CDDRL supports Ukrainian reformers

by Francis Fukuyama, CDDRL Mosbacher Director, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the FSI

Leadership Academy for Development Workshop in Ukraine, February 2017

For the past several years, Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law has been heavily engaged in supporting Ukraine’s political development. Ukraine is in the midst of its second effort to build a stable democracy with an effective state after the failure of the Orange Revolution in 2004. It has chosen Europe rather than Russia as its political model, a decision that has put it squarely in the center of global geopolitics.

Political renewal is ultimately about people, and CDDRL’s effort has focused on training young leaders through programs like the Draper Hills Summer Fellows program and the Leadership Academy for Development. The former is aimed primarily at civil society activists, journalists, and human rights campaigners; the latter targets up-and-coming public officials.

CDDRL Mosbacher Director Francis Fukuyama with Draper Hills and LAD alums in Ukraine

We are very pleased to add to this a new Ukrainian Emerging Leaders program that will allow young Ukrainian reformers to come to Stanford for a year. We have already created new networks of reformers in Ukraine that we hope will lay the basis for a new generation of leadership in a critical country.

A short interview with former Stanford JSK fellows who initiated Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program

I have been personally gratified by the opportunity that all of these programs have given me to meet a spectacular group of very inspiring Ukrainians.

Fukuyama with the donors and supporters of the UEL program

Ukraine faces huge challenges with respect to its territorial integrity, fighting corruption, and the consolidation of a high-quality democracy. CDDRL looks forward to helping the country meet all of them.