What Does It Mean to Be an Education Reformer During Wartime? How can we strengthen the system while preserving it? These questions became key at the meeting of Create Ukraine winners with Anna Novosad, former Minister of Education of Ukraine and co-founder of the savED charitable foundation.
The participants of Create Ukraine have international expertise in various fields and apply it while working with the team of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine. They returned to their homeland from abroad precisely to become the driving force behind government reforms.
Thus, mentorship meetings are a chance for them to hear the experiences of people who have already implemented large-scale changes specifically in the Ukrainian context.
Anna Novosad: “It is a great honor for me to share my knowledge and experience not only of working in public service but also of how it influenced my further activities and how important it was for building what is now a critically important mission in my life during wartime — the savED foundation. I am grateful to the program for creating a community of engaged individuals.”
Key Insights from Anna Novosad:
Experience in the public sector is extremely valuable. The opportunity to work within the system in the field of public administration provides a unique understanding of real challenges and practical mechanisms for overcoming them.
It is necessary to consider the individual context. In Lviv, children go to school; in Kharkiv, they study in shelters. A single approach for all regions does not work.
Resources are always limited. But well-thought-out policies allow for maximum results even under difficult conditions.
Education policy is not just about funding. It is important to understand who makes decisions, how they are made, whom they affect, and what real changes they bring.
Teamwork is important. One of the biggest obstacles to effective governance is the lack of a stable culture of cooperation. Implementing teamwork principles can become a key factor in the successful implementation of reforms.
The conversation touched not only on critical problems — destroyed schools, remote learning, or lack of resources. They also discussed the systemic changes needed now to ensure that education in Ukraine remains accessible and high-quality despite the challenges of war.
The Create Ukraine program is co-funded by the European Union and the Government of Lithuania within the framework of the EU4Youth program, aimed at supporting young people. The project is managed by the Lithuanian organization Central Project Management Agency and implemented by the KSE Foundation at the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine.
Previously, the program participants had already taken part in mentorship meetings with Svitlana Kotliarevska, an expert in building and scaling teams in the public sector; Mariia Zakharenko, head of the Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Economy; and Sergiy Nikolaychuk, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine.