How to support monitors and strengthen democracies

Free and fair societies depend on monitors, journalists and civil society groups, who speak out, document violations and spot trends. Their work strengthens communities, builds trust, holds authorities accountable, and identifies warning signs long before a crisis hits. When they are silenced and civic freedoms are eroded, early warnings go unheard, abuses continue and democracy itself becomes weaker.

The CSO Meter tracks changes in civic freedoms and civil society environment across the six countries of the Eastern Partnership region. Led by ECNL and partners, it helps work with state institutions, donors, international organizations to turn warnings into action and progressive ideas into long-term safeguards. It was recognised by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency as a best practice, and included in the EU Strategy for Civil Society in 2025.

Changing times call for new ways of monitoring

CSO Meter partners have faced growing threats, forcing us to increasingly share information only through secure channels and limit direct contact on the ground. These conditions demand new ways of collecting data and communicating in a world overwhelmingly saturated with news. They also demand new approaches to storytelling, reaching out to new allies and pressure points, as well as improving the use of existing channels (like EU support) to make monitoring comprehensive and systematic. Our CSO Meter work relies more than ever on people who directly experience events on the ground to interpret developments, assess risks, and determine what they mean for human rights and international standards. Their perspectives remain the cornerstone of credible monitoring, early warning and meaningful action.

Our CSO Meter work in the past decade has shown that civil society monitors need sustained investment - both in open societies where they can operate freely, as well as in closed environments. The contexts and risks differ, but the tailored need for support remains very urgent. Together, we can ensure the critical work of our partners continues and has even greater impact.

Monitors feel the pressure, even in enabling contexts (Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine) 

Even in enabling contexts like Armenia, Moldova, and Ukraine, civil society’s monitoring role is under strain. The Russian aggression in Ukraine and electoral turbulence and interference in Armenia and Moldova have stretched the already limited resources and capacities.

In Armenia, supporters of civil society still have an opportunity to strengthen civic actors ahead of the June 2026 elections. Armenian civil society can innovate and mobilise, but it needs strong support to build on Moldova’s lessons, anticipate challenges like those in Georgia, and withstand the pressures elections put on civic freedoms.

In Moldova, after major funding losses following the dismantling of USAID, organisations pooled their scarce resources and worked together. Against all odds, in one of the most hopeful developments in 2025, they safeguarded independent election observation and helped deliver credible, pro-European and pro-democratic elections. 

In Ukraine, civil society resilience meant maintaining civic actions under continued Russian aggression. In this situation, civil society mobilised through united statements and coordinated advocacy, to challenge attacks on anti-corruption reforms, demand transparency, and call for the restoration of live parliamentary broadcasts. Standing together, they defended democratic institutions and prevailed.

While these examples are positive, the upcoming 2025 Country Reports point to increased risks and shrinking environment in all three countries. This is demonstrated by limits on freedom of expression (in Armenia and Ukraine), and freedom of peaceful assembly (Moldova). Democratic reforms are a fragile process, and international partners should invest in comprehensive solutions for their support.  

How monitoring work can continue in closed contexts (Azerbaijan, Belarus and Georgia) 

Across Georgia, Belarus and Azerbaijan, civil society monitors continue to work in closed and further deteriorating spaces for action, where access to resources is restricted, communications are censored, lack of trust limits collaboration, and personal safety is constantly at risk. Authoritarian governments have intensified crackdowns through repressive laws, smear campaigns, and criminal prosecutions turning monitoring and early warning into acts of defiance. Legal and financial barriers limit access to international support, forcing many organisations to shut down or continue their work from exile, while those who remain face fines and imprisonment.

In Georgia, an unprecedented number of restrictive laws adopted in accelerated procedures 2025 have pushed civil society to the brink but failed to eradicate it. While the Georgian Dream (GD) imposed severe legal restrictions on freedom of association, assembly, on access to resources, and enforced them harshly in an effort to create a climate of fear, activists continue their work with communities and to protect civic freedoms.  Researchers and monitors are prevented from receiving funding from abroad, they face risks to their physical safety and those of their families, as well as excessive fines and prison sentences. 

In Belarus, nearly 1,200 political prisoners remain behind bars, including Anastasiya (Nasta) Loika, imprisoned for her monitoring work.  Those released are pressured to leave the country. Transnational repression follows them and other relocated activists across borders, making it increasingly difficult to collect data and assess developments, cases and experiences of those remaining in the country. 

In Azerbaijan, journalists and civil society actors are increasingly imprisoned or driven into exile, increasingly being hypervigilant in engaging with others and facing existential despair concerning the meaning of their work, all of this leaving little space for independent monitoring. New penalties, investigations and increased state oversight over CSO activities introduced in 2025 are further pushing independent voices, and any work on freedoms to the very edge of survival.  

Theirs are powerful stories of resilience: civil society actors who, under immense pressure document signals and patterns, ensure early warnings are heard, and preserve critical knowledge and networks. They bring us all hope that prevention remains possible. 

Three ways to turn CSO Meter monitoring insights into action 

Supporting partners to monitor means more than supporting them to collect data. It means providing flexible funding, safe reporting tools, networks and clear pathways to act on early warnings. With the right support, civil society can persist and find innovative ways and channels to monitor, take action for change and mobilise the international community.  

Three ways to support EaP civil society monitors in 2026:  

Interested in supporting monitoring for action? Reach out to [email protected]