For Iryna Drobovych, spending this year as an international fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs is an opportunity to learn new skills and advance her career. But she also has one eye on her home country of Ukraine, which has been at war since Russia invaded her country in 2014 and started its large-scale attack in February 2022.
Drobovych is the strategy advisor at the Ukrainian Women's Congress, a nonprofit organization promoting women’s rights in Ukraine. She’s one of 12 Humphrey International Fellows at the Humphrey School this academic year.
Drobovych shared her perspectives on the war between Ukraine and Russia, and her experience at the Humphrey School so far.
She outlined her goals for her fellowship year:
"I’m a civil and human rights activist, promoting women's rights in Ukraine. I’m in the United States now, hoping to expand my knowledge in strategy building, and looking for examples of how women can be meaningfully involved in all the spheres of government and society. I’m also looking for good practices for reconstructing the country. When I go back home next summer, I want to be involved in rebuilding efforts in Ukraine and making sure women are meaningfully participating in rebuilding Ukraine."
