Alumni Talk: Civil society in Eastern Europe

3rd of November, 18:30 CEST

30 years since the collapse of USSR: How has civil society contributed to the transformation of national states?
During this Alumni Talk we will put a spotlight on some of our excellent Alumni from the East, and shine a light on this important topic. The talk will revolve around civil society in eastern Europe as well as the role of EYP and the youth – how has the youth inspired or demanded change in post-USSR societies? What impact has civil society had in those changes? And what is the role of organisations like EYP in the political education of younger generations?

Jan-Philipp Beck (moderator) (DE) is the CEO of EIT Health and a former Executive Director of the EYP who was involved in building up EYP’s national chapters in Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia. He holds an MA in Political Science, Economics and English from Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen in Germany, with a focus on Eastern Europe.

Vasyl Myroshnychenko (speaker) (UA) is a Partner at CFC Big Ideas, a Kyiv-based strategic communications company. He is also a co-founder of Ukraine Crisis Media Center, a media NGO set up in early March of 2014 aimed at amplifying Ukraine’s voice internationally. Funded by international donors, UCMC carried out multiple campaigns designed to fend off the Kremlin disinformation and fake news. He was a co-founder and President of EYP Ukraine, and he was active in EYP between 2002 and 2004.

Ani Chkhikvadze (speaker) (GE) is a reporter at VOA’s Georgian Service in Washington D.C. She covers geopolitics, regional politics and security issues in Russia, Eurasia, and Eastern Europe. Her work and analysis has appeared in The Washington Post, The Foreign Policy Magazine, The American Interest and The New Republic. Throughout her career she has worked for and with various international organizations among them the Council of Europe, European Union and the OSCE. She holds master’s degree in Russian and East European Studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and bachelor’s degree in international relations from Tbilisi State University. She joined EYP in 2009 and she was a Head Organiser of EYP’s first International Session in Tbilisi.

Hovsep Patvakanyan (speaker) (AM) holds Phd in Economics, is the CEO of Invest in Armenia Business Platform and works as an Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). He is an EYP alumnus who was active in EYP between 2013 and 2016.

This Alumni Talk is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office in the frame of Civil Society Cooperation project “Youth Dialogue for Strong Civic Spaces".