2 january 2024

Talking About the You Are Important Programme

On 6 January, the selection for the new USPS programme created for servicewomen and female veterans will end.

For almost two decades, the USPS has been actively forming a community of like-minded people who are united by the desire to develop our country and an unwavering value framework.

However, in addition to the Community formed by the School’s alumni, whenever there is a public demand, we create programmes designed to unite leaders of a particular field. For example, we have already created similar programmes for MPs and local government representatives, and now, in response to an urgent request, we are launching a programme to create a separate community of servicepersons.

People who have voluntarily chosen to defend Ukraine play and will further play an important role in social and political life, so we consider it our duty to help them unite and provide them with tools for democratic participation.

Before the end of the selection for the first You Are Important programme, journalists of the GRUNT media talked to USPS alumni – Maryna Khromykh, Executive Director of the DEJURE Foundation, Head of the Da Vinci Wolves Battalion’s patronage service, and Anastasia Skrypchenko, Deputy Commander for Moral and Psychological Support of the 251st Separate Battalion of the Territorial Defence of the Ukrainian Armed Forces – about leadership and responsibility, the importance of education, and values.

Anastasiia and Maryna shared their experience of participating in the USPS core programme and explained why such programmes are important and worthwhile.

The community formed by the USPS is the most important thing that participation in this School gives. There are similar programmes, of course, but it is a rare case when you can communicate with a Supreme Court judge, the head of a top creative agency, an investigative journalist, an anti-corruption activist, and a well-known lawyer at the same time. And I’m just listing my groupmates. It is very important to have platforms where such people can meet, get to know each other, implement joint projects, and cooperate.

Maryna Khromykh

Executive Director of the DEJURE Foundation

The alumni emphasise that it is difficult, and sometimes almost impossible, to understand a person in the army, so such programmes aimed specifically at servicepersons are important. Moreover, such training and initiatives should focus on leadership skills and talk to the military at all levels. Sergeants, commanders, and others are responsible for their people, and it is important that they are leaders.

In the future, after the victory and the return of veterans, there will definitely be those who want to live an active social and political life. Thus, such people need to be given the tools and understanding of how democracy and the state work. And we need to start right now.

Of course, the School is about the community and people. People with whom you communicate and find yourself on the same wavelength. I can probably say that the USPS has given me such an understanding and confirmation of my own values, which are necessary and worth fighting for. This is the understanding that you are not alone, you have like-minded people who will stand beside you for a common goal. Now, this has actually developed into my work in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Anastasiia Skrypchenko

Deputy Commander for Moral and Psychological Support of the 251st Separate Battalion of the Territorial Defence of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

Follow the link to read the full text of the conversation with Maryna and Anastasiia about the USPS and the need for such programmes like You Are Important.