By Alina Orkusha | Fundraising and Partnerships Manager
Teach For Ukraine June update
The reporting period marked the completion of the 2025–2026 academic year and participants' transition into the next stage of the programme. During the year, 28 teachers completed the programme cycle: 18 finished their first year of teaching in partner schools, while 10 successfully completed the full two-year fellowship and became programme alumni.
Following their first year, 14 out of 18 participants (78%) committed to continuing into the second year, remaining in schools to further develop their teaching and leadership practice. The ten graduating fellows concluded two years of teaching while leaving behind educational initiatives, extracurricular projects, and stronger school communities.
During the reporting period, second-year fellows implemented 10 extracurricular projects that engaged students in career guidance, entrepreneurship, cultural heritage, civic engagement, and volunteering. Rather than participating in activities designed by adults, students took responsibility for planning projects, collaborating with partners, and creating solutions for their own communities.
One of the largest initiatives was a career guidance project led by Yelyzaveta Shelestova, engaging around 40 students through university visits, a company excursion, and a community career forum. For many participants, it was their first opportunity to openly discuss future careers with professionals, helping them make more informed decisions about further education.
Another memorable initiative was "School Stories", implemented by Olena Matviichuk. Together with students, parents, and teachers, the project collected nearly 200 personal stories, later transformed into a public exhibition and theatrical performance. Beyond developing research and communication skills, students discovered new perspectives on their school community and strengthened connections across generations.
Other projects encouraged students to become active citizens. Kseniia Lentsova and Anna Bozhko engaged more than 100 community members in initiatives supporting stray animals and raised over UAH 5,000 for local shelters. Nataliia Demchuk, together with nine students, combined the preservation of Ukrainian Christmas traditions with fundraising for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, while Anna Semylyt supported students in establishing a social enterprise producing educational board games, securing a €1,000 grant.
Learning opportunities extended beyond school through a partnership with DHL, where students visited an international company and explored future career pathways. At the same time, fellows continued delivering Catch-up classes, combining academic support with a tutoring approach to help students address learning loss while rebuilding confidence and motivation. As one eighth-grade student reflected, "I used to be afraid to answer in English because I thought I would say something wrong. During these sessions I realised that making mistakes is normal, so speaking has become much easier."
Alongside their work with students, fellows continued learning from one another. During the reporting period, second-year participants facilitated peer learning sessions on debate facilitation, self-regulation, well-being, and work–life balance for first-year teachers.
These exchanges strengthened the programme's professional community by creating opportunities for teachers to share practical experience, discuss common challenges, and support one another. For many participants, peer learning became an important source of confidence, motivation, and professional growth.
Take a step back: our 2025 Annual Impact Report
The update above covers this quarter's chapter — the close of the 2025–2026 academic year. To see how it fits into the bigger picture, we're also sharing our 2025 Annual Impact Report, an organisation-wide review of everything we achieved across 2025.
While this quarterly update follows Teach For Ukraine Fellowship programme through one academic year, the annual report brings together the full scope of our work in 2025: our total reach in numbers, results across all our programmes. Most of all, you'll see the people behind the data — the teachers you've helped place in classrooms and the students whose confidence and futures are growing because of them.
If a particular story or number moves you, we'd love for you to share it — passing the report to one friend or colleague helps another classroom find a teacher.
Read the 2025 Annual Impact Report here.
Mark your calendar: July Bonus Day is July 15–16
We have one more reason to reach out — and it's a powerful one. On July 15–16, GlobalGiving is hosting July Bonus Day, a 24-hour matching event where every gift you make goes further.
Here's what you need to know:
Here's how you can help us make the most of the day:
Your support has already helped 28 teachers complete this year's cycle and welcomed 10 new alumni into the world. On July Bonus Day, you can turn one gift into even more classrooms reached, more students supported, and more futures changed.
Links:
By Alina Orkusha | Partnership Manager
By Alina Orkusha | Partnership Manager
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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