We are privileged to have Ella Lamakh in our Ukraine Country Director role. Ella’s experience in research and management of disadvantaged children programs goes back to 1995 cooperating with U.S. Government Agency for International Development (USAID) social service programs. Ella is the founder of several well-known Ukrainian nonprofit groups working with children and youth in Ukraine as well as fostering democracy. Ella is well known in Ukraine as a social policy expert as well as children and women’s rights advocate. Ella’s initiatives were chosen for funding by the US Embassy to Ukraine, UNICEF, USAID, UNDP, NATO Science for Peace and Security Program, OSCE, NATO Public Information Program, UWF, Matra and other international organizations. Ella brings significant experience of cooperation with Ukrainian government at all levels as well as Ukrainian civil society organizations, child protective services, departments of education. From 2005 to 2009, Ella worked for national government of Ukraine as a Deputy Minister of the Ukrainian Ministry for Family, Youth, and Sports. Ella has co-authored the first National Assessment of Disadvantaged Children in Ukraine in 2003. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 Ella has fully focused her attention on relief efforts of displaced populations and joined the “CHILDREN IN UKRAINE” program of Compassion Is Life.