Ukrainian government turns to Georgetown’s McCourt School to train senior government executives
Faculty and digital policy experts will lead a weeklong training program for 30 Ukrainian public servants, as part of the national educational project CDTO Campus, at the McCourt School of Public Policy’s new building in downtown Washington, DC.
Through a new collaboration with the Ukrainian government, Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy will host a weeklong training program for 30 Ukrainian government executives, as part of the educational project CDTO Campus, an initiative of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. The intensive program, supported by the McCourt School’s Tech & Public Policy (TPP) program, the VISA Foundation and Ukraine’s Digital Transformation Initiative, will launch in June 2024 at the McCourt School’s new home on Georgetown’s Capitol Campus.
CDTO Campus is implemented by the East Europe Foundation, funded by Visa Foundation, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ), and supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in cooperation with the Digitality GovTech Center of Excellence, under the auspices of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
Valeriya Ionan, deputy minister of digital transformation of Ukraine for European integration, spoke during the launch event of the CDTO Campus on November 28, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials called on the McCourt School for its unique proximity and connections to policymakers and its strong brand and reputation. McCourt’s training program will be a key component of the Ukrainian government’s Shaping Digital Future leadership program of the CDTO Campus, an accelerator for high-achieving digital policy changemakers.
Audience members at the launch event of the CDTO Campus, an initiative of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, listen to a video message from Maria Cancian, dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy. The event was held on November 28, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine.
“Our partnership with the Ukrainian government will help to increase the capacity of their public servants and agencies working to strengthen digital government and tech governance,” said Gulsanna Mamediieva , a TPP fellow at the McCourt School.
Mamediieva, the former director general on EU and NATO integration in Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, has been a leading voice on the rapid digitalization transformation in Ukraine and its integration into the EU Digital Single Market.
She will co-develop the McCourt School’s training program curriculum, focused on topics such as data privacy, cybersecurity and digital culture, in partnership with Michelle De Mooy , director of the TPP program, and Kent Weaver , faculty director for executive education and international initiatives.
“We will connect Ukrainian digital leaders with McCourt School and Georgetown faculty and digital policy experts for an immersive learning experience in critical areas, including public policy, digital public infrastructure, and service design and delivery,” said De Mooy.
Young Ukrainian public servants are leading the country’s digital revolution.
Supporting Ukraine across the university
McCourt’s training program is part of Georgetown’s broader efforts across the university to support the people of Ukraine and its government.
The Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation , a Georgetown center focused on improving foundational government systems for everyday life, is also working with Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation on a research project related to the government’s mobile app, Diia. The app — which connects millions of Ukrainians with government services, including aid, taxes and other critical services for citizens who have been displaced and impacted by the war — is also being looked at by countries around the world who are interested in repurposing it for their governments. The Beeck Center will investigate Diia’s potential relevance to state and local U.S. governments’ delivery of digital services to Americans.
In 2022, Georgetown launched a scholarship through a gift from alumni that provides direct, immediate financial support to current and future Georgetown students affected by the war in Ukraine. The Gracias Family Sunflower Current Use Scholarship Fund offers scholarships to undergraduate students in all Georgetown schools as well as merit-based scholarships to graduate students in the School of Foreign Service (SFS).
Georgetown Law has also established an initiative to coordinate international support for the Ukrainian government in investigating and prosecuting war crimes committed during the Russian invasion of their country. Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin visited Georgetown Law this year as part of these efforts.
This year, the First Lady of Ukraine visited Georgetown and met with Ukrainian students before her visit to the White House. She addressed faculty, staff and students at an event organized by Georgetown’s Institute for Women Peace and Security and gifted 260 Ukrainian books to Georgetown’s library as part of a project to promote and spread Ukrainian literature around the world.
“Literature teaches us that evil, aggression has to be punished. This should not be [the] precedent in the world. This is what our country is fighting for. I believe that with the help of people who care about the world, this will come to pass,” she said in her address.
Learn more about Georgetown’s ongoing efforts to support the people of Ukraine.
Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska visited Georgetown University in September 2023, where she addressed the campus community, met with Ukrainian students and gifted the university with 260 Ukrainian books. Photo By: Phil Humnicky/Georgetown Univ.