Yana Zhambekova is the Ukraine Country Director at Veterinarians Without Borders North America/Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Amérique du Nord.
Yana Zhambekova has joined VWB/VSF in July 2025 as Ukraine Country Director. Yana brings more than twenty years of professional experience in strategic leadership and program oversight of international technical assistance and humanitarian programs funded by donors/agencies and finance institutions. Yana is a certified Project Manager, and her areas of expertise encompasses the design, project implementation, monitoring and evaluation and assessment of needs and opportunities. During this time, she has worked with leading donor and humanitarian organizations, USG, GOU and civil society developing sustainable community-led interventions and initiatives and responding to emergencies.
Yana holds MBA degree from Kyiv National Economic University and a MA degree in Humanities and International Relations from Kyiv National Linguistics University.
In recognition of World Zoonoses Day 2026, this article explores how community-centered One Health approaches can help detect, prevent, and respond to zoonotic diseases before they become global health emergencies.
#VETSVolunteerVoices brings you stories from the field shared by passionate VETS program volunteers. Meet Vincent Auclair, a Fundraising Advisor who spent four and a half months in Cambodia (January–May 2026) with our local partner, AVSF Cambodia, supporting proposal development, fundraising systems, and organizational capacity strengthening.
From Community Animal Health Workers to livestock keepers participating in the Passing-on-the-Gift model, communities across South Sudan are carrying forward the skills, knowledge, and systems strengthened through the 1-SHOP project. As the project concludes, we reflect on the lasting impacts of this community-led approach to resilience.
