Erik Kucherenko talks with Mychailo Wynnyckyj, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine responsible for higher education reform. We discuss best practices in the domain of higher education, compare different higher education systems and their advantages. We examine the details of Mr. Wynnyckyj’s and his team’s reform agenda, ranging from merger of universities to harnessing economic methods to incentivise high-quality education and research. Mr. Wynnyckyj also talks about his...

Erik Kucherenko talks with Kostiantyn Koshelenko, Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine responsible for digital transformation. We talk about the importance of digital transformation in public sector, Ukraine’s achievements in e-governance, including Diia application, which Ukraine now helps export to Columbia, Kosovo, and Zambia. We also discuss how innovations in social policy helped Mr. Koshelenko and his team ensure the fulfilment of state functions even at the start of the Russian...

Erik Kucherenko talks with Lubomyr Chabursky, Lesya Granger, Mark Paine, founders of Mriya Aid, a Canadian NGO that has provided close to $10 million of non-lethal military aid to Ukraine. In the first part of the conversation (00:00-1:01:03), we discuss how Mriya Aid has succeeded in winning trust of its donors and of the Canadian government, how it evolved in the last 2 years and how it manages to develop expertise and operate in a highly complex area of non-lethal military aid. Our guests...

In this episode, Nick Fabbri speaks with Grace Fox, a student of the Master of Public Policy at Oxford University, about her personal story, the history of the Native American Seminole Nation, her family, identity, and belonging. Grace also reflects on her work with the US Department of the Interior in the Bureau of Indian Education in Native American policy, and her wider work in education, equity, and social justice, and what her hopes for the future are in her life and career. *** Grace is...

In this episode of the Oxford Policy Podcast, Nick Fabbri and Dr. Paul Monk discuss the crises facing the liberal democracies today, and the lessons that the Roman Republic and Greek democracies may hold for the 21st century. We cover Paul's recent papers delivered to the Institute of Law and Strategy, and his tours of Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia discussing the wars in Ukraine, the Middle East, and the broader geopolitical situation. Dr Paul Monk is a writer, poet, and...

Erik Kucherenko talks with Ema Grajcarová, a Master of Public Policy student student from Slovakia. In this episode, Ema talks about her personal and academic journeys, from studying at LSE and working on the use of European Union funds in Slovakia, to studying the Oxford MPP. The conversation traces the internal evolution of Ema's interests and goals, discussing in detail her research in gender mainstreaming policies, her impressions from the first term in the Blavatnik School of...

Welcome back to another season of the Oxford Policy Podcast. This is our first episode of the academic year 2023-2024. It is also the start of a new series called “People of the Master of Public Policy”. In this first episode of this series, we have Shuab Gamote as our guest. Shuab is a current MPP student and a passionate advocate for educational equality. This episode is about Shuab’s personal story of growing up in Manchester, experiencing a sometimes failing school system and making it...

We are back from follow-up from our last episode on youth employment policy. We have Dr. Kate Philip again to discuss more in-depth Social Employment as a policy. Dr. Philip is the lead of the Presidential Employment Stimulus in South Africa, and the programmes she leads have employed more than 300.000 youth as social workers. As we deep dive in the concept of Social Employment, Dr. Philip discusses what constitutes a robust Social Employment programme and how governments can make such...

Governments worldwide face major challenges such as homelessness, education access, and healthcare support and there is wide recognition that governments can’t tackle these issues alone. Governments need to work effectively with non-profits, with social enterprises, business, and philanthropies to achieve better social outcomes. In recent years, outcomes-based partnerships (cross-sector partnerships whereby funding is contingent on the achievement of measurable outcomes) have emerged as a...

In a country with 55% of the youth unemployed, the pandemic was simultaneously a threat and an opportunity. The Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES) of South Africa encompassed several programmes to create and protect jobs against the effects of closures and lockdowns. One of those programmes employed as many ass 300.000 youth as social workers in school in South Africa and continues to expand. In this episode we received Dr. Kate Philip, lead of the PES . Dr. Philip the programmes in the...

Continuing with the mini-series of the Masters of Public Policy public servants, two British council members join the Oxford Policy Pod. James Small Edwards, councillor for the City of Westminster, and Charlie Hicks, councillor for Oxfordshire County join our host, Annelisse Escobar. In this discussion, the council members share their experiences and challenges of youth political participation, innovation, and their vocation for service. Charlie and James compare their experiences as one of...

The 2022-23 MPP cohort has some amazing people who are going to make a positive impact on the world. This mini-series in the Oxford Policy Pod will introduce you to some of these aspiring and ambitious change-makers. Our host, Chiraag Shah, is joined in this brief episode by Reem AlNuaimi and Maryam AlHashmi - two MPP-ers from the United Arab Emirates. They discuss their personal motivations for coming to Oxford to do the MPP, what it’s like to be a public servant in the UAE, and their future...

With over a decade of existence, the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford is championing a world that is better led, better served, and better governed through its programs and centers that educate experts in public policy and governance to tackle the world's most pressing issues. In ten years, the institution has grown from a vision to a cutting-edge institution that advances practical skills and hands-on experience for its students through the incorporation of...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gone from science fiction to a critical part of our everyday lives. Governments play the role of regulators but they are also consumers.  How are governments using AI to enhance citizen engagement, decision-making, and better service delivery? How to ensure that public services powered by AI are accessible and beneficial to all citizens?  Our host, Paola Galvez Callirgos, is joined in this episode by Dr. Carlos Santiso, head of the Digital, Innovative, and...

In this episode of the Oxford Policy pod Co-executive producer Gloria Wawira is in conversation with Mayor Jefferson Koijee from Liberia. They discuss Liberia’s and Monrovia’s preparation to ensure free, fair, and peaceful elections later in 2023 and the successes and challenges in the management of Monrovia. Koijee is the Mayor of Monrovia and the youngest mayor in the history of Liberia.  The conversation strands youth leadership in Africa, Liberia’s upcoming elections, and sustainable...

How is social change advanced? How do leaders build institutions in low-trusting environments? How do we inspire, design, plan, influence, guide, steer and make change in our relationships, our communities, our society, and our planet? These are some of the questions about making change that we navigate in the conversation with Andrew Boraine. Andrew Boraine joins our host, Annelisse Escobar to discuss the process of change through his experience in post-Apartheid South Africa. Andrew refers...

“The Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in late 2022, is a landmark agreement to guide global action on nature through to 2030. A key target in the framework is to mobilise at least $200 billion per year from public and private sources for biodiversity-related funding. How will we achieve that? Our host, Chiraag Shah, is joined in this episode by Anna Ducros and Andreas Hansen to discuss what is biodiversity finance and what are some of the financing mechanisms available to achieve the...

“You betrayed us. I've just been a donkey my whole life and you told me my child's life would be different [if they went to school]. But now I’ve learned that he hasn't learned anything”. Join us in a thought-provoking conversation with  Lant Pritchett, Visiting Scholar and Research Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government and Research Director of the RISE program (Research on Improving Systems of Education). We will discuss development, aid, RCTs, failing education systems and how to...

The Vatican and its various bodies are not only heading the Catholic Church but also disseminating thinking and advancing work in different social policy themes. Amongst those, ecology and peacebuilding are discussed here. But how does that work? Our host, Baudouin de Hemptinne, is joined in this episode by Professor Joshtrom Kureethadam and Professor Gerard Powers. Kureethadam is heading the Dicastery for Integral Development and is Chair of Philosophy of Science and Director at the Salesian...

One year ago the world held its breath as the Russian armed forces invaded Ukraine. In this particular special episode, we welcome Prof. Andrew Hoskins, whose expertise concerns the impact of digitisation of contemporary warfare on society, and Kanykei Tursunbaeva, a journalist from Ukraine and research associate at the European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, who reports directly from Odesa, where she has been covering the conflict first-hand. In the episode, we discussed how social media...

Just six months out of office, Colombian president Ivan Duque Marquez shares his personal insights and reflections on his government period. Having led the country during the pandemic he explains how he was able to navigate the political scene and whether or not he would have done anything different in his leadership (7:09). He also inherited the early stages of Colombian recently signed Peace Agreement and was in charge of strengthening the necessary institutions for its...

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting has been garnering more attention in recent years – especially the environmental component. But how reliable is a reporting method that is not auditable or verifiable? Our host, Benjamin Weiser, is joined by Professor Karthik Ramanna. Professor Karthik Ramanna is a Professor of Business and Public Policy, and Chair of the Master of Public Policy Program at the Blavatnik School of Government. He is also the founder and co-director of the...

For policymakers and governments, new challenges emerge nowadays to communicate effectively with citizens. The evolution of media channels, trust deficit, misinformation, social dislocation, emotional connection in media content, and nudging are among the long list of changes institutional communication is faced with. Our host, Baudouin de Hemptinne, is joined in this episode by Sean Larkins. Both of them lead the government practice of WPP, one of the leading communications agencies...

COP27, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, was expected to be the ‘Implementation COP’ that would translate previous commitments and plans for tackling climate change into tangible action. However, the immediate reaction in the aftermath of the conference was that it was marred by organisational issues and ultimately failed to deliver on its promise.  Our host, Vitor Tomaz, is joined in this episode by Professor Thomas Hale, who attended COP27, to discuss the evolution of global climate...

COP27, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, was expected to be the ‘Implementation COP’ that would translate previous commitments into tangible action.  Our host, Vitor Tomaz, is joined in this episode by Dr Courtney Howard to discuss her intellectual journey into climate advocacy, how global health advocacy and organisations can also push forward climate goals, and what a civil society participant aims to achieve at a global climate conference like COP.  Dr. Courtney Howard is a current MPP...