Speakers of School of Good Governance: Advocacy

Denys Bazilevych
Director of the Professional Lobbying and Advocacy Institute

   Denys is major in Economics and Law. He is an expert in public administration, successful cooperation of business/stakeholders and US Congress. Denys had internships in several UK governmental bodies (John Smith Programme). In 2007 - 2008 he was working as the assistant of Tim Volts – Deputy of the House of Commons as a part of Fulbright Program joint project and the American Political Science Association. In 2008, he graduated from Washington Institute for Public Affairs and in 2015 he obtained certificate from the European Institute of Public Administration (Brussels).

Ihor Koliushko
Chairman of Board for the NGO "Center for Political and Legal Reforms"

   Expert in Public Law, author and co-author of numerous draft laws for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Parliament of Ukraine), author of numerous scientific and analytical publications on public law. Ihor is a Senior lecturer at the Department of Public Law and the Head of the School of Public Administration at the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”. As a former member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for II and III convocations, he took part in preparing and approving the Constitution of Ukraine. Ihor is a Counsellor to the President of Ukraine (2005-2006) and member of numerous governmental institutions: the State Commission for Administrative Reform in Ukraine (1997-2001), the Ukrainian Presidential Commission on Democracy Strengthening and Commission on Rule of Law Policy at the Secretariat of the President (2005, 2010), the High Qualifying Commission for Judges of Ukraine (2006-2007), the Ukrainian Presidential Constitutional Assembly (2012-2013). Moreover, Ihor takes part in numerous Working Groups for drafting laws of the Parliament and Government of Ukraine.

Oleksandr Demyanchuk
Professor, Doctor of Political Sciences, Head of the Political Science Department at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy

   Mr. Demyanchuk is a Head of the NGO “Institute of Civic Education” and prominent scholar of both Fulbright and the Carnegie Endowment (New York) programs at the University of Minnesota, USA (2000-2001). Moreover, he is a science scholar of Erasmus Mundus and DAAD Programs, scholar at the Friedrich-Schiller-University-Jena, Germany, in 2007 and 2013 years. Dr. Demyanchuk was a Head of the EU TEMPUS project on Innovating Teaching and Learning of European Studies (INOTLES) (EU TEMPUS program in 2014). Currently, Dr. Demyanchuk is a Lecturer of the following courses: ‘Politological Theory of State’, ‘Principles of State Policy’, ‘EU Public policy’, ‘Theories of political decision-making’. Author of numerous scientific and analytical publications, monographs on public policy and public administration. Research interests: politology of state, politics and government policy in higher education, political and administrative reform in Ukraine.

Andrii Skipalskyi
Chairman of the board of the Advocacy Centre LIFE

   The Advocacy Centre LIFE – is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that provides advocacy and tobacco control expertise in Ukraine and the Eastern European region. Andrii received The Judy Wilkenfeld Award for International Tobacco Control Excellence from Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and on behalf of LIFE team - The Bloomberg Award for Global Tobacco Control in March 2015. Besides Mr Skipalskyi became a Eurasia Foundation. Fellow on “Innovations in Advocacy and Public Health” in December 2014. Andrii is an expert for the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Secretariat. Since 2010, he conducted three successful advocacy campaigns and lobbying to develop legislation aimed at reducing smoking prevalence to reduce illness and death from tobacco. Andrii has been working with LIFE since 2010, providing overall management and advocacy expertise for the Smoke Free Ukraine project, funded by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. Andrii also publishes regularly his articles in national newspapers focused on tobacco industry interference, tobacco control and public advocacy. As the result of effective tobacco control advocacy, smoking prevalence has fallen drastically by 12% since 2006, dropping Ukraine from the country with the 4th highest rate of smoking (2006) to 24th place according to the WHO report (2015). From 2007 to 2014 Andrii is the Coordinator of the campaign for the preservation of Bilychi forest from logging and development. As the result of the campaign more than 6,500 hectares of forests in the western suburbs of Kyiv received national protected status. Since 2000, he participates in the international projects of technical assistance in the field of public advocacy, social investment, fighting corruption and media development. He cooperates with the M. Bloomberg Foundation,World Lung Foundation, WHO, Institute for Tobacco Control at Johns Hopkins University, and others. Andrii is the author of articles for the "Zerkalo Nedeli" newspaper "Day" and "Ukrainian Truth".