Microsoft has allocated a grant in the amount of 65,000 dollars to support 25 educational centers of the IDEA project throughout Ukraine, which will help young people learn how to work on a computer for free.

The educational program provides for the development of coding skills, as well as learning the knowledge necessary for a successful job search, starting one's own business, social entrepreneurship skills, and community activities.

According to Tetyana Marushevska, marketing director of Microsoft Ukraine, the ability to code is becoming a basic skill in the world, on a par with the ability to speak, read and write. 90% employers in Europe require computer skills, by 2020 the number of such vacant jobs will reach 900 thousand.

"With the help of IDEA centers and the YouthSpark initiative, our youth will be able to acquire the skills necessary for living and working in the modern world of technology, and our country will take another step towards the knowledge economy," said Tetyana Marushevska.

The IDEA project was founded in 2008 and is implemented by the international organization PH International in cooperation with a network of Ukrainian non-governmental organizations that have IDEA computer training centers in their structure.

The goal of the project is the development of information literacy and culture in Ukraine. By the end of 2015, the project plans to provide assistance to 175,000 people. Microsoft's total investment in the project was about $1.2 million, including direct funding and the cost of software provided free of charge to organizations that joined the network.

According to the material: Microsoft Ukraine