Ukrainian Regional Civil Servants and Young Leaders Sections to be Held at the 16th YES Annual Meeting tr

Over 100 representatives of regional executive authorities, regional council members and civil activists as well as over 100 students and young leaders from every region of Ukraine will participate in the Ukrainian Regional Civil Servants and Young Leaders Sections at the 16th YES Annual Meeting, which will take place on September, 12-14, 2019 in Kyiv.

The 16th YES Annual Meeting will give over 200 young Ukrainian change makers the opportunity to learn from world leaders and to develop their professional network. This represents another contribution of YES to integrating Ukraine with world while helping young Ukrainians to build a new Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Regional Civil Servants Section is a joint project of YES and the Ukrainian School of Political Studies (USPS). Its participants will have the opportunity to discuss major challenges facing the world as well as cooperation between Ukraine and its partners. They will learn from leading international and Ukrainian politicians, experts, businessmen and civil servants. Regional civil servants, politicians from the regions, and civil activists who have been selected under an all-Ukrainian competition from all regions of Ukraine will join the Section.

Ukraine is a dynamically developing State, and young leaders are needed to invest their energy, expertise and enthusiasm for change in order to build a better future. Regional politicians, civil servants and activists in Ukraine’s regions play a major role in this effort by implementing important, far-reaching reforms to decentralize governance. The participation of young regional leaders in the work of YES will allow them direct access to international expertise, enabling them to broaden their horizons and build a wide network of professional contacts. This initiative is also aiming at contributing to the success of the decentralization reform in Ukraine, deepening European integration and improving interaction between various regions of the country.

Among the speakers were John Bolton, David Cameron, Pat Cox, Ryszard Czarnecki, Robert Gates, Andrey Illarionov, John Kerry, Ray Kurzweil, Newt Gingrich, Tacan Ildem, Michael McFaul, Thomas Melia, Leon Panetta, Condoleezza Rice, Manuel Valls and others.

In addition, a Young Leaders Section will be held in parallel with the plenary sessions of the 16th YES Annual Meeting. Since 2012, YES has annually invited 100 students and young professionals, including alumni of the Foundation’s scholarship programmes Zavtra.UA and WorldWideStudies, to participate in the Section in order to inspire Ukraine’s brightest and most active youth. The programme of the section includes meetings of young leaders with the forum speakers and guests, reflecting on discussion panels of the plenary sessions. Overall, seven hundred of the best Ukrainian students and young leaders have participated in the Young Leaders Section at the YES Annual Meetings since its launch.

Speakers to young leaders at YES included prominent Ukrainian and international politicians, opinion-makers and civil society leaders, such as Tony Blair, Bono, Richard Branson, David Cameron, Valdis Dombrovskis, Niall Ferguson, Bill Ford, Robert Gates, Elton John, John Kerry, Vitaliy Klitschko, Ray Kurzweil, David H. Petraeus, Petro Poroshenko, Condoleeza Rice, Karl Rove, Ildem Tacan, Muhammad Yunus, Fareed Zakaria and others.