Strategic Advisory Groups: promoting reforms in Ukraine
The President and government of Ukraine together with the International Renaissance Foundation (IRF) have set up Strategic Advisory Groups (SAG). This joint initiative of the country’s leadership and IRF founder George Soros is aimed at attracting highly skilled Ukrainian and international experts to consult the government on strategic approaches to reform, optimal use of international assistance, consolidation of donor policies to assist reforms in Ukraine, and addressing current issues.
The Strategic Advisory Groups will focus on priority reform areas that were identified by the government of Ukraine and independent experts. As of mid-June, SAGs on decentralization and e-government (in collaboration with Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman) are already working, and the SAG on education reform at the Ministry of Education and Science (in collaboration with the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education and Science) will soon be working. SAGs on economic policy, administrative reform, judicial reform, law enforcement reform, and healthcare reform are being set up.
Ukrainian experts, particularly those that work with the Reanimation Package of Reforms initiative and the Reform Support Center of the Cabinet of Ministers, will play a key role in the work of the SAGs and will be supported by international donors, including the International Renaissance Foundation. The SAGs will recruit leading Ukrainian experts who work abroad in international organizations, the public sector, and business. The SAGs will also include foreign experts that will help the government effectively use international assistance, work with donors and the government, and implement international best practices.
The active SAGs are headed by: Ihor Burakovsky (economic policy), Anatoliy Tkachuk (decentralization), Oleksandr Ryzhenko (e-government), and Georgiy Kasianov (education). The SAGs will be coordinated by the SAG Secretariat headed by Oleksandr Sushko, Chairman of the Board of the International Renaissance Foundation.
Anyone interested in working with the SAGs should email sagteam@sag-ukraine.com.
Contacts:
Strategic Advisory Groups
sagteam@sag-ukraine.com
