US Government Fund Supports Kids Programming Courses in Ukraine

Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF), a $150 million regional private equity fund backed by USAID to invest in Ukraine and Moldova, has supported the Technology Nation Kids program.

Launched by BrainBasket Foundation, a Ukrainian NGO dedicated to IT education, the initiative aims to provide free programming training for nine to eleven-year-old children in Ukraine.

The funds will be used to pay teachers and resupply Technology Nation Kids project hubs in five Ukrainian cities, namely Odessa, Mariupol, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kherson.

Within six months, a total of 200 children is expected to be trained with the support from WNISEF.

The fund will also subsidize the robotics video course. 3D robot modeling, microcontrollers, sensors, ready and open-source robotics solutions will be covered by the course.

“The next decade will have the IT jobs as the most demanded ones, and the programming skill will be equated with the ability to read or write. Some European countries have already started teaching six-year-old kids the basics of programming,”

stated Andrii Sorokhan, Economic Leadership Program Coordinator of Western NIS Enterprise Fund.

“In order to be competitive in the international market, children in Ukraine should have the same skills. That is why Western NIS Enterprise Fund supported the Technology Nation Kids project, which will give our children a chance to master technology, develop logical thinking and significantly broaden their horizons”,

he added.

Earlier this year BrainBasket foundation raised $5,108 from 40 backers as a result of its Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.

Source: International Digital News