We are Small Heart with Art, a non-governmental organization. Since 2016, we have been changing the lives of children in Ukrainian hospitals by defending their right to education, breaking down social stereotypes, and creating opportunities for a full childhood despite illness.
We launched the Superheroes Schools network. We created Ukraine’s first social franchise, brought together over 1,000 volunteers, experts, and representatives of socially responsible businesses, and developed draft legal agreements and an algorithm for opening schools in hospitals. We created an online course for teachers called “How to Teach Superheroes” and carried out so many renovations that we know by heart what the ideal classroom in a hospital should be like — focused on the needs of the child, meeting State Building Regulations requirements and more, comfortable and ergonomic.
We persistently advocated for the constitutional right to education for children undergoing inpatient treatment. And after hundreds of meetings with the authorities and complex preparatory processes, in 2022, theSuperheroes School became a state institution. The first eight classes we created became educational centers of the new state institution “Superheroes School.”
We do not just create educational spaces. By involving opinion leaders and artists in advocacy and educational projects, we are breaking down social stereotypes about children and families living with HIV and defending their right to access quality treatment without stigma and discrimination.
With the start of full-scale war, we organized a volunteer headquarters to help hospitals, supplying medicines, hygiene products, and food to hospitals in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia. We created a course called “Know How to Help” from practicing psychologists for those who work with children and families affected by Russian aggression in one way or another.
In all our projects, we have always sought to integrate support for socially responsible businesses in order to develop and promote corporate social responsibility.
We recently launched the Superheroes School because we know that we have created a format that embodies every child’s right to education, no matter what.
And now we are moving forward!
