Harald Hartvig Jepsen, International Senior Adviser, Ukraine
Harald Hartvig Jepsen is an international senior adviser with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in Ukraine. He is a leading international expert with 20 years of experience in the field of elections, democratization and human rights. He has been involved in numerous election observation activities and technical assistance projects for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, European Union (EU) and Commonwealth Parliamentary Assembly. He has headed or been a deputy of more than a dozen election observation activities, including in the Afghanistan, Austria, Belarus, Cyprus, Georgia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Ukraine.
Jepsen was appointed by the Danish government to postings at the OSCE Mission in Tajikistan (2001-03), the OSCE Project Coordinator’s Office in Ukraine (2004, 2005-06) and the EU Special Representative in Afghanistan (2011-12). Jepsen holds a master’s degree in Russian and Czech studies from Aarhus University, Denmark, and studied at universities in the Czech Republic, Russia and Ukraine. He lives in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has authored academic articles on historical themes. He joined the IFES Ukraine team in August 2018, and his portfolio includes policy development, legislative reform and inclusion of underrepresented groups in elections.