Draft:Interns’ League

Public organization "Interns League" (Interns League) (Ліга інтернів) is a voluntary association of graduates of the Internship Program in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, central bodies of executive power and local self-government.

In the first years of its existence, the main goal of the organization was the development of the Internship Program, establishing cooperation and maintaining ties between its graduates.

The NGO "League of Interns" is an important social elevator that helps young people gain invaluable experience in public administration

History of creation
The youth internship program in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine was founded on the joint initiative of the Association of former members of the United States Congress and Verkhovna Rada in July 1995. In the first year of the Program's existence, no age restrictions were set for participants. The oldest participant of the first internship program was 36 years old (born in 1959), and the youngest participant was only 19 years old (born in 1976).

Since November 2000, administration of the Internship Program has been transferred to the Indiana University Parliamentary Assistance Program, and since September 2008 - to the Legislative Policy Development Program, the Parliamentary Assistance Program of Ukraine II (PSP II), which is implemented by Ohio State University.

In 2008–2013, the Assistance Program of the Parliament of Ukraine II expanded the activities of the Internship Program to the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine and some Ministries of Ukraine.

In April 2009, the public organization "League of Interns" was founded, which included graduates of the Internship Program in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and other authorities, whose main task was the administration of the Internship Program, its development, strengthening cooperation between graduates, and creating other opportunities for development young people

Since 2015, the internship program in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has been implemented jointly with the Human Resources Department of the Verkhovna Rada.

From 1995 to 2018, the Program was supported by the United States Agency for International Development

In 2021, the implementation of the Program was financially and expertly supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the framework of the program "COUNCIL: Responsibility, Accountability, Democratic Parliamentary Representation" within the framework of the IBO "Eastern Europe Foundation" grant. In the same year, the Program officially celebrated its 25th anniversary and released a documentary about its history.

Vision
The main purpose of the NGO "League of Interns" is to administer the Internship Program, namely:

providing support to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, bodies of executive power and local self-government by attracting the best students and graduates of higher education institutions, veterans to work in their structural divisions; providing opportunities for young professionals to join the work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, local self-government bodies and gain practical experience in the state-building process; promote the transparency of the activities of the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, central bodies of executive power and local self-government The NGO "League of Interns" carries out its activities guided by the principles of democracy and the rule of law, transparency and honesty, political non-involvement, responsibility towards the participants of the Program and its partners.

Development of leadership potential
Among the priorities of the Internship Program is to raise the level of political culture of interns, prepare young professionals for future leadership. For this purpose, meetings of interns with well-known political and public figures of Ukraine, representatives of international organizations, graduates of the Program who have already achieved significant success are organized. During these meetings, interns have a unique opportunity to exchange ideas and ask questions of invited guests.

In different years, the guests of the Internship Program were Ukrainian politicians: Viktor Yushchenko, Oleksandr Zinchenko, [[Yulia Tymoshenko, Mykola Tomenko, Anatoly Hrytsenko, Andriy Shevchenko, Oleksandr Moroz, Stepan Havrish, Petro Simonenko; representatives of the United States Congress, the United States Embassy,Ktiv and United States Agency for International Development: Marcy Kaptur and Bob Schaeffer, Marie Yovanovitch, Christopher Crowley, Karen Hilliard, Earl Gast, John Herbst, etc.

Notable alumni and members
During the long existence of the ТПЩ "Interns League", more than 2,000 young, active and promising people from all over Ukraine have participated in the internship program. At one time, the participants of the Parliamentary Internship Program became well-known and influential figures of modern social, political and cultural life, direct participants in the legislative process:


 * Stepan Barna is a politician and public figure, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 8th convocation (2014-2015), head of the Ternopil Regional State Administration (2015-2019), intern 2002-2003.
 * Pavlo Bulgak is an advisor to the Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine (2015-2019), since September 2019 an advisor to the Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratyuk, intern 2004-2005.
 * Valentyn Gladkikh — political technologist, chief consultant of the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (2002-2016), political expert of the NGO "Slovo i Dilo" and the analytical group "Leviathan", intern 2001-2002.
 * Vitaly Horduz — media manager, general director of the KP Media holding, vice-president for finance and legal issues of the Kyiv School of Economics, intern 1995-1996.
 * Dmytro Horevoy is a religious scholar, director of the public organization "Religious Security Center", head of projects and programs of the Institute of Religion and Society of the Ukrainian Catholic University, presenter-analyst of the program "Detector. Religions" on the YouTube channel "DetectorUA" in 2020-2022, intern 2015-2016.
 * Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi — politician, public figure and publicist, expert on issues of innovative development of society, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 9th convocation ("Servant of the People" faction), intern 2009-2010.
 * Valery Karpuntsov is a lawyer and politician, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 7th (2012-2014) (UDAR faction) and 8th convocations (2016-2019) (BPP faction), chairman of the board of the public organization "League of Interns" ( 2018—2024), intern 1999—2000.
 * Olena Kostynyuk is a political scientist, communicator, civil servant, since February 2022, the head of the Educational Center of the Verkhovna Rada, intern of 2019.
 * Danylo Lubkivskyi is a public figure, diplomat, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (March-December 2014), head of the National Commission of Ukraine for UNESCO (2014-2015), Director of the Kyiv Security Forum intern 1996-1997.
 * Yuriy Lubkovich (1989—2023) — public and political activist, state secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (2021[9]—2023), intern 2010—2011. Died on January 18, 2023 as a result of a plane crash in Brovary.
 * Andrii Magera is a lawyer, member of the Central Election Commission (2004-2018), Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission (2007-2018), intern 1997-1998.
 * Andriy Melnyk is a diplomat, Consul General of Ukraine in Hamburg (2007—2012), Deputy Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers (2014) and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2022—2023), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Germany (2014—2022) and Brazil from June 20, 2023, full knight of the Ukrainian Order of Merit, intern 1995-1996.
 * Mykola Melnyk is a political scientist, the founder of the Leviathan analytical group, a participant in the Russian-Ukrainian war, a knight of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky 3d class, Chairman of the board of the public organization "League of Interns" since 2024 , intern 2011 — 2012
 * Alina Mykhaylova is a volunteer paramedic and public figure, a member of the Kyiv City Council of the 9th convocation (the "Voice" faction), an intern of 2020.
 * Vadym Miskyi is a public figure, an expert in the field of advocacy[18] and media, secretary of the Supervisory Board of the National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine. Winner of the Prize of the Cabinet of Ministers for special achievements of youth in the development of Ukraine (2018), intern 2012-2013.
 * Vasyl Mokan is a political scientist, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 9th convocation ("Servant of the People" faction), permanent Representative of the CMU in the Verkhovna Rada, intern 2011-2012.
 * Volodymyr Omelyan is a diplomat, Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine (2016-2019), great-grandson of the classic of Ukrainian literature Bohdan Lepky, intern 1999-2000.
 * Pavlo Pynzenyk is a People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 8th convocation from the People's Front party (2014-2019), first deputy chairman of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the Regulations and Organization of the Work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, intern 1997-1998.
 * Oleksandr Polivodskyi (1973—2023) — lawyer, candidate of legal sciences, junior sergeant, knight of the Order "For Courage" 3d class, participant in the Russian-Ukrainian war, intern 1995—1996.
 * Ihor Priyanchuk — adviser to the Vice-Prime Minister of Ukraine Hryhoriy Nemyri (2008-2010), intern 1996-1997.
 * Taras Prytula — head of the international cooperation department of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, chairman of the board of the NGO "Interns' League" (2011—2018), intern 1998—1999.
 * Maria Savina is the executive director of the NGO "Interns` League", an expert on issues of parliamentary education and involvement of citizens of the Office of Parliamentary Reform of the United Nations Development Programme, an intern in 2010-2011.
 * Ostap Semerak is a politician, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 6th (2007-2012) (Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc faction) and 8th (2014-2019) convocations (People's Front faction). Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in the government of Arseniy Yatsenyuk from February 27 to December 2, 2014, intern 1995-1996.
 * Rostyslav Semkiv — writer, literary critic, literary critic, translator, publisher, associate professor of the National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy", intern 1999-2000.
 * Kyrylo Sydorchuk is a lawyer, an expert in advocacy in the field of human rights protection and civil society development, advocacy manager of the public organization "Transparency International Ukraine" (2020—2023), a senior lecturer at the Kyiv-Mohyla School of Governance named after Andriy Meleshevich since 2021, intern 2015-2016.
 * Denis Sobol is a rower, master of sports of Ukraine of international class. Bronze medalist of the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games, state expert of the expert group on reforming the health care system of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine (2018—2020), participant in the Russian-Ukrainian war, intern of 2018.
 * Olga Sovgyrya is a lawyer, political activist, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 9th convocation ("Servant of the People" faction), permanent representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (2019-2022)[27], judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (since 2022) . intern 2000-2001.
 * Tamila Tasheva is a Crimean Tatar human rights defender, public figure, volunteer. Co-founder of the public organization "KrimSOS". Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea from April 25, 2022
 * Taras Shevchenko — director of the public organization "Center for Democracy and the Rule of Law" (until April 2016, "Media Law Institute") (2005-2020), Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine (since August 12, 2020), intern 1996-1997 year
 * Lyubov Shpak is a political activist, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 9th convocation (Servant of the People faction), intern 2001-2002.
 * Tetyana Shutyak (1996—2023) is a lawyer, deputy head of the Patronage Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ukraine), intern of 2018. Died on January 18, 2023 as a result of a plane crash in Brovary.
 * Yelyzaveta Yasko is a political activist, political scientist, cultural expert, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 9th convocation (Servant of the People faction), Head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (2019-2021), intern 2011-2012.