Ukraine and its public institutions should take up a project management approach and get rid of the obsolete principles of industry-based budget allocations, Volodymyr Lupatsiy, MIM-Kyiv MBA 1998 believes. He is a founder of the National Platform for Unity which started as an association of civil society initiatives and private initiatives aimed at peace and safe reintegration.

Recent events proved that Ukraine is facing a much wider range of challenges, and that’s why the idea of resilience is so important for Ukrainians. Volodymyr Lupatsiy is convinced that resilience is critical for surviving the war and thriving after it ends.

We discussed Planform's current objectives, the role of skilled managers in the country’s revival, and the best-working technologies.

- Please tell us the story of the Platform and how its objectives have changed since the full-scale invasion.

- The Platform is a consortium of analytical centers and individuals who decided to join forces after the events in Crimea and the eastern part of the country in 2014. Public opinion then polarized over the strategy. One group believed that we need to separate from those regions because their population was rotten to the core whereas another group was after the accord at any price. That’s why we established the Platform to find a way of reintegration. 

I believe that the current situation is the result of the poorly learned lessons of Crimea. Countries without effective national public coherence policy risk fragmentation, rupture, and third parties meddling under any pretexts. 

We developed a safe reintegration concept. I believe that reintegration is still relevant although we have evolved into the National Platform for Unity. As soon as we liberate our territories, we are facing numerous problems of rebuilding normal life there, restoring the enforcement bodies and other local governmental authorities, and re-integrating those areas into the information, cultural and political media of Ukraine. 

Safe integration means that liberated territories shall not jeopardize national sovereignty or create conflicts between different regions of Ukraine or national coherence. 

- How this idea could be implemented?

- Technocratic managerial culture is dominant so far. It focuses on the rebuilding of the tangible items or infrastructure after the liberation only. Whereas people’s side is neglected. We studied other nations' experience in national unity policies, e.g. Canadian identity, the UK or Malaysian experience, etc. Malaysia is even more diverse than Ukraine because various nations and religions coexist there. The country has the best logistics for national unity because the political class understands the importance of reintegration and social coherence in the country. The Ministry of National Unity was established. It is developing three to five-year-long national unity strategies and their implementation plans. As a result, the national unity ecosystem with research facilities and social coherence index monitoring groups is in place. There are instruments and protocols for dealing with the violations of the well-developed standards. 

Countries that are prone to geopolitical revisionism and irredentism immediately start exploiting fragmentation or lack of national unity policy. They claim and seek to occupy territories considered "lost" to the nation, based on history or legend. It is one of the Russian ideology components.

- Were the Platform participants ready for the full-scale invasion on February 24?

- We had the strategic session on the eve of the invasion. As a result, we developed three scenarios. One of them was the full-scale war. Many people did not believe but we believed that scenario was the most plausible. We repositioned our Platform as well because reintegration policy is not the number one priority under the circumstances, but resilience was. 

It is a new idea that is dominating the strategic planning the NATO and EU countries. NATO focuses on the preparation and involving citizens in resistance, defense, and fighting back against aggressors. In Ukraine, territorial defense units’ activities are based on the concept. In Estonia, Ukrainian experience is used in involving citizens who live in borderline regions in copters’ defense of the border. These practices are enrooted in the interaction of civil society and security bodies rather than the dominance of the security and enforcement bodies is critical.  

The European approach is more comprehensive and somewhat underestimated. The EU adopted the 735 billion EURO worth post-covid economic recovery and resilience policy. Based on this policy, each country developed its national action plans. I think those plans are very interesting for us as EU candidates. The Platform works closely with the EU Commission and seeks its assistance in the development of the economic revival and resilience-building plan for Ukraine. 

- Why does it matter for us and what we should do to make the most of the existing opportunities?

- So far, our Euro integration policy needs to be consolidated because we have three separate tracks. The first one is the action plan for any EU candidate, the second one is the post-war economic revival plan, and the third one is the resilience enhancement plan. We need to consolidate all those plans to make them aligned with the resilience criteria, provide for safety and eliminate the dangers to national security. 

Currently, a technocratic approach to the restoration of the liberated territories prevails. However, winning people’s hearts and minds, and understanding the role of skilled business leaders in the revival is even more important. We should assess risks and threats because economic growth or efficiency is not enough. The national economy deals with a wider range of issues. Mere rebuilding is not enough, we should facilitate the safety and resilience of the country, its regions, cities, and citizens. Leaders should follow this latest western democracies’ trend of resilience rather than refer to second-hand intellectual sources. 

- What are the most urgent issues?

- So far solidarism is the most widespread approach. Resilience means involvement of the public and private sector, regional and local authorities, civil society, and individuals. For Ukrainians it means engagement. Plans developed by governments do not work anymore. We should start planning for engaging Ukrainians in the country’s restoration. It is difficult because nearly 13 million Ukrainians are displaced both internally and outside the country. The reform narrative does not work anymore. Restoration, revival, and resilience are the foundation of the identification. Moreover, they are key to attracting innovators, innovation projects, and innovative practices. We are talking about technology investors and transnational capital. On one hand, Ukraine is suffering tremendous losses, on the other hand, it is a kind of a clean slate ready to test new technologies. The nationwide scale of pilot projects attracts global capital. We should be open to alternative energy, new urban development approaches, etc. 

- Do you think Ukrainian traditionalism and conservatism will prevent the innovations?

- We seem to have two countries. One consists of businesspeople, managers, and active people. Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations once mentioned that the Ukrainian - russian war is a war of resilience. Ukraine gained a positive reputation because its people are ready to defend their country. We should build on it and articulate our resilience recipe. Our analysis showed that the ability and culture to self-organize, self-defense culture, social cohesion, striving for freedom and values, and personal dignity are its key components. They are complemented by human kindness even under such terrible circumstances. Our attitude to the Russian POWs is a good example.

Our cultural matrix evolved historically and is influenced by the Ukrainian political culture and behaviors that have been formed for the last thirty years. All three Maidans and self-defense prove our ability to develop horizontal ties. On the other hand, such self-organization is the product of mistrust of the establishment. Our social coherence and ability to find unity against the odds of instability, lack of rule of law, or social security creates our uniqueness. We should process and conceptualize our experience and institutionalize and scale our experience. We surprised ourselves and we surprised the world with our resilience recipe. We should promote it worldwide. Recently, we presented this Ukrainian Recipe at Economic Forum in Karpacz, Poland also known as the Central European Davos. 

- Could you please tell us about your personal experience? You have degrees in philosophy and business administration. How do those two components complement each other?

- I worked in the banking sector when I took up MIM-Kyiv’s program. I was working in analytical and strategic development units. I felt that I lacked business knowledge. Business approaches help to develop active behaviors and understanding of the business role in the national development strategies and post-war economic revival plans. Our future depends on our ability to create social, managerial, humanitarian, etc. innovations infrastructure. Our experience proves that an innovative economy is only possible in an innovative society. Innovations secure the competitiveness of the nations. Businesses with a mission and philosophy, cannot positively impact societies, and nations’ resilience and capitalization. 

- What do you think is the cornerstone for Ukrainian ability to implement the strategies you are discussing?

- I think we need to stop reacting. I mean our public sector should adopt project management approaches rather than continue running the soviet budgeting principles. They should also employ private sector and civil society experience in project management. The ability to identify the mission and strategic goals, account for the global context, and assess the cascading risks before any planning and resource consolidation is critical. Tangible assets are not enough. Building on HR, strategic management, technologies, and industrial clusters is the best way to develop the country. 

We need industries and technologies to match our potential and challenges. We should learn to rely on our innovations and technologies and learn to scale them. It means that we should align all the technologies, innovations, etc. with our current situation and our development plans. We need our dynamic model of comparative advantages. We should choose what suits us, our challenges, abilities, and plans. We do not need to buy the most expensive because of reputational issues. We need to select what works for us.