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Overall situation and state of civil society
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The civil society environment in Ukraine was affected by the further adaptation of CSOs to the Russian Federation's full-scale invasion. During 2023, the full-scale invasion remained a factor that consolidated public mobilisation to respond to new crises and threats. In this context, the year 2023 was particularly marked by the fact that civil society and the state as a whole were more focused on creating favourable conditions for further post-war recovery. It was possible to improve and develop the skills of operational flexibility, the use of digital tools and the ability to quickly shift attention to the most urgent needs of society, from humanitarian aid in conditions of environmental and manmade disasters, to urgent advocacy for the adoption or cancellation of changes to legislation.
In Ukraine, the volunteer movement continues to gain popularity with volunteers having created local and all-Ukrainian networks during the second half of 2022 and in 2023. The specialisation of volunteers became clearly visible, even among those who at the beginning of the full-scale invasion had helped everyone by all possible means. CSOs, in cooperation with businesses and the authorities, continue to create humanitarian initiatives and initiatives to help military personnel and their families, including support for the families of missing and dead military personnel. In addition, changes in the legislation related to volunteering continued. These related to the support of volunteer activities, life and health insurance for volunteers, the introduction of initiatives on volunteer training and a culture of volunteering at schools which promotes the development of a culture of volunteerism among students and improves legislation on volunteering itself. Therefore, historically high scores in the areas of Freedom of Association and State-CSO Cooperation further increased in 2023, despite the war.
One of the challenges faced by CSOs was ensuring the physical and psychological safety of public activists, especially in the temporarily-occupied territories. Also, the new draft law on lobbying which appeared in November 2023 threatened the advocacy activities of CSOs by potentially equating advocacy with lobbying, violating the recommendations of the European Union (EU) concerning conditions for the introduction of lobbying regulations. Further, the law on public consultations was not adopted.
Video story
How has CSO Meter proven to be helpful in times of war? Find out more from Oleksandr Shapoval, Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research (UCIPR) (Ukraine):
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ISAR Ednannia
ISARvEdnannia was founded in 1997 and officially registered in 1999. It supports local and regional communities and non-governmental organisations that support the civil and democratic development of Ukraine. ISAR Ednannia’s main areas of focus are to promote the development of:
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Self-reliant civil society in Ukraine through grant support, training and mentoring of CSOs;
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Communities and philanthropy through increasing the involvement of community residents in supporting local projects in their own cities, villages and territorial communities, and building a culture of philanthropy and charity;
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Intersectoral dialogue and cooperation by developing, expanding and strengthening relationships between government, business and the civic sector in order to improve local communities, and jointly address emergent needs and achieve strategic goals;
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Build a community of like-minded people by connecting activists, and enterprising members of society to support the activities of civic organisations and develop civil society.