Former Coordinator of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – a well-known Swiss humanitarian expert Ivan Sturm – presented his professional experience at Lviv Polytechnic on December 3 and outlined current challenges facing the UN system. This informative meeting with students was initiated and organized by Tetiana Horokhivska, Head of the Department of Pedagogics and Innovative Education, the Institute of Law, Psychology and Innovative Education (IPPE), with the aim of popularizing the University in the global education area.
Ivan Sturm is a consultant with over forty years of experience in the field of international human rights protection and management of humanitarian operations. His professional activities include 21 years of work at the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), cooperation with UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), IOM (International Organization for Migration), OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), as well as with a number of leading international organizations and missions in crisis, conflict and post-conflict regions of the world, where humanitarian aid often becomes the last hope for people who have experienced war, loss of home or danger.
The University Vice-Rectors Roman Korzh and Iryna Khomyshyn, the Chairman of the Academic Board of Lviv Polytechnic and Director of the Institute of Pedagogy and Innovative Education Volodymyr Ortynskyi, Deputy Director of the Institute of Pedagogy and Innovative Education Yurii Kozlovskyi, as well as teachers, students and postgraduates of the Department of Pedagogy and Innovative Education attended the event. In his welcome speech, Vice-Rector for Institutional Development Roman Korzh expressed his gratitude to Ivan Sturm for his assistance to Lviv Polytechnic in 2022, when it was providing shelter in its gyms to hundreds of refugees who needed to be fed, warmed, and provided with basic necessities.
The students also learned from Mr. Sturm about the details of the UN’s activities in Ukraine, as well as the work of UNHCR, UNICEF, WHO, WFP, IOM, and other organizations that daily support forcibly displaced persons and families affected by the war. He also spoke about his activities during the mission to Ukraine in 2022–2023 – in Lviv, Uzhhorod, Odesa, Dnipro, and other cities, where, together with Ukrainian UNHCR partners, he organized the delivery of necessary goods, support for people, and the development of standards for work in the field.
The UNHCR ex-coordinator also answered students’ questions. In particular, they were interested in whether there were moments in his work that required cultural adaptations, what he would change in the communitarian architecture of humanitarian aid, what could help Polytechnic graduates build a career in social work in Europe, and whether Mr. Sturm applies the experience of his work in Ukraine to other countries.
