On February 6, 2025, the second iteration of Sahaidachnyi Security Center’s educational program “Defense Sector. Changemakers 2.0” began. The program brings together representatives from the public and civil society sectors – those already working in the security and defense sphere and those just considering the possibility of connecting their careers to this sector.
This year, 31 participants were selected. Among them are representatives of leading government institutions in the sector, experts from civil society organizations, charitable foundations and analytical centers, military, veterans, and and defense industry representatives. All of them seek not simply to work within the system, but to drive systemic change within it.
Over the coming months, instructors and participants will work together on complex issues of modern defense. The program covers key topics:
- What security and defense are;
- How NATO and interoperability work;
- Where the war is being fought;
- How defense is planned;
- How defense is managed;
- How war is conceptualized;
- How war is financed and sustained;
- How strategic decisions are made.
The course speakers are practitioners and experts in defense, public administration, military finance and innovation, NATO specialists, as well as representatives from Ukrainian and international institutions and educational establishments – University of Oxford, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Baltic Defence College, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (Qatar), as well as invited instructors from Kyiv School of Economics, Kyiv-Mohyla Business School, and Ukrainian Catholic University.
Opening the course, Sahaidachnyi Security Center Director Lesia Ogryzko emphasized the importance of the educational component of the organization’s work, highlighting the significance of engaging and supporting those who seek to connect their careers to Ukraine’s defense sector and be useful for its development.
Sahaidachnyi Security Center co-founder and Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Shymanskyi also addressed the participants, emphasizing the importance of shared values, people, leadership style, and skills – components whose symbiosis is often overlooked when we pursue rapid change. He noted that the defense sector has become a new frontier where change management is happening.
We wish productive, fruitful, and inspiring work to all involved in this course!
If you wish to join future iterations of the “Defense Sector. Changemakers” course, we invite you to fill out the application form to be added to the list of potential participants (priority) for the next course. We also invite you to explore the course details in a Q&A format.
