On 11 April, an international conference "Effective Veterans’ Policy in Ukraine: International Experience" was held in Washington, DC, initiated by the NGO "Free and Faithful" (Vilni ta Virni) and aimed at reforming Ukraine's veterans’ policy based on the American experience.
Ukrainian and American politicians and experts took part in the discussion, including Piteh Husi, an analyst at The Hudson Institute, John Kilmer, founder of Valicor US, Colleen Denny, Regional Director for Europe at Non-Governmental Organisation Spirit of America, Daniel White, an analyst, Oleksii Illiashenko, former Deputy Minister of Veterans’ Affairs of Ukraine (2019-2022), Meaghan Mobbs, Persident of R.T. Weatherman Foundation, Phyllis Wilson, President of the Military Women's Memorial Foundation, Josh Marcano, CEO at Reach (Reach Tactical LLC.), and others. More than 50 participants took part in the discussion and 17 reports were presented.
According to Vitalii Hersak, the initiator of the conference, a volunteer soldier and Head of NGO “Free and Faithful”, this is the second round of discussion, which specifies and deepens the proposals that were first made during the conference in Kyiv in late February.
"Today, we actually have a 'public reform plan', which was developed with the help of our American partners and whose implementation is supported by them. The plan opens up ways to strengthen cooperation between the US and Ukraine in supporting veterans. Now, rapid and coordinated actions are required to transform these recommendations into specific programmes and services. In particular, in the course of reforming Ukraine's veterans’ policy, it is proposed to focus on such issues as medical rehabilitation, housing, education and employment, creating conditions for the development of veterans’ entrepreneurship, protection of women veterans and the development of the regulatory framework for veterans’ policy," Hersak stated.
The relevant plan for reforming veterans’ policy in Ukraine, based on the recommendations of American experts, will soon be presented and submitted for implementation.
As previously reported, NGO "Free and Faithful" in cooperation with its partners initiated the establishment of an international communication platform to adapt American veterans’ practices to the Ukrainian specifics. In February, the first conference and video conference between Kyiv and Washington took place, with 55 experts from 8 countries participating.