Episode 25 - Ukraine in the Membrane - a podcast by FHL Productions

Ukraine is a country with a deep history, beautiful seas, and mountainous landscapes, but most of the time when you hear its name it is usually mired in controversy. In this week's episode of Faithful Politics, Will interviews Katya Vogt, Global Lead for Media and Information Literacy Initiatives in Europe & Eurasia, Ukraine for IREX. In a wide-ranging conversation, Katya reflects on the beautiful culture and tumultuous political roller coaster Ukraine has gone through. Starting from The Revolution of Dignity, also known as the Euromaidan revolution or the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, to the annexation of Crimea, Katya discusses how these events were worsened with the rise of disinformation from the Soviet Union to modern-day Russia.

Will and Katya switch gears and have a more optimistic discussion about the great work that Katya and her team have done in Ukraine with IREX’s Learn to Discern approach (L2D). They end the conversation with some useful advice for other countries, including the United States, that hope to fight the war against disinformation.

Resources:

• ‘Winter on Fire’: The View From the Trenches of a Political Uprising
• Russian Propaganda Hits Its Mark
• Winning the War on State-Sponsored Propaganda: Results from an Impact Study of a Ukrainian News Media and Information Literacy Program

Guest Bio:

Katya Vogt is an international development professional with over 15 years of experience in program leadership, design, operations, and implementation. She has technical expertise in combatting disinformation through awareness raising and skill building through IREX’s Learn to Discern approach (L2D), in education and teacher training, and in developing effective initiatives to strengthen media, civil society, and local governance. 

Katya has designed and overseen the implementation of programs that focus on women and youth development, conflict mitigation, combating disinformation, prevention of Trafficking in Persons, building rule of law and accountability systems, as well as organizational capacity building and performance improvement. While serving as country director of the IREX office in Ukraine from 2015 to 2018, Katya led the expansion of IREX’s program portfolio to include initiatives which improved Ukrainians’ resilience to disinformation and propaganda, built tolerance and community cohesion in conflict-affected areas of the country, and increased active citizen engagement in democratic reform processes.

Prior to joining IREX, Katya worked at several NGOs in Washington DC including National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA CLUSA) and Education Development Center (EDC) where she led business development efforts and supported implementation of education and teacher training projects in Indonesia, Tanzania, Thailand, and other countries.

Katya holds a masters in education degree in international education policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is fluent in Russian and Ukrainian

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