Fall 2024
Friday, Sept. 27 at 12pm EST: What has changed since February 2022
Featured Guests: The webinar series organizers will kick-start this season of guests by discussing how their work with ISAR Ednannia, the Peace Corps, and the American academic community have changed since 2022. The featured guests will be Olga Nikolska, Roman Oleksenko, Geoffrey Glenn, and Sarah Sokhey. Please join us! We're eager to keep our community engaged and Ukraine in everyone's minds.
Recording: What Has Changed Since 2022: Perspectives from ISAR Ednannia, the U.S. Peace Corps, and the American academic community, September 27, 2024
Friday, Oct. 4 at 12pm ET: Ukrainian Film & War
Featured Guest: Ukrainian film producer, Olga Gibelinda. You can see more about Olga's work including the documentary almanac collection "Cities and Their Heroes" on her IMDB page here. You can also check out her Instagram account. Olga has worked extensively with firefighters and civil society organizations. She has filmed several action movies and documentaries. We will talk with her about the everyday experiences of life in war, how those are reflected in film, and how culture can counteract propaganda.
Recording: Olga Gibelinda, Ukrainian director and producer
Friday, Oct. 11 at 12pm ET
Featured Guest: Alya Shandra (editor-in-chief of Euromaidan Press). Alya will talk with us about the awakening of Ukrainian civil society and the abandonment of Soviet mentality, and her work with Euromaidan Press.
Recording: Alya Shandra (EuroMaidan Press)
Friday, Oct. 18 at 12pm ET
Featured Guest: Kopychyntsi Mayor Bogdan Kelichavyi and Suzanne LeBlanc (Virtual Service Pilot Participant Peace Corps Ukraine)
Recording: Kopychyntsi Mayor Bogdan Kelichavyi and Suzanne LeBlanc
Friday, Oct. 25 at 12pm ET
Featured Guest: Dr. Tymofii Brik, sociologist and rector of the Kyiv School of Economics. You can see more about Dr. Brik here and here.
Recording: Tymofii Brik (Ukrainian Civil Society in Times of War)
Friday, Nov. 1 at 12pm ET
Featured Guest: Taras Byk (Agency for Recovery & Development NGO). From Taras Bryk: "In June 2022, having seen consequences of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we have founded NGO “Agency for Recovery and Development” based on the existing NGO “Agency for Efficient Solutions” which has had significant experience in realizing good governance and anti-corruption programs, mainly on local level. The key task of the Agency is to secure successful recovery and development, first of all, of those cities and communities which have suffered from the Russian occupation and attacks. Well-known Ukrainian activist and expert Oleksandr Solontay has become Head of Board and Executive Director of the Agency. As of today, over 20 people are working on realization of the projects of the Agency." See the Agency for Recovery & Development website here.
Recording: Taras Byk (Recovery, defense, and strategic thinking)
Friday, Nov. 8 at 12pm ET
Featured Guest: Ilona Khmeleva (East Europe Foundation). Ilona Khmeleva is leading international advocacy at East Europe Foundation (EEF), a prominent Ukrainian NGO. EEF is involved in a broad range of activities, including parliamentary diplomacy, capacity-building for civil society organizations (CSOs), promoting transparency and digitalization, fostering economic development, and implementing humanitarian efforts in response to the war. Ilona is also a Secretary of the Economic Security Council of Ukraine – an institution aimed at strengthening sanctions policy and elaborating comprehensive security strategies. Ilona dedicates her efforts to deprive the Russian Federation of its instruments to wage war, including in the cyber domain.
Recording: Ilona Khmeleva (Justice for Ukraine)
Friday, Nov. 15 at 12pm ET
Featured Guest: Anastasiia Zhuravel (Founder of "re: imagine your city" (Berlin). Anastasiia Zhuravel is an urban researcher and the founder of "re:imagine your city", a Berlin-based organization focused on urban cultural resilience and post-war regeneration. She has worked extensively on decentralization reforms in Ukraine and is the co-founder of the Laska Charity Foundation, a social initiative aimed at transforming the cultural landscape and addressing social needs in Kyiv. More recently, she has been curating the HOPE HOME pilot project, collaborating with artists and scientists to explore innovative ecological building materials, utilizing resources like sheep’s wool, mushroom mycelium, hemp, clay, and bark. Zhuravel is a dedicated advocate for sustainable design, ecological construction, and community-driven development.
Friday, Nov. 22 at 12pm ET
Featured Guest: Ielizaveta Rekhtman. Liza Rekhtman is a PhD candidate in Central and East European Studies at the University of Glasgow. Liza is from Ukraine, Khmelnytskyi, and moved to Glasgow in October 2021 to work on her PhD thesis. Her research is on the lived experience of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and how it shapes the perception of fairness/justice among Ukrainian citizens at the time of war. Prior to this, in 2017-2021, Liza worked in Kyiv for a Swiss private diplomacy organisation Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue with a focus on the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine (Donetsk and Luhansk regions). In 2015-2017, Liza worked as an analyst for a Ukrainian NGO ‘Donbas Think Tank’ and ‘Civic Holding Group of Influence’ focusing on reintegration measures in response to the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine. Liza graduated from Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She completed an international master’s program in Russian, Central and East European Studies at the University of Glasgow and Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.
Spring 2024
March 1: Dispelling the Myths of Ukraine: Media, History, and Culture
Featured Guests: Professor Olexiy Haran (Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Professor, member of PONARS Eurasia) and Peter Dickinson (editor of the UkraineAlert blog at the Eurasia Center and the publisher of Business Ukraine and Lviv Today magazines and Atlantic Council expert)
March 8: Women in War (on International Women's Day)
Featured Guests: Yaryna Chornohuz (currently serving in the Ukrainian military, formerly a combat medic with the Marine Corps, and renowned poet), and Daria Zubenko (Senior Sergeant currently serving in the Ukrainian military)
"Nothing has changed since the sun went down
only the complexion of several thousand people changed
in those years
Serhiy lost Yana
Yulia lost Ilya
Inna lost Igor
Halyna lost Mykola
all names are real all losses are not fictional"
Read the full poem by Yaryna Chornohuz here: https://censor.net/en/r3446528
March 15: Kidnapped & Orphaned Youth
Featured Guest: Maryna Lypovetska, All-Ukrainian NGO "Magnolia"
"More Than 700,000 Ukrainian Children Taken To Russia Since Full-Scale War Started, Official Says," RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, July 31, 2023
March 22: Youth and Civic Engagement
Featured Guests: Anna Bondarenko, Ukrainian Volunteer Service, and Irina Belaeva from ISAR Ednannia and who is working on UNICEF project in 7 regions of Ukraine.
You can see more about the Ukrainian Volunteer Service here.
Please see this powerful video (created by the band, Imagine Dragons) with a Ukrainian boy whose home and whole town were destroyed.
March 29: War from a Teenage Perspective
Featured Guests: We will be joined by Nazar Oleksenko (a 17 year old high school graduate from Kyiv) and Romana Pavliuk (an 18 year old freshman from Ukrainian Catholic University).
April 5: The Impact of the War on Families & Migration
Featured Guests: Iryna Mazur (Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Philadelphia and Vice President, Director of Advocacy and Information Program, Ukrainian Federation of America) and Svitlana Zaluzhna (Founder, Open Nation NGO)
April 12: Diversity in Ukraine, Part 1
Featured Guest: Ayder Khalilov, Senior Program Manager at Pact and Viktor Pylypenko, veteran and head of the NGO, "Ukrainian LGBT Military for Equal Rights" ; See this article from Reuters featuring Viktor, "Gay War Veteran Speaks Out for Equal Rights in Ukraine's Military," September 17, 2021.
April 19: Diversity in Ukraine, Part 2
Featured Guests: Yuliya Bidenko, Associate Professor, Karazin Kharkiv National University, an expert for the EU delegation to Ukraine's Initiative "Team Europe," and a visiting scholar at Freie University (Berlin), and Anzhelika Bielova, a regional representative from Zaporizhia on the Ukrainian Women's Congress and the founder of Voice of Romni and a participant in the International Visitor Leadership Program organized by the U.S. Department of State.
April 26: Stand-Up Comedy in the Time of War
Featured Guest: Colin Kubik; see the Ukrainian Stand-Up Comedy YouTube channel and Anton Tymoshenko
Fall 2023
September 22: Launch event - Civil Society and Ukrainian Resilience: Paving a Way Forward with Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, John E. Herbst
Moderator in Kyiv: Olga Nikolska (Ednannia, civil society organization)
Moderator in Washington DC: Sarah Wilson Sokhey (University of Colorado Boulder)
September 29: Civil Society in Ukraine Since the 1990s
Featured guests: Serhiy Shapovalov (Democratic Initiatives Foundation representative) & Svitlana Kuts (civil society expert) with Olga Nikolska (ISAR Ednannia) moderating. This panel will be dedicated to the emergence and development of Ukrainian civil society organizations (CSOs) following the 1991 referendum on independence. We would like to study this topic from two different perspectives – sociological and personal.
Serhiy Shapovalov represents Democratic Initiatives Foundation named after Ilko Kucheriv – the first Ukrainian independent foundation that brought exit polls during elections to Ukraine. Exit polls results of DIF were always the closest to the final election results and sometimes became decisive for revolutionary events to begin. Serhiy will trace the changes in Ukrainian civil society based on historical events that happened in Ukraine, drawing on research conducted by the Foundation.
Svitlana Kuts has been a part of the civil society since 1994. She has established and run several NGOs. In 2007 she initiated and founded the National Philanthropy Award in Ukraine. She is the author and founder of the Course for Professional Fundraisers (2008). Svitlana wrote a paper on the history of philanthropy in Ukraine, where she highlighted the role of civil society in the socio-political governance system. Svitlana is a proud alumna of the International Fellowship Program of the Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society (CUNY, USA) on the topic of "Philanthropy and Civil Society", and a participant in research projects in the USA, the UK, the Netherlands and Ukraine.
October 6: Civil Society Filling in Governance Gaps
Iryna Slavinska, founder and CEO of Donor.ua who works on blood drives
Victoria Baltser, ex-Head of Voznesensk Community Foundation, secretary of the city council of Voznesensk who does community work on the frontlines
Dina Volynets, Head of Supervisory Council of Tvoya Opora Charitable Foundation who provides social and humanitarian assistance
Ievhen Ianiuk, Zdorovi - medical equipment for hospitals - Center of Volunteerism and Protection (TBC) who works on shelters for IDPs
Marlog-Catsudei - humanitarian logistic center - tacmed, frontline hospitals, frontline and de-occupied territories humanitarian assistance
October 13: Soft Power: russian Influence in Ukraine, the US, and the World
Featured guests: Yevhen Hlibovytsky (Nestor Group & Ukrainian Catholic University) in conversation with Roman Oleksenko (Ukrainian Action Team Leader)
October 20: International Networks of Support
Featured guests: Dr. Emma C. Mateo (Petro Jacyk Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Ukrainian Studies at Columbia University, Lecturer in Sociology), and Jeffrey Hartman (Founder and CEO of Ukrainian Action)
October 27: Disinformation & Propaganda, and Western Perspectives
Featured guests: Lili Bivings (Business Editor at The Kyiv Independent) and Yulia Dukach (Data Journalist at https://texty.org.ua/, Head of russian Disinformation Study Section)
November 3: The Role of Civil Society in Ukraine’s Future
Featured guest: Tata Kepler, founder of Ptahy organization to provide civil & tactical medicine, and recipient of the National Legend of Ukraine Presidential Prize