Three Bright Minds Sit Down For A Talk On How To Fix Ukraine Problems

Ukraine has a serious communication problem and is not doing enough to explain reforms to its own citizens and foreign investors. “You have to go and advertise reforms, you should talk to people in a very simple language and tell them: this is the situation we have now, this where we want to be and this is what we want to do, this is fair and this is unfair,” says Yuriy Gorodnichenko, associate professor at University of California, Berkeley.

Hromadske International’s Maxim Eristavi improvised a dynamic brainstorming session between three VoxUkraine co-founders, who gathered for ‘Ukraine: Escaping The Soviet Legacy’, an international conference held on April 25th - 26th in Kyiv.

Timofiy Mylovanov, professor at University of Pittsburgh, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, associate professor University of California, Berkeley and Oleksandr Talavera, professor at University of Sheffield are among the founding members of the VoxUkraine project, an international opinion platform that promotes research-based policy analysis by some of the world's leading scholars.

Timofiy Mylovanov also pointed at the growing gap between booming reformist enthusiasm in Kyiv and the harsh reality of economic hardship in many Ukrainian provinces. “People are getting quickly dissatisfied, and it is going to be picked up by populists,” said Mylovanov, stressing once again the need for proper communication and engagement between the Ukrainian government and their people.

Maxim Ersitavi talked to VoxUkraine co-founders on April 26th, 2015 in Kyiv.