ProgramME

6 thematic areas
over 50 panel discussions
4 symposiums
12 side-events
exhibition stands
artistic performances

ABOUT THE EVENT

W4UA Summit addresses key aspects on the current map of international humanitarian aid to Ukraine. This is a history of pain and challenges as well as hope and successes. Our objective is to strengthen today’s humanitarian aid and cooperation between non-governmental organizations, business and governmental institutions. This is why we’re organizing W4UA Summit to ensure that this cooperation is based on well-defined needs of the Ukrainian society and the real scale of the damage inflicted on the Ukrainian territory.

In addition to humanitarian topics, W4UA Summit is a space to discuss immediate needs in the areas of food security, the use of energetic resources, forms of international business cooperation, support of startups in Ukraine, and the plans to rebuild damaged urban spaces. Due to this array of diverse socio-economic topics, the event is also directed towards entrepreneurs and businesses that actively engage in these areas of economic support.

We believe in the synergy of aid efforts. The open format of the W4UA Summit discussions welcomes the participation of governmental authorities, international and national non-governmental organizations, as well as the representation of businesses from Ukraine, Poland and the world. We invite businesses that play an important role in strengthening the response to the current economic situation in Ukraine and provide financial support of non-governmental projects. All these entities create a coherent ecosystem of aid, supporting Ukraine in effectively limiting the effects of the war.

Thematic areas

Urban and infrastructure reconstruction

Global food (in)security

Health
and family welfare

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Speakers

Richard Branson

Founder
Virgin

Biography

Sir Richard Branson founded Virgin, one of the world’s most admired brands, in 1970. Since then, it has expanded into many diverse sectors from travel to telecommunications, health to banking, and music to leisure.

Since starting Student magazine in his teens, Richard has found entrepreneurial ways to provoke positive change in the world for more than 50 years. In 2004, Richard established the non-profit entrepreneurial foundation Virgin Unite to help tackle tough social and environmental problems. The founding principle of Virgin Unite is to make business a force for good. Richard spends a lot of time working with Virgin Unite and the organisations it has incubated, such as The Elders, Carbon War Room (now merged with RMI) and The B Team. Richard also serves on the Global Commission on Drug Policy and supports ocean conservation with the Ocean Elders.
Leendert Verbeek

President
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

Biography

Leendert Verbeek (The Netherlands, SOC/G/PD) is the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. He was elected for this position on 23 March 2021 for a mandate of two years and a half. Verbeek is serving as the King’s Commissioner for the Province of Flevoland in the Netherlands and he had previously held office as President of the Monitoring Committee of the Congress.
Oleksii Iaremenko

Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine for European Integration
Ministry of Health of Ukraine

Biography

Oleksiy Yaremenko is Deputy Minister for European Integration at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. Education: National University named after T. Shevchenko, Institute of International Relations, master’s degree in international law; Institute of Personnel Training of the State Employment Service of Ukraine, master’s degree in administrative management. Since 2007 – in the field of health care, in particular, in the Project “HIV Service Reform in Action” and the USAID Project “Supporting Health Care Reform”.
Michael Capponi

Founder, President
Global Empowerment Mission

Biography

Michael Capponi is known as one of the instrumental key pioneers in shaping the image, popularity, and growth of Miami Beach. Over the past 30 years, Michael has been a leading force in the hospitality and entertainment industries and one of the most accomplished residential real estate developers in South Florida. Michael has since fully retired from the private sector and focuses 100% of his time and efforts to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM). He now brings the skills of his prior endeavors to his philanthropic work with GEM. He has built an international organization that is disrupting the disaster sector through innovative, efficient, and modernized systems. GEM has the ability to immediately respond around the world to all phases of disasters. By harnessing the power of social media, celebrity influencers, strategic public-private partnerships and a strong, knowledgeable base of experienced volunteers, Michael has created a replicable formula to have an efficient and effective response to global disasters. GEM has responded to disasters in 44 countries, distributed over $250 million in supplies, coordinated over 336 disaster mission trips and built or repaired more than 148 homes, 15 schools, and has supported children in Haiti with their education for the last decade. Currently, Michael Capponi is serving as a member of the Advisory Board to World for Ukraine Summit 2022.
Maryna Denysiuk

Senior Project Manager, Coordination of Ukraine Recovery Plan Development
Reforms Delivery Office of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

Biography

Maryna Denysiuk, since the war outbreak, is the Senior Project Manager and Team Lead developing and coordinating the Ukraine Recovery Plan under the auspices of the Reforms Delivery Office of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. She has extensive experience in the fields of government relations, providing advisory services in the field of the environmental protection system, climate actions, and coordination of the European Green Deal initiatives at the Ukrainian government level. She has also two years of experience in the fields of ecology and sustainable development, waste management, and attraction of investments in the communities of the region in the public sector. She has previously also worked in the field of energy efficiency of industrial enterprises and green energy. Ms Denysiuk completed 17 projects under the Kyoto Protocol in industries such as the generation and distribution of thermal energy, alternative and small energy, solid waste landfills, water and electricity distribution networks, chemical enterprises, coal mining and enrichment, and energy efficiency in industrial enterprises. Under the Kyoto Protocol, Ms Denysiuk has also carried out energy and technical analysis of environmental investments of more than 40 industrial enterprises in all regions of Ukraine.

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Agenda

Day 1: 7.12.2022 – INAUGURATION OF W4UA

Roundtable discussions on socio-economic and health-related themes. Workshops on the management of humanitarian aid and volunteers, public communication of crisis responses and how to deal with disinformation campaigns.

Day 2: 8.12.2022 – IMMEDIATE CHALLENGES AND NEEDS

Presentations of Ukrainian representatives and those of other countries in a high-level opening panel. Main areas of discussion on day 2 include current humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine and the refugee aid programs, the challenges and needs of Ukrainian women and elderly, health and family welfare, the threat of a global food insecurity, the weaponization of the energy resources and many more. This day will also feature presentations of humanitarian projects and their funding objectives in a unique ‘matchmaking’ program.

Day 3: 9.12.2022 – FUTURE OUTLOOK

Workshops, panel discussions, book presentations and many more are on the program of the 3^rd day. Main topics: rebuilding of Ukrainian cities and infrastructures, the protection and restoration of the cultural heritage sites, long-term needs of the health sector, protection of children and their education, perspectives on the return of refugees to Ukraine, and the support of business and entrepreneurs, and many more. This day will focus on topics of importance to Ukrainian cities and their long-term crisis planning, organized with the support of the Ukrainian City Mayors and the Council of Europe.

Detailed program of the event is subject to change.

View the full Agenda

Freedom on fire

Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom (2022) is an awards-winning Evgeny Afineevsky’s documentary that will screen at the W4UA Summit. Crafted from stark footage and exclusive interviews with people displaced by the enduring conflict, this documentary reveals how the spirit of unity strengthens morale even amid the country’s darkest hours.

When Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, its citizens instinctively renewed the survival strategies that sustained them eight years prior during the Maidan Uprising. This documentary explores why a jubilant day on Kyiv’s Maidan square instigated warfare that has lasted the better part of a decade. Broadening his focus from a single city, Afineevsky and his crew turn their lenses on multiple countries, trailing both the Ukrainians trying to escape and those who have vowed to stay behind. A sweeping look at a humanitarian crisis, the documentary amplifies the views of children, mothers, soldiers, doctors, artists, volunteers, clergymen, and journalists who are transformed while witnessing ceaseless destruction and bloodshed.

ProgramME

ABOUT THE EVENT

Thematic areas

Speakers

Richard Branson

Leendert Verbeek

Oleksii Iaremenko

Michael Capponi

Maryna Denysiuk

Agenda

Freedom on fire

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