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Kateryna Chumachenko IMPACTING GOVERNMENT POLICY: A FOUR POINT PLAN This address was delivered at the V Congress of the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations in Toronto, Canada, in November 1987. Ms. Chumachenko was a participant in the External Affairs panel. Introduction During the last week, as we prepared for this confer ence — packed our clothes, made plans to meet with old friends — politicians around the world were making decisions that affected the fate of the Ukrainian nation, our community, and our families. And, unfortunately, we — all professional, educated women — allowed them to determine our destinies, playing little, if any, role. Our purpose here today is to explore how we as Ukrainian women can make ourselves more relevant to the policy making — foreign and domestic — of our respective governments. Like always, the fate of the Ukrainian nation is largely being determined by forces outside borders. In the past, her close neighbors fought bitterly over her territory: now her destiny is negotiated by superpowers thou sands of miles apart. Similarly, our lives as Ukrainian women are also shaped by forces more varied and dis tant than ever. This environment makes the pursuit of our goals increasingly complex. This complexity became clear to me before I worked for the U.S. Government, when I served as a spokesper son in Washington for Ukrainian issues, attempting to influence the very institutions in which I now work. My pessimism about what the Ukrainian community could hope to achieve actually grew during the first year in my government position, when I often felt that I was fight ing against impossible odds. I still believe that the struggle will be a long and diffi cult one, but now I have come to believe that there is hope for our objectives, indeed, hope for our ultimate goal, a free and independent Ukrainian nation. Not because the West is committed to liberating Ukraine — no, sometimes it feels as if we have advanced little since the 1920s and 1930s, when Western governments failed to acknowledge a free Ukraine, and failed to recognize the horror of the Ukrainian famine. The difference is that the more intimately I come to know the government, the more I realize that Western policy making institutions are not a monolithic, impe netrable obstacle to Ukrainian independence. Rather, they are part of a very complex system that is not only accessible, but that actually encourages the participa tion of all citizens in the policy making process. I have come to the conclusion that by providing persuasive arguments for our issues, by organizing ourselves effec tively, by placing ourselves in the appropriate positions, and by carrying out our programs in a well thought out manner, we can indeed influence policy. A Four-Point Plan In order to accomplish this objective, I offer a four- point plan. First, we must formulate a political agenda for our community. Second, we must establish well- managed and well-founded lobbying offices in impor tant Western capitals. Third, we need to harness the energies of a “grassroots” network of organizations and individuals that can successfully support our national lobbying efforts. Finally, we must educate our children and our fellow Ukrainians to be productive citizens of the countries in which they live, serving in influential positions in government, media, film-making, academia, churches and business, and using their positions to advance the community agenda. Each of these four points is a lecture in itself. I will discuss each only briefly, expanding a little more on the second point — how to establish an effective lobbying operation. Setting an Agenda Our first priority is to establish a political agenda. Obviously our Ukrainian agenda must be the consensus product of all the members of our community, formul- tated by a democratic process which emphasizes what is good for the Ukrainian nation, and allows the best intentioned, most educated and most creative forces to rise to the top. And, obviously, the Ukrainian political agenda should promote the interests of the countries in which we now live. I, to date, have never run across a Ukrainian-oriented goal, that, if achieved, would not also be good for the United States. Such an agenda should encompass a policy on how, first, we should present the situtation of Ukraine, past, present and future, to our children and to the entire Western public; second, how we would like our go vernments to conduct their relations with the Soviet Union, given the current status of Ukraine and its peo- 22 ’’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, СІЧЕНЬ 1988 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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