On 16 April in Kyiv, the savED Charitable Foundation and Tokarev Foundation presented a DIY guide for businesses, philanthropic organisations, and communities seeking to develop technology-based educational initiatives for teenagers. The document contains step-by-step recommendations on setting up spaces, training teachers, and adapting initiatives to specific needs. This was announced by Sergey Tokarev — an investor, IT entrepreneur, and founder of Tokarev Foundation.
How DIY “Beehives” Work
This guide is based on experience gained from setting up DIY “Beehives” in areas where education has been disrupted by the full-scale war. A “Beehive” is a centre for hands-on learning for teenagers who wish to explore various STEM disciplines.
DIY is all about independent exploration and hands-on practice, which complement theoretical learning. The initiative covers various technical areas:
- conducting experiments;
- building robotics prototypes;
- programming;
- working with 3D printers.
The network currently covers five communities in regions where, due to the full-scale war, schoolchildren’s opportunities for offline extracurricular education have been significantly reduced. These are the Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, and Mykolaiv regions.
The pilot centre is located in the village of Tsarychanka. In 2025, it was visited by more than 800 schoolchildren, more than half of whom plan to apply the skills they have acquired in the future.
From a single pilot project to fully fledged infrastructure
Sergey Tokarev emphasises that the single centre in Tsarychanka is merely a pilot project. At the same time, the guidebook is already about infrastructure. The scale of the challenge was demonstrated by savED data: in 2025, only 41% of schoolchildren were regularly involved in extracurricular activities. The reason is simple — a lack of specialists and financial shortages in communities.
“DIY ‘Beehives’ should be positioned as a tool for long-term investment in human capital. To make them even more effective, we need to achieve full cooperation between business, tech philanthropy, the state, and charitable foundations,” says the IT entrepreneur.
During the presentation of the guidebook, the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine emphasised that modern educational initiatives are a prerequisite for training future specialists. According to him, in 2025–2026, state investment in upgrading such spaces will amount to UAH 6.3 billion.