On March 28, the first graduation of the course “Defense Sector. Change Makers” took place, created with the support of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the Foundation for Support of Reforms in Ukraine, the Special Advisor on Defense, funded by the UK government, and the Reforms Support Office of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, and implemented by the Sahaidachnyi Security Center team.
The program featured top-level Ukrainian officials (former prime ministers, ministers, and leaders of other state institutions), international experts, representatives from leading military educational institutions from NATO member countries, including the UK, USA, and Estonia, officers from the General Staff, combat unit commanders, and leaders of renowned think tanks.
The program covered key aspects of the defense sector in three modules:
- The general institutional framework of Ukraine’s defense system, introducing the structure and institutional framework of Ukraine’s defense ecosystem, as well as the policy formation cycle in the defense sector and the war budget.
- The military module, where participants learned about military and defense standards, strategies, and doctrines in Ukraine and NATO countries, cybersecurity fundamentals, and worked on analytical skills and OSINT in defense.
- Leadership and diplomacy in the defense sector.
As Lesia Ogryzko, Director of the Sahaidachnyi Security Center, noted: “The training was not only an opportunity to gain current knowledge and align with key players in the defense sector but also a tool to form a community capable of influencing the development of Ukraine’s defense policy.”
The importance of such initiatives was emphasized by Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defense, Kateryna Chernohorenko, who highlighted the role of civil society in strengthening the country’s defense capabilities and congratulated the course graduates.
“Today we are fighting not only for territories. We are fighting for freedom and our identity. To win, we need not only a strong military but also a powerful civil society that is capable of both resisting threats and proactively implementing change. No reform currently underway in the areas of digital development, transformation, and digitization of the defense sector would have been possible without the involvement of civil society or at its request,” said Deputy Minister Kateryna Chernohorenko.
From our British partners, Andrea Melouf, SDA Project Director at Alinea UK, spoke to the graduates, stating: “We highly value the role of civil society in shaping effective public policy and ensuring Ukraine’s democratic development. The chosen approach to community-building through training and cooperation should not only be continued but scaled up.”
The final lecture for the graduates was delivered by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Veterans Fund at the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, military chaplain Father Andriy Zelinsky, who emphasized the importance of consolidating society on national security issues.
“We have chosen to fight for our country, so our path requires constant responsibility and improvement, as well as a quality community where everyone is capable of strengthening themselves and those around them. The project is over, but the collective struggle continues,” commented the course coordinator, Kateryna Barysheva.
“Despite the fact that this was a pilot, the first of its kind, our team succeeded in achieving all the goals for which it was created. The main one is to lay the foundations for unity and mutual understanding among players from various branches of the defense system, because only together will we withstand the global challenges that we and all of Ukraine face,” added course analyst, Mariya Poloz.
“Improving our capabilities, expertise, and cohesion is critical for victory. This is exactly what I had the opportunity to work on for the past four months on Friday evenings in the ‘Defense Sector. Change Makers’ training course. I am grateful to the organizers, lecturers, and colleagues for the meaningful interaction, trust, and professional dialogue,” commented Taras Byk, Board Member of the NGO “Dekolonization.”
“I am honored to be part of the first graduation of this program. And I have the ambition to work on real changes,” said Yaroslav Lyubchenko, Head of the Integrity Policy Formation in the Security and Defense Sector at the NACP.
This graduation marks an important step in the development of a modern defense community and in preparing leaders who can influence the formation of defense policy and Ukraine’s security.
The organizers plan to continue the initiated initiative – stay tuned for announcements on our website.
We sincerely congratulate the first graduates of the specialized training course “Defense Sector. Change Makers”!
