Bohdan Hawrylyshyn at 100: A story of trust that changed my path
In 2001, I was undertaking an internship at the Parliament of Canada and looking for funding for a four-person Ukrainian delegation to attend the summer session of the European Youth Parliament in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
It was during my time in Canada that I heard about an outstanding Ukrainian, Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, who lived in Switzerland but regularly travelled to Kyiv.
I decided to take a chance and send him a fax.
The next day, he called me directly at the office of the Canadian MP I was interning with. We spoke for a full hour.
Bohdan shared a story from his youth. In the late 1950s, when he held only permanent resident status in Canada, he set off to represent Canadian youth at a World Youth Forum in an African country. The funds for his trip had been provided by a Ukrainian priest in Toronto.
That experience had a profound influence on his life, deepening his interest in management, international economics and global affairs.
I was struck by his story. Here was a man who would go on to become a world-renowned economist, thinker and civic leader, yet he himself had once been given an opportunity because someone believed in him.
And now, he was doing the same for others.
Following our conversation, Bohdan donated US$1,000 — half of the entire budget for our four-person delegation. Thanks to his generosity, we were able to make the trip.
But his support did not end there.
In 2002, we were trying to register an international youth organisation in Ukraine. It was during the presidency of Leonid Kuchma, when the authorities viewed independent youth movements with particular suspicion, especially in the wake of events in Serbia, where the student movement Otpor! had played an important role in bringing down Slobodan Milošević’s regime.
With Bohdan’s support and the weight of his reputation behind us, we managed to persuade Justice Minister Susanna Stanik to approve the registration of our international youth organisation.
There was another telling detail in the story of our collaboration: for many years afterwards, the registered legal address of the European Youth Parliament – Ukraine remained Bohdan’s office at Instytutska Street in Kyiv.
He did more than provide financial support to young people. He helped us open doors that would have been far more difficult to open on our own. He gave us room to grow, his trust, and the conviction that our work mattered.
Today, on the 100th anniversary of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn’s birth, I am particularly conscious of the difference people like him can make in our lives.
Bohdan Dmytrovych believed in young people. And he demonstrated that belief not through speeches, but through concrete actions.
He invested in people who were only just beginning their journeys. He understood that helping a young person today could have consequences far beyond what anyone could predict — changing not only that person’s life, but the future of an entire country.
I was one of those young Ukrainians in whom he chose to believe.
For that, I will always be deeply grateful.
May the memory of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn be a blessing. His example continues to remind us of something simple, yet profoundly important: true leadership is the ability to believe in others and help them become the people they are only beginning to dream of being. 🇺🇦
@HawrylyshynFund
"Learn. Dream. Act." This was the guiding principle of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, a Ukrainian economist and visionary who believed that education, ethical leadership and personal responsibility transform societies.
Throughout his life, he worked with business leaders, advised governments across continents and helped develop ideas for more effective, fair, and humane societies. After decades abroad, he returned to Ukraine to support its development and invest in its younger generations.
In 2010, Bohdan Hawrylyshyn founded his Charitable Foundation. Its flagship program, "Young Generation Will Change Ukraine," sends young Ukrainians across Europe to study how governments and institutions function, so they could bring those lessons home.
The Foundation, in partnership with Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Youth and Sports, also supports the "Youth Delegate of Ukraine to the UN" program, which empowers talented young Ukrainians to participate in shaping real UN documents and decisions.
100 years after his birth, his legacy lives on – through the people he inspired and the institutions he helped build.
In 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine named Bohdan Hawrylyshyn as an Honorary Ambassador of Ukraine in "The Cause of Life" category for his outstanding contribution to promoting Ukraine internationally.