Democracy Awards Dinner panel phot with Markarova, Power, Portman, and Woodruff

Democracy Awards Dinner

IFES 2022 Annual Report
Andrew Kolb, IFES Director of Strategic Communications and Advocacy
Director of Strategic Communications and Advocacy
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USAID Administrator Samantha Power
The Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) Officers of the U.S. Agency for International Development, with USAID Administrator Samantha Power accepting on their behalf.

"The work is often thankless. The news is often bleak. But we have heroes that we look to and shepherds in this world that keep the flame burning.”

Ambassador Oksana Markarova
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, accepting on his behalf.

"You have to work for democracy all the time. You have to fight for it during the peaceful time, so you don’t have to fight for it during the war.”

Senator Rob Portman
U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

"We hope that the war in Ukraine will be a turning point, where we can turn the tide, and democracy regains the upper hand against forces of tyranny, and that is what we all must continue to fight for.”