Inaugural cohort of Ukrainian Emerging Leaders selected

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Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) is proud to announce the selected practitioners for the 2017-18 Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program

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“This inaugural program is CDDRL’s first year-long academic program aimed at mid-career professionals,” said Mosbacher Director of CDDRL Director Francis Fukuyama. “We see this as a wonderful opportunity to train Ukrainian leaders and equip them with the networks and resources to advance democratic change in a country where it is urgently needed.”

In its inaugural year, the program received an overwhelming response with 340 applications for just three positions. Starting this September, an outstanding group of Ukrainian leaders who are working to achieve and strengthen democratic reforms, civil society, transparency and economic development in their various sectors will have the opportunity to study at Stanford and to launch a project to support democratization in Ukraine. The following emerging leaders were selected for their contributions to Ukraine’s political development, their leadership potential and strong project proposals:

Oleksandra Matviichuk is a human rights defender who works on advancing democracy in Ukraine and the OSCE region. At present, she heads the human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties and also coordinates the work of the initiative group Euromaidan SOS, which aided persecuted protesters during the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-14. In 2016, she received the Democracy Defender Award for "Exclusive Contribution to Promoting Democracy and Human Rights" from missions to the OSCE.

Dmytro Romanovych works at the Reform Delivery Office for the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Romanovych is an advisor to the Minister of Economy, and is responsible for deregulation and improving the business climate in Ukraine. In addition, he is an economic expert in the largest NGO coalition in Ukraine, the Reanimation Package of Reforms, which is the most influential non-governmental reform advocate in the country.

Olexandr Starodubtsev is a Ukrainian reformer who is deeply involved in the creation of a new electronic public procurement system Prozorro. Starodubtsev is the head of the Public Procurement Regulation Department in The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, and is an official policymaker in the spheres of public procurement and economic development in Ukraine.

This program would not have been possible without the support of a set of generous partners and donors. We would like to thank WNISEF, Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, Tomas Fiala and Astem.Foundation for their generous support of the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program. We would also like to acknowledge Oleksandr and Kateryna Akymenko for their work to design and launch this program, and our Draper Hills Summer Fellows alumni Olga Aivazovska, Vasyl Marmazov, Kateryna Ryabiko, and Svitlana Zalishchuk for their assistance in the review process.

A public event to celebrate the launch of the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program will take place on October 3, 2017 at Stanford University. More information is forthcoming.

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OLEKSANDRA MATVIICHUK


Center for Civil Liberties

Oleksandra Matviichuk is a human rights defender who works on issues in Ukraine and the OSCE region. At present she heads the human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties, and also coordinates the work of the initiative group Euromaidan SOS. The activities of the Center for Civil Liberties are aimed at protecting human rights and establishing democracy in Ukraine and the OSCE region. The organization is developing legislative changes, exercises public oversight over law enforcement agencies and judiciary, conducts educational activities for young people and implements international solidarity programs. 

The Euromaidan SOS initiative group was created in response to the brutal dispersal of a peaceful student rally in Kyiv on November 30, 2013. During three months of mass protests that were called the Revolution of Dignity, several thousand volunteers provided round-the-clock legal and other aid to persecuted people throughout the country. Since the end of the protests and beginning of Russian aggression in Ukraine, the initiative has been monitoring political persecution in occupied Crimea, documenting war crimes and crimes against humanity during the hybrid war in the Donbas and conducting the “LetMyPeopleGo” international campaign to release political prisoners detained by the Russian authorities. 

Oleksandra Matviichuk has experience in creating horizontal structures for massive involvement of people in human rights activities against attacks on rights and freedoms, as well as a multi-year practice of documenting violations during armed conflict. She is the author of a number of alternative reports to various UN bodies, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE and the International Criminal Court. In 2016 she received the Democracy Defender Award for "Exclusive Contribution to Promoting Democracy and Human Rights" from missions to the OSCE.

 

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DMYTRO ROMANOVYCH

Reform Delivery Office for the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

 

Dmytro Romanovych works at the Reform Delivery Office for the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. With a team of project managers, they work directly with the prime minister by facilitating reforms, monitoring progress and coordinating across ministries. The Reform Delivery Office focuses on issues of public administration reform, business climate improvement, industrial policy and innovations, healthcare reform and privatization. Romanovych is also an advisor to the Minister of Economy, and is responsible for deregulation and improving the business climate in Ukraine. In addition, he is an economic expert in the largest NGO coalition in Ukraine, the Reanimation Package of Reforms, which is the most influential non-governmental reform advocate in the country.

Romanovych's key responsibility is to ensure the Cabinet of Ministers and Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s Parliament) both adopt Ukraine's deregulation agenda. This includes developing the concept of the deregulation documents, involvement and coordination of the stakeholders, passing documents through approval process, public promotion, etc. Due largely in part to its deregulation reform, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade was recognized as a leader in the reform process in comparison with other ministries Over the last year, Romanovych has organized several high-level meetings that have resulted in the adoption of 30 deregulation documents, the abolishment of 500 regulations and the passing of draft laws on state control system reform by the Verkhovna Rada. Prior to this he was among the creators of the Better Regulation Delivery Office institution, which is now is the key think-tank and task force for business climate improvement and restructuring of the government policy-making process. Romanovych graduated from Kharkiv State Economic University with a Master’s Degree in Economic Cybernetics.

 

 

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OLEXANDR STARODUBTSEV

Prozorro

 

Olexandr Starodubtsev is a Ukrainian reformer who is deeply involved in the creation of a new electronic public procurement system Prozorro, which is one of the most famous reforms in the country. Currently Starodubtsev is the Head of the Public Procurement Regulation Department in The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, and is an official policy maker in the spheres of public procurement and economic development in Ukraine.

The Prozorro system is famous for its different approaches to bottom-up reform based on the close collaboration between government, business and civil society. In 2016, the Prozorro system won several distinguished international awards, such as the Open Government Partnership Award, the Public Procurement Award, and was also recognized by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and Open Contracting Partnership. Moreover, Prozorro and its principles became an inspirational example for other Ukrainian reforms.

Starodubtsev was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1979. He graduated from Kharkiv National University in 2002. Previously he worked on the stock market where he made his career as a back-office specialist up to a managing partner of a Ukrainian branch of a multinational financial institution. He received an MBA degree from the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School and became Alumnus of the Year in its first competition in 2015. He is married and has a son and a daughter.