Following the Revolution of Dignity, there was a growing social movement, with many professionals rethinking how to rebuild various sectors in the country. In this context, my friend and I decided to create a children educational project. The idea was to help new generations to grow into agents of change by fostering a problem-solving habit instead of complaining and waiting for ready-made solutions. To support this, we built a platform where anyone could freely access materials for creative problem-solving workshops. We also took the lead in organizing and conducting these workshops ourselves.

In late 2013 Ukraine had gone into the Revolution of Dignity. More than 120 people lost their lives. In 2014, Russia went to war with Ukraine and an informational war flared up. It was a time full of manipulations and disinformation, that shed more light on the mechanisms that made it possible to influence people’s minds.

This drew my attention to learning how public opinion is shaped, how propaganda operates, and how biases originate. Remembering elementary school and my teenage years, I established links with how a normalized amenable society is raised - one that is easily controlled and patient. I pondered on what should be done to preclude such mechanisms of social conformity.

We observed that part of society preferred to complain instead of coming up with ideas for how to improve the situation. In my opinion, this was part of the “learned helplessness” imposed by propaganda, convincing people that they were powerless in the face of circumstances and that only the government was capable of making changes. Eventually, people would express their resentment through complaints and then resign themselves to the situation.

The workshop process was based on the design thinking approach, which included field research to develop observation skills and ask relevant questions, empathetic interviews to understand others, analysis to identify and define problems, and brainstorming ideas followed by testing them through prototypes to learn and iterate toward the best solution. Throughout the process, children developed a creative mindset, critical thinking skills, the ability to collaborate, and an understanding that mistakes are opportunities for learning rather than something to avoid.

Today, the project is stopped, but a bigger initiative emerged, which you can check by visiting the "School" section in the menu.