Building the story of Nadija Children’s Hospital & Research Institute

The Nadija Children’s Hospital & Research Institute emerges as a response to the urgent mental health needs of children affected by the ongoing war in Ukraine. Recognising the harmful impact of psychological trauma on the young, Anne Berner, an experienced business executive and board professional with experience from successfully establishing a semi-virtual children’s hospital in Helsinki, approached Grow with a request for help in building the narrative needed for her vision to come to life. Understanding the critical nature of the situation, the focus was on swift action, acknowledging that waiting for the war to end is not an option.

Bringing a caring vision to life
The initiative is intended to unfold in a three-stage plan. The first stage aims to quickly transform part of the vision into reality by providing virtual mental health services for Ukrainian children and families. Subsequent stages involve extending the hospital concept to a physical location and infrastructure, and later establishing a European research centre focused on the impact of trauma and conflict. The long-term vision is to make this research available across Europe, leveraging accumulated knowledge and helping children in other conflict areas and war-troubled countries.

Inspiring hope for the future
To support Anne’s multi-tier ambition in recruiting to the board of the initiative, establishing the founding partner group, connecting to possible partners in Ukraine and beyond, and reaching her targeted financing, we built an investor presentation together. A presentation that would tell the story and rationale behind the initiative, raise awareness of the urgency of the situation and spark engagement and commitment to what needed to be done. The work was highly collaborative through which we created and expanded the content of the presentation through interviews with primarily Anne. The need for a name was obvious and a joint naming process finally arrived at the name Nadija – a Ukrainian word for “hope”.

The results have been positive. The board of directors has been filled with experienced and highly competent people who all bring valuable expertise and knowledge. Fulfilling the ambition of securing a stable group of founding partners from the Nordic countries, this group now consists of an attractive group of foundations. And financing is well underway.

This was a pro bono project.