Kaizen is a not-for-profit community of micro schools in Ivano-Frankivsk, focused on working with outdoor education, project-based learning and self-directed approach. Our mission is two-fold: keeping kids curious and reimagining education in Ukraine. We’ve been working on both since 2018. We are inspired by democratic schools, forest kindergartens, and schools which talk about learning through projects.

Kaizen in numbers: 2 micro schools | 50+ kids | 20+ adults

What is Scholarship Fund?

In the past years 10% of our students received full or partial scholarship, which was covered by the contributions of other families. Due to the full scale war, we are not able to cover our scholarship fund with current parents contributions. Additionally, we would love to give the opportunity of safe and welcoming Kaizen school environment for those children, who were forcibly displaced from the areas of active fighting.

Monthly stipend that covers all students cost is 230 EURO. As there are 8 months of studying left, yearly scholarship stipend for one student is 1840 EURO.

We aim to raise scholarships for 14 students – 9 spots for primary age kids and 5 spots for middle schoolers.

As a not-for-profit organization, all of the contribution goes directly to cover the cost of studying. For our yearly budget (2022-2023), email us at hello@kaizenal.com. All donors receive quarterly updates on our fundraising activities.

Who will be eligible for the scholarships?

We’d like to provide the scholarships for displaced children, who moved to Ivano-Frankivsk since the start of full-scale war.

How can I contribute?

Meet KAIZEN Primary

Our KAIZEN Primary micro school has up to 40 kids at each time, from ages of 5 till 10.

Our learning includes:

• outdoor modules
• hikes every Wednesday
• hands-on practical activities
• bilingual English/Ukrainian classes
• individual and group projects

Meet KAIZEN Lab

KAIZEN Lab is a learning space for middle schoolers, from 5th grade up till the 9th.

Here we focus a lot on:

• project-based learning, inspired by the Arc approach from SF Brightworks (USA)
• engaging with community, as we are located at Promprylad Renovation (innovation center on the premises of an old plant)
• mastery-based learning