An article by Valentyna Zasadko, Director of the School of Public Management at Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU), has been published in the prestigious international journal “Stanford Social Innovation Review.” She co-authored the piece with mentors from a Harvard leadership program, Adele Houghton and Geoffrey Glenn. In the article “Rebuilding During Wartime,” the authors describe the community-engagement experience of Ukrainian Catholic University and other members of the Alliance of Ukrainian Universities.
Illustrative photo. Source: Ukrinform
In the article, the experts analyze how universities, local communities, and donor institutions can jointly build a shared infrastructure for recovery—from developing policies and local strategies to implementing educational programs and engaging young people.
Last year, Valentyna Zasadko was a participant in the Harvard University course “Leadership for Sustainable Reconstruction of Ukraine.” This year, she returned to the program in the role of a mentor.
“I have a feeling of great trust, deep gratitude, and at the same time responsibility. Now my task is to support a new group of leaders who are working not with abstract ideas, but with real projects for the reconstruction of Ukraine,” emphasized Valentyna Zasadko.
During the course, she shared with students the experience of UCU and the Alliance of Ukrainian Universities in working with communities:
“This is an experience born in difficult times, but with great potential for the future,”
Valentyna Zasadko noted.
Together with her fellow mentors, Adele Houghton and Geoffrey Glenn, she decided to present this story in the form of an article published in the prestigious “Stanford Social Innovation Review.” This Stanford University publication focuses on social innovation and solutions to global challenges, publishing research and practical knowledge for leaders of social change from the nonprofit sector, business, government, and civil society.
“In the article, we show how UCU’s approaches—co-creation with communities, servant leadership, and the integration of education, research, and practice—work in the real conditions of war and recovery. At the same time, this is a story not only about Ukraine. Such models can be useful for other countries experiencing crisis or seeking pathways to sustainable development,” Valentyna Zasadko noted.
An important emphasis of the article is the Alliance’s hands-on work with communities. In 2023–2024, Alliance universities, together with the International Renaissance Foundation, implemented the project “Strengthening Community Capacity for Recovery Through Piloting Their Interaction with Universities.” Within the project, teams developed training modules for local professionals, facilitated dialogue between communities, businesses, and government authorities, prepared methodological materials, and supported local initiatives.
The resulting case studies and partnerships formed the basis of a working “university–community” model that helps more rapidly build institutional capacity at the local level and translate recovery ideas into concrete governance decisions.
You can read the full article at the following link:
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/rebuilding-ukraine-civil-society
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Background
In spring 2023, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Dnipro University of Technology (Dnipro Polytechnic), the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering, Sumy State University, Ukrainian Catholic University, and the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) joined forces to establish the Alliance of Ukrainian Universities.
Among the Alliance’s key priorities are education and capacity building for Ukrainian communities in support of resilience and reconstruction; the psychological recovery of military personnel and civilians; adaptation of internally displaced persons and demobilized service members; development of high-quality higher education and research; internal exchanges of students, faculty, and administrators; and more. The Alliance’s work is guided by community needs, research, and societal priorities, and is carried out in cooperation both among its members and with international partners.
