very different in each and every municipality. There are those that are completely overloaded due to the arrival of people who have fled from the war to the safer western oblasts, for example, and there are other areas where the entire infrastructure has been destroyed. There are some places where the teachers are no longer there. And for the children, this means that after the difficult challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic through distance learning, they are now facing a long period of lacking many things: both infrastructure and opportunities. Within the framework of this initiative, we are, among other things, testing approaches to ensuring access to education that we have tested before. Our goal is not only to reconstruct schools, we want to find solutions that are adapted to the specific situations," said Peter Wagner, Director of the European Commission's Service for Foreign Policy Instruments.

In his words, sometimes the local needs may be for electronic equipment for distance learning, sometimes it concerns buses, sometimes it is about shelters, because even in challenging circumstances, schooling must continue.

"That is why we are trying to test new approaches and want to really see what solutions are being developed from the bottom up, what we can learn from municipalities, taking into account their experience. No one knows the needs better than parents, teachers and local authorities," said Peter Wagner.

According to the World Bank, as of 24 February 2023, more than 450 educational institutions were destroyed and more than 2,770 damaged in Ukraine.