Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity Semi-Annual Progress Performance Report
Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT (01 October 2020 – 31 March 2021)
Award No: 72012119CA00003
Prepared for USAID/Ukraine C/O American Embassy 4 Igor Sikorsky St., Kyiv, Ukraine 04112
Prepared by “Ednannia” (Joining Forces) – The Initiative Center to Support Social Action 72 Velyka Vasylkivska Str., office 8, Kyiv, Ukraine
Implemented by the Initiative Center to Support Social Action “Ednannia” (Ednannia hereafter) as a prime implementing partner in a consortium with the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research (UCIPR) and the Center for Democracy and Rule of Law (CEDEM).
Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
Table of Contents
I. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ...... 2 II. CONTEXT UPDATE ...... 4 III. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 5 IV. KEY NARRATIVE ACHIEVEMENT ...... 8
OBJECTIVE 1: STRENGTHEN INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITIES OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS (CSOS) (PRIMARILY IMPLEMENTED BY EDNANNIA) ...... 8 Organizational Development Grants and Other Sub-Awards ...... 9 Capacity Development Marketplace (CD Marketplace http://cd-platform.org/) ...... 15 Educational Activities ...... 17 OBJECTIVE 2: IMPROVE LEGAL ENABLING ENVIRONMENT (LEE) FOR CIVIL SOCIETY (PRIMARILY IMPLEMENTED BY UCIPR AND CEDEM) ...... 19 Legislative Monitoring, Analysis and Drafting ...... 19 Advocacy and Coalition Building ...... 21 Legal Awareness Raising and Capacity Building ...... 30 Legal Aid ...... 31 OBJECTIVE 3: ENHANCE RESEARCH AND LEARNING OF CIVIL SOCIETY SECTORAL CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND BEST PRACTICES (PRIMARILY IMPLEMENTED BY EDNANNIA) ...... 33 In-depth research on new challenges and opportunities impacting civil society ...... 33 Knowledge Clearing House ...... 38 V. PROGRESS AGAINST TARGETS ...... 38 VI. PERFORMANCE MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING ...... 39 VII. LESSONS LEARNED ...... 40 VIII. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING ...... 41 IX. PROGRESS ON LINKS TO OTHER ACTIVITIES ...... 41 X. PROGRESS ON LINKS TO HOST GOVERNMENT ...... 42 XI. PROGRESS ON INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT ...... 43 XII. FINANCIAL INFORMATION (REQUIRED FOR CONTRACTS; OPTIONAL FOR OTHER AWARD TYPES) ...... 44 XIII. SUB-AWARD DETAILS ...... 45 XIV. ACTIVITY ADMINISTRATION ...... 45
IMPROVE TECHNICAL CAPACITY OF ONLINE PLATFORM CD MARKETPLACE ...... 46 DEVELOP IT SOLUTION FOR CONDUCTING EVENTS ONLINE ...... 46 PROMOTE CULTURE OF ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ...... 46 HOLD 2ND MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FOR NEWLY ESTABLISHED CSOS ...... 46 OBJECTIVE 2: IMPROVE LEGAL ENABLING ENVIRONMENT (LEE) FOR CIVIL SOCIETY ...... 46 OBJECTIVE 3. ENHANCE RESEARCH AND LEARNING OF CIVIL SOCIETY SECTORAL CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND BEST PRACTICES ...... 48 XV. ATTACHMENTS ...... 50
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
I. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Activity Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity AML Anti-Money Laundering ASUG Automatized System of Grant Management (online databases to administer capacity development grants) CD Capacity Development CD Marketplace Capacity Development Platform “Marketplace” CEDEM Non-Government Organization “Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law” CEO Chief Executive Officer CEP USAID Competitive Economy Program CMU Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine CoE Council of Europe COP Chief of Party CoP Community of Practice CSO SI Civil Society Organizations Sustainability Index CSD Forum Civil Society Development Forum CSO Civil Society Organization DCOP Deputy Chief of Party DG East USAID Project “Ukraine Democratic Governance East Activity” DIF Democratic Initiatives Foundation DOBRE USAID Project “Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency” ECNL European Center for Not-for-Profit Law ECtHR European Court of Human Rights Ednannia Non-Government Organization «Ednannia» (Joining Forces) – Initiative Centre to Support Social Action» EGAP Program E-Governance for Accountability and Participation Program E-learning Learning Utilizing Electronic Technologies ENGAGE USAID Project «Enhance Non-governmental Actors and Grassroots Engagements», implemented by Pact, Inc., 2016-2021 EU European Union GOU Government of Ukraine ICNL International Center for Not-for-Profit Law IRF International Renaissance Foundation ISO Intermediary Support Organization IT Information Technologies LEE Legal enabling environment LEE RRM Legal Enabling Environment Reforms Road Map LGBTIQ lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MEL Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning MELP Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan MIS Management Information System MOOC Massive Online Open Course MP Member of Parliament NDI National Democratic Institute NGO Non-Governmental Organizations NED National Endowment for Democracy
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
OD Organizational Development OSCE Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE/ODIHR OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights PR Public Relations PGP Public-Government Platform PULSE Policy for Ukraine Local Self Governance implemented by the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC) RPR Reanimation Package of Reforms PWD Persons with Disabilities PULSE USAID Policy for Ukraine Local Self Governance RADA USAID Project ‘Responsible, Accountable and Democratic Assembly” SAGMa System of Automatized Grant Management ToT Terms of Reference UCIPR Non-Government Organization “The Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research” UMDPL Ukrainian Association of Human Rights Monitors UNDP United Nations Development Programme UPF Ukrainian Philanthropists Forum U-RAP Ukraine Responsive and Accountable Politics Program URC Ukraine Reforms Conference USAID United States Agency for International Development USG United States Government SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency VRU Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
II. CONTEXT UPDATE During October 2020 – March 2021, the team of the Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity (“Activity”) continued to experience different challenges, which had an impact on the Activity implementation. COVID-19 and restrictions for gatherings and limitations for in person communication affected the environment for civil society in Ukraine and reduced the opportunities for public consultations, particularly at the local level. The public authorities and CSOs mostly did not organize offline events within the country and internationally, and the number of communications with public authorities was partially reduced (some events were organized online).
At the same time, among the positive developments, the Parliament stopped to adopt legislation in “turbo regime” and focused on better quality legal acts. Moreover, despite the Committee discussed Draft Laws on Lobbying, it considered civil society concerns and rejected them as unconstitutional.
Furthermore, the Parliament adopted Draft Law on Public Consultations in the first reading. In case this Draft Law is adopted in the second reading, it will be the first draft law to regulate public consultations since independence of Ukraine (for many years civil society advocated for it). The Draft of the new Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021-2026 was developed with civil society engagement, and it reflects provision of the Legal Enabling Environment Reforms Roadmap for civil society (LEE RRM) developed under the Activity. Also, the Ukrainian civil society managed to get better engagement into other policies development. In 2020, the rhetoric of the leadership towards civil society slightly improved. The Activity team rebuilt its cooperation with the Government and newly appointed Ministers, and ensured very efficient cooperation with the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers while developing the Draft Strategy.
Furthermore, among positive developments was the increase of public funding of some categories of CSOs of persons with disabilities (UAH 91 million in 2021 compared to UAH 66.4 million in 2020) and youth and children CSOs (UAH 75 million in 2021 compared to UAH 66 672 500 in 2019). At the same time, the public funding to CSOs of veterans remained at the level of 2019 (UAH 8.5 million) and funding of the pilot project “Development of Social Services” was not returned to the pre-pandemic (UAH 10 million allocated in 2021, but UAH 100 million was planned to be allocated in 2020).
At the same time, in 2020, the Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2016 - 2020 expired, but the new Strategy was not adopted. The Strategy 2016 – 2020 and undertaken commitments (e.g. Toronto Principles, online registration of charitable organizations, benefits for charity etc.) were only partially implemented.
Moreover, the number of attacks on civil society activists continued to grow and remained unprosecuted. Some politicians continued to lobby legislation restricting CSO operation (Draft Laws labeling CSOs as ‘foreign agents’, introducing additional reporting for CSOs receiving foreign funding, limiting freedoms of individuals working for CSOs receiving foreign funding and restricting advocacy efforts were registered at the Parliament. Only draft
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
laws on lobbying were rejected). Furthermore, campaign against recipients of international support (“foreign agents”) was renewed and intensified in the media. The U.S. sanctions imposed on oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi and affiliated with him MPs (Oleksandr Dubinskyi and Andryi Derkach, Servant of People faction and authors of draft laws on “foreign agents” and lobbying) affected Mr. Dubinskyi expelling from the parliamentary faction and the “foreign agents” legal acts putting on hold with no guarantee that they will be considered.
III. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A. Key Narrative Achievements
Despite the challenges and obstacles, faced by the Activity during the reporting period, it managed to strengthen capacity of 103 well-established and grass root organizations through promoting the culture of organizational development (95% improved their capacity and 100% were satisfied with the services received from the service provision), through providing training, and organizing networking events, including the 9th Civil Society Development Forum "Immunity to Illusions" (December 17, 2020), and mentorship program for newly established CSOs. Despite the quarantine restrictions, the Forum united 24 oblasts, including Crimea, and aver 3300 participants through online Platform.
The Activity also engaged 5 Strategic Partners (Detector Media, Reanimation Package of Reforms, Democratic Initiative Foundation and European Center for Not-For Profit Law and Zmina) and 28 Thematic Partners to support the Activity implementation, improve legislation for civil society, assess the needs of the sector and look for the new opportunities for CSOs.
Furthermore, the Activity contributed to improvement of CSO legal enabling environment through developing proposals to the Draft National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021 – 2026 and incorporating the proposals from the Legal Enabling Environment Reforms Roadmap (LEE RMM). It also continued to improve CSO access to public funding through developing online contest based public funding of CSOs (amendments to the Cabinet Decrees No. 1049 and amendments to the Draft Law of Ukraine No. 3718 on Fundamentals of Youth Policy), procedures for public consultations (Draft Law on Public Consultations adopted in the first reading), legal frameworks for ensuring CSO financial sustainability (Draft Laws on Amendments to the Tax and Budget Codes for introducing tax designation mechanism and for improving tax benefits for CSOs and charity). In addition, jointly with ECNL and Reanimation Package of Reform Coalition (RPR Coalition), the Activity prevented adoption of legal acts deteriorating CSO access to foreign funding (Draft Laws No. 3193-1, 3326, 3564) and CSO advocacy (Draft Laws on Lobbying No. 3059, 3059-1, 3059-2, 3059-3).
Moreover, Strategic Partner Detector Media published a number of interviews with the Activity experts on funding of CSOs of people with disabilities and CSOs of veterans from
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT state and local budgets, implementation of the National Strategy for Civil Society Development 2016–2020 and drafting National Strategy for Civil Society Development 2021–2026.
Finally, the Activity also launched a number of studies to analyze different elements impacting civil society development, including the identification of civil society’s specific needs in COVID-19 period, assessment of various elements impacting public image of civil society. The civil society needs were assessed through in-depth interviews, focus groups and surveys etc. The questionnaires were complemented with expert interviews with prominent think tanks analysts and researchers. The studies were in partnership with Democratic Initiatives Foundations and ECNL. The results of the studies were incorporated in the Program planning.
B. Quantitative Highlights During the reporting period, Ednannia provided 142 subgrants of total value USD 401,387 to 139 CSOs, including 109 capacity development grants, 2 subgrants to Strategic Partners for improving their capacity and supporting activity implementation (Zmina and Detector Media), and 31 subgrants to Thematic Partners for developing innovative resources for CSO funding, improving good governance and organizing local Ednannia Sub-Grants platforms for 9th Civil Society Development Forum (December 31 17, 2020). 103 CSOs receiving 2 capacity development subgrants Capacity Development (95% of CSOs) improved their Grants organizational capacity. In Subgrants to Strategic addition, the Activity held 23 Partners 109 learning and networking events, Subgrants to Thematic including 4 webinars for about 100 Partners service providers, trainings and Civil Society Forum as well as launched 1 mentorship program for 15 newly established CSOs.
Moreover, 2020 Civil Society Development Forum involved 3,300 registered participants, over 9700 unique visitors of online platform and over 28000 views. The Forum was held in 24 oblasts, including Crimea, and engaged 60 regional partners and over 30 speakers. It became the platform for 56 panel discussions, 10 workshops and master-classes, and 10 donor presentations. The Forum lasted 4830 minutes or 3.5 days of live streaming and 2010 media publications.
In regard to the legal enabling environment, the Activity contributed to the development of 4 legal acts (Draft Laws on Public Consultations – adopted in the first reading, Local Self- Government Bodies and Fundamental on Youth Policy - adopted in the first reading and Cabinet Decree No. 1049 on Procedures for public finding of CSOs, Draft National strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development based on the Legal Enabling Environment Reforms
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
Roadmap for civil society developed under the Activity). For proper implementation of the Legal Enabling Environment Reforms Roadmap (LEE RRM), the Activity created the Platform for Legal Reforms for Civil Society with the participation of 50 national and local CSOs (19 co-initiators and 35 participants).
Additionally, due to the Activity efforts, 4 legal acts were repealed (Draft Laws on Lobbying) and 12 advocacy campaigns were continued (for introduction tax designation mechanism in Ukraine, benefits for charity, Governmental Strategy for Civil Society Development 2021 - 2026, extending contest based public funding to all CSOs of people with disabilities, improving access of youth CSO to public funding, introduction of online contest based public funding of CSOs etc.) and 52 CSOs engaged in advocacy interventions received support from the Activity (grants, consultations, support in legislation development.
Finally, 25 CSOs improved their knowledge about CSO legislation, 148 CSOs and activists received legal assistance (45 CSOs and 103 activists), 1 Study on CSO needs in times of COVID-19 was conducted and 2 studies (on CSO needs in legal aid and were launched.
C. Activity Administration
The major challenge faced by the Activity was to continue program implementation under the quarantine restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 pandemic (organizing events, holding consultations with MPs and public authorities etc.). Despite it, Ednannia and Consortium Members managed to adapt all activities to remote mode, due to high awareness about available IT solutions for online office operation, documents management and communication. Moreover, Ednannia extensive experience in organizing events online through its Platform for Webinars and in providing grants online through grant-making database, helped the Activity to advise other CSOs regarding setting their remote work and developing online services for other CSOs.
At the same time, due to restrictions for holding public gatherings, all public events were conducted online, using Zoom, Ednannia Webinar and Platform for organizing 2020 Civil Society Development Forum.
D. Subsequent Reporting Period During the next reporting period, the Program will continue to develop infrastructure and environment for civil society, through supporting CSO organizational capacity, infrastructure for promoting good governance standards for Ukrainian CSOs, promoting different kinds of giving for strengthening financial sustainability of civil society organizations. The Activity will improve organizational capacity of CSOs through providing sub-grants for capacity development and supporting Activity implementation by Strategic, Institutional and Thematic Partners. The Activity will develop and promote CSO financial sustainability and introduce Separate Section "Financial Sustainability" at CD Marketplace Platform, develop an online course on social data and research methods for beginners and promote good governance. Furthermore, it will improve technical capacity of online
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT platform CD Marketplace, and develop IT solutions for conducting events online and building capacity for educational events and activities. It will strengthen the capacity of the Consortium partners to be champions for the civil society in Ukraine through strengthening the capacity of the Consortium Members in management.
Furthermore, it will continue to improve the legal enabling environment for civil society through advocating for positive changes for civil society. For this purpose, it will run advocacy campaigns for implementing the Legal Enabling Environment Reforms Roadmap and adopting the National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021-2026. The Activity will be focused on securing financial sustainability through introducing a tax designation mechanism (percentage philanthropy) in Ukraine, improving procedures for contest-based public funding of CSOs and introducing benefits for charity.
It will also work to secure space for the civil society by developing mechanism for preventing adoption of restrictive legislation for civil society (e.g. legislation targeting foreign funding). It will enhance research and learning through in-depth research on new challenges and opportunities impacting civil society, and study CSO needs in legal aid, giving and attitudes affecting CSO support, and tax benefits for donations to CSOs in the European Countries.
Finally, it will continue to develop Knowledge Clearing House Platform and ensure monitoring and learning of consortium partners’ activities to assess program relevance and effectiveness and improve its implementation.
IV. KEY NARRATIVE ACHIEVEMENT
The purpose of the Activity is to improve the operating environment for civil society and strengthen the institutional capacities of the civil society organizations (CSOs) in order to advance the self-reliance of the civic sector in Ukraine. To reach this purpose, the Activity was focused on the following objectives: (1) Strengthen institutional capacities of civil society organizations (approximately 50%); (2) Improve legal enabling environment for civil society (approximately 35%); (3) Enhance research and learning of civil society sectoral challenges, opportunities, and best practices (approximately 15%).
Objective 1: Strengthen institutional capacities of civil society organizations (CSOs) (Primarily implemented by Ednannia)
During October 2020 – March 2021, the Activity continued to strengthen the organizational capacities of civil society organizations and civic groups through improving CSO capacity based on the self-identified capacity-building needs (incl. strategic planning, business development, financial management, fundraising, and other areas). It prioritized capacity- building activities in these areas and continuously reassessed the organizational development (OD) needs of civil society and adjusted its support accordingly.
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
The Activity also provided organizational development support to diverse national and local CSOs through small grants and grants to Strategic and Thematic partners. It continued to improve the quality of OD support services being offered to civil society by starting to develop comprehensive quality control and screening process (e.g. verifications, minimum quality requirements and other requirements) and new services for civil society organizations.
Finally, the Activity improved and launched a second long-term Mentorship program 2.0 for the newly established CSOs to link well-established CSOs with newly established one and nascent civic groups as well as to improve the quality of OD support services offered to civil society organizations.
Organizational Development Grants and Other Sub-Awards
Sub-grants for strengthening organizational development of CSOs. The Activity continued to provide different types of sub-awards for improving CSO capacity development and supporting the implementation of the Activity. To improve the process of administering subgrants, the Activity launched upgrading of the online database for grants administering. During October 2020 – March 2021, it conducted all necessary preparatory work for upgrading and customizing mobile version of the online databases to administer capacity development grants – Automatized System of Grant Management (“ASUG”) for CSOs, Intermediary Support Organizations (ISOs), and Strategic, Institutional and Thematic partners. For this purpose, the technical Terms of Reference were specified and the algorithmic design of the current version of the database was detailed for a future update. Given the complexity of the current design of the ASUG, its size, and constant workload in the current grant cycles, Ednannia decided to prepare the Discovery Phase to develop Terms of Reference by IT professionals (to be selected).
On a monthly basis, Ednannia also continued to administer grants for improving CSO capacity development. It admitted grant applications for capacity development grants, preliminary evaluated them, and organized a Selection Committee meeting for selecting CSOs to be granted under this type of awards. In addition, it conducted monitoring visits to assess the effectiveness of project implementation by subgrantees. For securing impartiality of the Selection Board, the new 11 Selection Committee members (out of 60 organizational development experts) were selected in 2021 on a competitive basis (6 members from the previous commission and 5 new ones) and approved by the Ednannia Board. This approach preserves the institutional memory, and at the same time allows for an influx of fresh expertise, new approaches, and experience in the field of organizational development.
Sub-awards to support Strategic and Thematic partners. To ensure the effective implementation of the Activity, it continued to involve different types of partners in the Activity implementation. During the reporting period, a new Strategic Partner Human Rights Center ZMINA was engaged. ZMINA documents cases of prosecution of human rights defenders and civil society activists, both in the territory controlled by the government of Ukraine and in the occupied Crimea. Many years of monitoring have revealed systemic
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT problems in the sphere of the realization of freedom of association in Ukraine as well as have provided insight into the types of support and assistance to meet activists’ needs. The strategic partnership between ZMINA and Activity was launched in response to the identified challenges and it is aimed to develop and strengthen mechanisms for protecting civil society activists experiencing various types of harassment because of their civic activism in the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine. Under its project, ZMINA strengthens the mechanisms for protecting civil society activists who are subject to various forms of harassment because of their civic activism and provides legal and emergency assistance to the affected activists. An important part of ZMINA’s work is strengthening of the capacity and mobilizing of the Coalition to protect civil society for solidarity and support for victims.
Work with ECNL (Strategic Partner) continued. In the reporting period, ECNL started the Research on tax benefits for CSO national donors. It also developed a concept for the research that covers various issues relevant to the tax treatment of donations such as the existence of specific incentives for corporate and individual donors, the conditions to use those (and the thresholds for using the benefits), the procedure to obtain those, etc. ECNL also shared its experience about various practical issues to be considered when setting up the percentage mechanism. ECNL reviewed the CEDEM model for introduction percentage mechanisms in Ukraine and provided comments.
In addition, ECNL prepared an analysis of Draft Law 3059-2 on “Legal and transparent regulation of lobbying activity”. In 2021, ECNL initiated an internal discussion on the steps to be taken with regard to the pending draft laws on lobbying (the meeting was organized by Ednannia on January 21, 2021 and included the program partners). As a result of the discussion, partners agreed on the general approach towards the 4 draft laws and set up a specific plan of action, the main focus of which was to ensure that these draft laws do not affect civil society negatively. They also agreed to monitor the Parliament and parliamentary agenda with the regards to the Draft Laws on Lobbying and joined the closed discussion with key CSOs to support development of the joint position (February 17, 2021). During the event, ECNL presented its analysis of Draft Law 3059-2 and international standards with the regard to the right to participation, freedom of expression, and assembly. The closed discussion resulted in developing joint position of the Ukrainian CSOs towards the draft laws on lobbying (it included information from the ECNL analysis). ECNL’s analysis, together with the joint position, was provided to the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy which eventually suggested that the draft laws are not discussed in plenary session (voted them down).
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
In addition, ECNL initiated a working meeting with the key project partners on future legislative initiatives and how they may impact civil society (January 25, 2021). During the discussion, 15 participants from the Consortium and partner organizations outlined both the positive and restrictive legal proposals related to the environment for civil society. One outcome of the meeting was that a number of possible avenues for the partnership were identified. In addition, the decision was made that similar meetings should take place regularly. Participants agreed that the next meeting could take place after the CSO Strategy is adopted by the government. In addition, research of the problems CSOs face with anti- money laundering and counter-terrorism financing will be carried out.
In the reporting period, the project ‘Reanimation Project of Reforms Coalition’ was completed. During the strategic partnership, the RPR Coalition prepared and disseminated public statements on the problems of civil society in Ukraine: Petition to the Parliament to adopt the Draft Law on Public Consultations № 4254 (January 29, 2021); Statement of civil society organizations to stop political attacks on independent Public Broadcasting and ensure its full funding (October 23, 2020); Statement on Draft Laws on Lobbying in Ukraine (February 26, 2021).
The RPR Coalition has formed coalition to counter negative initiatives by setting up working groups consisting of a wide range of experts and civil society activists to counter government initiatives that may worsen the environment for Ukrainian civil society. In particular, the RPR Coalition organized and conducted advocacy activities relating to the functioning of civil society in Ukraine. Communication was established and working meetings were held with MPs from different factions potentially able to initiate establishment of parliamentary caucus to protect CSOs, including Holos, Batkivshchyna, Servant of the People, European Solidarity. Roman Hryshchuk, Deputy Chairman of the Servant of the People, overseeing the cooperation with civil society agreed to support the advocacy initiatives outlined in the LEE RRM.
The mobilization of RPR regional partners to prepare and Legal Enabling Environment Reforms Roadmap for civil society also allowed to involve a wide network of regional organizations in the development of the National Strategy for Civil Society Development 2021 – 2026, development percentage mechanism concept, and improving raising awareness about ‘Civil society and government – best practices of cooperation’ campaign.
The RPR Coalition also promoted the role of civil society in the implementation of reforms in Ukraine during preparation for the Ukraine Reforms Conference (November 2020). Despite, 2020 URC was to take place in Vilnius, due to the COVID- 19 pandemic, Vilnius Conference was
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT postponed till 2021. At the same time, during 2020, the RPR Coalition, in partnership with the Lithuanian Embassy in Ukraine and other international and Ukrainian experts, brought together civil society to make recommendations for further implementation of reforms in Ukraine, including reforms required for the development of civil society in Ukraine. As a result, the issue about the role of civil society was included in the analytical briefings presented at URC 2020 and the analytical brief on the development of civil society in Ukraine was finalized.
Strengthening the organizational capacity of the RPR Coalition was an important component of the project. Given the importance and effectiveness of this cooperation, it was decided to continue cooperation in the next period.
Finally, Strategic Partner Detector Media created materials for improving public image of civil society and supporting the advocacy efforts of Activity. In particular, during the reporting period, 415 publications were published on introduction of transparent contest-based funding of CSOs from state and local budgets, creating enabling legal environment for the civil society development in Ukraine, counteracting draft laws harmful to CSOs etc. Detector Media also prepared and distributed 16 captioned videos about various aspects of the life of civil society organizations in Ukraine: from tax incentives to storytelling about mentoring of newly established CSOs by well-established ones. Detector Media also improved its organizational development and strengthened its financial sustainability.
Strengthen infrastructure for civil society. To strengthen the infrastructure for civil society, the priorities of the new program for the development and support of infrastructure organizations were elaborated. Based on the results of the program implemented in the previous period and Study on Infrastructure Organizations, a new “Call for Proposals” was developed and announced. In the next implementation period, it is planned to attracts two types of infrastructure organizations: 1. Infrastructure organizations with strong local expertise and experience in attracting local funds, communications and PR, as well as building relationships with their members (community). 2. Infrastructure CSOs with the experience in providing organizational development services in various fields and with the unique experience of the applicant organization.
All infrastructure organizations participating in the program will receive support for launching new organizational development services: resources; support for piloting unique courses developed for other CSOs, promotion of services and their piloting through the CD Marketplace Platform.
Moreover, the infrastructure organizations also piloted services, which were developed during the previous period after the "Training of Trainers" and consultations with consultants. In particular, the following services were piloted: o Agency for Economic Development' piloted online training "Fee-Based Services in Your Public Organization" (March 16 - 18). 20 CSO participants from all over Ukraine gained an understanding of the algorithm for developing services to be provided for
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fee and learned how to provide them; formed a list of services that might be provided by their organizations; acquainted knowledge about planning, customer needs assessment, marketing research tools and their practical application; got familiarized with accounting and tax aspects of providing services by public association for fees. o Vinnytsa Charity Foundation "Podilska Gromada'' piloted training "Business & NGO - Duel or Cooperation'' (February 20-21). 20 CSOs from all over Ukraine improved their capacity in working with business, received 5 effective tools for cooperation with business, became able to communicate with business and offer cooperation without barriers. o Plast - National Scout Organization of Ukraine (in Bucha, Kyiv region) piloted training "Online Fundraising" (February 20-21). 20 CSO participants from all over Ukraine became able to use various tools of online crowdfunding, developed individual plans for online crowdfunding campaigns to attract regular donations as well as learnt in practice the methodology for implementing online crowdfunding in their organizations. o Charitable Organization “Light of Hope” (Poltava) piloted training "Budget advocacy – real practices and effective tools" (December 9-10). Leaders from 10 CSOs strengthened their capacity to raise funds from local budgets to ensure sustainability of mission implementation by the organizations. o City Charitable Organization “Voznesensk Community Foundation” (Voznesensk) piloted training “Crowdfunding” (March 26). Due to quarantine conditions “Voznesensk Community Foundation” transformed training to online format and it enabled participation of 20 СSOs leaders from various regions all over Ukraine, who gained necessary knowledge and skills in attracting resources at the community level and implementing their own social projects.
Furthermore, the Infrastructure Organizations selected under the “Call for Infrastructure’s CSOs”, participated in the "Training of Trainers", received consultations from consultants, and piloted their services developed after the training. In particular, All-Ukrainian NGO Association for Community Self-Organization Assistance (Odesa) piloted training "Fundamentals of Good Governance in CSOs'' (February 20-21). 20 CSO participants from all over Ukraine improved their knowledge on Good Governance principles, got a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of good governance in CSOs and raised awareness of its importance. Moreover, they improve understanding about organizational structure of NGO, principles of work and mandates of governing and supervisory bodies, values and basics of strategic and operational planning. Finally, they learned about conflicts of interest in the organization and their mitigation, principles and procedure for internal
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT control, basics of good financial management (including budgeting and procurement), ensuring transparency and accountability of CSOs.
In addition, Kherson Community Foundation of Kherson "Zahyst" piloted training "How an Organization Does Not Lose Respect and Builds Trust" (February 18-19). 20 participants from CSOs all over Ukraine improved their knowledge on Good Government principles. Trainees understood the principles of good governance, learned how to analyze their own organizations for compliance with the good governance principles, and became able to formulate the mission of their own organizations. Moreover, they learned how to effectively distribute the functions and powers of the governing bodies of an organization, became capable to find and use different channels of conveying information to target groups and stakeholders of their own organizations.
Finally, Zhytomyr Nongovernmental organization "Modern Format" ("Suchasnyy Format") piloted training "The Tricycle of Sustainability in Non-governmental Organization Activities" (February 19-20). 18 participants from Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Kyiv and Vinnytsa regions improved their knowledge of the mechanisms of democratic governance in a non- governmental organization; strengthened professional competencies in non-profit management based on the principles of democratic governance; raised awareness of the main potentials that ensure the sustainability of NGO activities.
Finally, NGO "Institute of Analysis and Advocacy" (Poltava) piloted training "Good Governance: Just Do It". 20 trainees from Poltava, Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk and Cherkasy regions got an understanding of "good governance", its components and basic principles, they have knowledge about the components of establishing good governance in an organization. They also gained an understanding of the state of governance development in their own organizations, as well as developed plans with detailed tools for its development and improvement.
For promoting supporting infrastructure for the development and strengthening civil society in Ukraine, meetings of Community of Practitioners, discussions and other relevant events involving the international donor community, CD Marketplace (e.g. service providers, capacity development experts and other relevant stakeholders) were held. They raised awareness about the importance of supporting infrastructure for civil society within the sector and improved efficiency of programs and activities implemented for strengthening the capacity of infrastructure organizations.
Promote different kinds of giving for strengthening financial sustainability of Ukrainian. Ednannia continued to administer the Innovative Fund to promote giving to ensure CSO financial sustainability. The Fund provided funding to CSOs developing successful social enterprise and local fundraising activities in Ukraine, which can be adapted and replicated among CSOs looking for diversification of sources of funding. As part of the Activity, a Call for Proposals was developed and a competition was held to promote the financial viability of public associations and charitable organizations through the promotion of innovative ways of attracting local funds. The aim of the competition was to strengthen the ecosystem
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT and promote a culture of attracting local resources among Ukrainian civil society organizations. In accordance with its purpose, the grant competition "Innovations in Local Fundraising" included two areas: 1. Grants for the development, adaptation and piloting of models and tools of fundraising, 2. Grants to strengthen the ecosystem and promote a culture of attracting local resources among Ukrainian CSOs. Out of 86 applications submitted for the Call for Proposals, 55 were prequalified for the Selection Committee since they met the priorities of the Call for Proposals and 12 were conditionally recommended for funding by the Selection Committee. After the engagement of independent business planning consultant (precondition for the final decision under this Call), only 8 projects were recommended to fund (to be implemented in the next reporting period).
Capacity Development Marketplace (CD Marketplace http://cd-platform.org/)
Ednannia continued to administer and further improve CD Marketplace as an innovative OD infrastructure mechanism. In order to improve the CD Marketplace mechanism, Ednannia continued to extend it with new modules (e-learning module, grant management tool for CSOs, Management Information System (MIS) and other modules, including Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC).
To simplify the use of the CD Market platform, Ednannia continued to make changes to its structure. Given the complexity of changing the configuration of the Marketplace Platform, the decision was made to involve external consultants to prepare the terms of reference for these changes (to be engaged in the next period).
Moreover, following the needs of the target audience, there is a necessity to translate the content of the CD Marketplace Platform into video format. Thus, a series of short videos explaining the main provisions of organizational development, self-assessment tools, and grant cycle were developed. A video explaining in detail the grant process on the Marketplace Platform was prepared and published. In the next period it is planned to continue this work and prepare videos that explain in detail the process of organizational development.
To promote the organizational development Ednannia continued to hold webinars and Forum. In particular, during 6 months, it held 4 webinars and 1 Forum: ✓ The webinar "How to improve NGOs management skills in the time of Uncertainty" streamed on the Ednannia Facebook page improved ability of 50 participants, mostly CEOs, to take manager's decisions in the challenging and constantly changing environment (February 16). During the webinar, Nataliia Bordun, Researcher and ex- CEO of the Institute of Management and Leadership Ukrainian Catholic University, shared her insights and conclusions, based on updated research, on how to improve the skills of CEOs of NGOs to take considered decisions in a time of uncertainty. The record of the webinar engaged up to 300 viewers and was performed up to 5.9 thousand users via FB-newsfeed.
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
✓ Ednannia promoted OD grants and the Self-Assessment Tool to assess the level of organizational development within partners meeting, organized by Peace Corp in Ukraine (October 7). About 50 participants from different regions (CSOs and local authorities) increased their capability to use the Self-Assessment Tool in the capacity development process1: ✓ Webinar “Step forward from informing to interacting with the target audience” improved the capacity of the Ukrainian CSOs influence decision makers. Milena Komar, Expert of NGO “Practicum”, provided recommendations for promoting civic initiatives, engaging citizens into civic and charity events, and improving communications performance via social networks (November 13, 2020). ✓ Webinar "Startup AGREED: a service for remote participation in the General Meeting" (October 27, 2020) stretchered ability of the Ukrainian CSOs to hold General Meetings and make decisions under quarantine restrictions. With the help of virtual technologies, organizations have managed to avoid suspension and postponing their activities, but they still need an important mechanism for legalization of the General Meetings. The tool developed by the Ukrainian startup Agreed can help CSOs to cope with this challenge and hold legitimate General Meetings and make legitimate decisions online through surveys, video conferencing and streaming.
Finally, National Annual Civil Society Development Forum `Immunity to Illusion’ was held on December 17, 2020. Taking into consideration the quarantine challenges, the Forum was organized in the form of Telemarathon. Ednannia involved regional partners to conduct 24 forums instead of one. To this end, a grant competition was organized at a short notice. As a result, regional partners were selected to hold regional forums, and Ednannia organized a teleconference between all oblasts.
The Forum united 24 oblasts, including Crimea, it engaged 60 regional partners, over 30 speakers, 3,300 registered participants and over 9700 unique visitors of online platform and over 28,000 views. It became the platform for 56 panel discussions, 10 workshops and master-classes, and 10 donor presentations. The Forum lasted 4,830 minutes or 3.5 days of live streaming.
The Forum shaped the Trends of Civil Society Development 2021, including the need to rethink the role of the civil society (from replacing the role of the state to building cooperation and synergy with public authorities); risk for rollbacks of democracy shrinking civic space and public participation; demand to strengthen regional leadership and to keep
1 https://www.facebook.com/isar.ednannia/posts/2780592958878111
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT focus on amalgamated communities (including regional CSOs, grass root initiatives, community leaders); increasing role of Business in supporting social initiatives; new organizational development needs; improving CSO financial sustainability (ensure better CSO capacity to diversify resources and raise local funds); and strengthening role of the Ukrainian CSOs in developing vision of Ukraine and communicating reforms (including promoting Ukraine and sharing experience and collaboration)2.
Educational Activities For proper arrangement of different types of education activities, training, mentorship and internship programs were developed and a quality of standard for service provision was improved. For this purpose, multiple learning and networking events (schools, forums, conferences, webinars, training, etc.) were conducted to improve civic organizations’ and groups,’ coalitions' and networks’ capacities in specified OD areas: financial survival, good governance, advocacy, civic engagement, local democracy, benefits of institutionalized initiatives and other areas.
Mentorship Program 2.0. During October 2020 – March 2021, CEDEM continued to implement the Mentorship Program. It updated the Concept of the Mentorship Program based on the lessons learned from the first year (e.g. additional components and activities for improvement of organizational management and advocacy skills were added). CEDEM selected 15 newly established organizations out of 40 CSOs, which applied for the Mentorship Program 2.0 and 15 well established CSOs out of 30 (10 CSOs mentored during Mentorship Program 1.0). Both mentees and mentors were selected through open competition. To select the best organizations for potential mentors of the Program, CEDEM also held additional webinars CSOs meeting selection criteria such as over 5 years of experience, proven record of successful advocacy campaigns, diverse spheres of operation, annual reports publication.
On February 25, 2021, CEDEM launched the Mentorship program 2.0 for the newly established CSOs aimed at strengthening the advocacy capacity of CSOs from different regions of Ukraine (program will be held from February to September 2021). The opening was attended by 55 people, including mentors, and mentee of Mentorship program 2.0 and Alumni of the first program. At the opening event, Alumni of the first Mentorship program shared their experience with the mentees of the Mentorship Program 2.0.
2 https://nv.ua/ukr/opinion/gromadyanske-suspilstvo-yak-rozvinuti-otg-novini-ukrajini-50156171.html
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
The Mentorship program 2.0 will help the selected newly established CSOs to improve their skills in analysis of political landscape, problem identification and advocacy campaign planning (development of advocacy toolkits, which include the development of effective strategies for advocacy campaigns). In March 2021, CEDEM organized a series of online and offline workshops for mentees (following all quarantine measures) and for mentor-organizations to improve their capacity in providing services and ensuring better mentees’ support.
CEDEM also successfully started to maintain the Alumni Network of the Mentorship program 1.0. A series of online workshops were held to teach alumni to communicate advocacy campaigns in the social media, communicate with donors (non-public communication) and strengthen communications for promoting projects with a limited budget. CEDEM continued to support the Alumni and helped them improve communication with donors, build partnerships with other organizations, and make good visual products for their target audiences. Short-term internship programs for newly established CSOs working in inclusion areas. CEDEM also continued to develop internship programs for newly established CSOs working in the inclusion areas. For this purpose, the Concepts for study visits for non-institutional groups of civil society and internships were improved and CEDEM started to share information about the opportunities of the study visits. It also improved the Concept for workshop (training) for regional coalitions, which is aimed at strengthening CSO skills in development and maintaining the coalitions, sharing the best practices in coalition building and improvement of the coalition-building at the local level (to be held on June – July, 2021).
Promote Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity. Ednannia continued to promote the Activity by distributing newsletters, publishing news, digests and other materials. It created a new section ‘Get Inspired Here’ on its website and publishes success stories of Marketplace Platform grantees. For example, ‘Magnolia’ NGO shared its life hacks relating to organizational development: “It was a useful insight for us that one can involve an organization's stakeholders in strategic planning and needs assessment processes. ‘Outsiders’ (members of the Supervisory Board, experts, coaches, partners – everyone who has worked with the organization) can notice things that we fail to notice from the inside, and give us valuable advice," - Maryna Lypovetska.
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
NGO ‘Podillya Socium’ were awarded grants for organizational development several times: "Ednannia was perhaps the first organization to hear and support us," said Anna Morgun. Over the past five years, the Center has received grants for such important components of organizational development as strategic planning, development of internal financial policies and preparation for audit, professional development of trainers, rebranding and updating of communication strategy, etc. Today we feel that our competencies allow us not only to cope ourselves, but also to help other civil society organizations. Our main plan is to study constantly."
Objective 2: Improve legal enabling environment (LEE) for civil society (Primarily implemented by UCIPR and CEDEM)
During the reporting period, the Activity was focused on ensuring financial sustainability of CSOs and development of the Draft National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021 – 2026 based on the Legal Enabling Environment Reforms Roadmap for Civil Society in Ukraine (LEE RRM). It also launched a number of demand-driven and consensus-based advocacy campaigns to further improve the legal enabling environment for civil society in Ukraine. The Activity prioritized advocacy initiatives, which would contribute to the long-term sustainability of the civil society sector such as contest based public funding of CSOs, tax designation mechanism and tax benefits for CSO donations. Additionally, the Activity established a platform for promoting CSO Legal Enabling Environment Reforms Roadmap for Civil Society in Ukraine.
To protect the CSO enabling environment, the Activity conducted ongoing monitoring of all draft legislation which could directly or indirectly impact CSO operations. The Activity ensured the awareness of the broad range of civil society about such legislation and built cooperation with human rights CSOs to ensure legal support to civic activists and organizations experiencing harassment and attacks as a result of their work.
Legislative Monitoring, Analysis and Drafting To ensure a good quality of legislation for civil society, the Activity conducted daily monitoring and analysis of all draft laws and bylaws registered at the Parliament and adopted, which could directly or indirectly impact civil society enabling environment. For this purpose, the official websites of the Parliament and Cabinet of Ministers were analyzed.
For this purpose, the list of issues being a subject to mandatory monitoring was developed. It allowed to ensure a more consistent approach to legal monitoring and analysis as well as planning better reaction to the proposed legal acts. In particular, the legal monitoring was focused on legislation affecting CSO registration, implementation of Government Strategy for Civil Society Development, transparency and reporting of CSOs, regulation of foreign funding, personal data protection, regulation of lobbying, freedom of assembly and other legal acts affecting freedom of association and assembly.
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
In particular, for 6 months, 50 legal acts were identified and reviewed, including legal acts regulating public participation, local democracy, public consultations, youth policy, foreign agent legislation and lobbying regulation etc. It identified the following legal acts, which directly or indirectly influence civil society: Draft Law No. 3612 “On All-Ukrainian Referendum” (adopted) provides citizens with the additional instrument to take part in decision making at the national level. Decree No. 835 “On Public Data Disclosure” (adopted) expands the list of data that must be published (information about construction activities, land cadaster data and unified social tax debt data). It simplifies access to use of information by CSOs. Draft Law No. 4254 “On Public Consultations” (adopted in the first reading) determines the basic principles (standards) for holding public consultations while forming and implementing public policy. President Decree No. 94 / 2021 "On the National Youth Strategy until 2030" provides for an increase in the number of young people in youth CSOs and state support for such organizations at the national and local levels (see UCIPR Analysis). Draft law No. 4535 “On the development of the starosta institute” (adopted in the first reading) grants local residents a greater role in local decision-making. In particular, it allows local residents directly participate in the process of the starosta selection (nominated by a mayor or head of a village and appointed by a local council based on the results of public discussions). Order of the President of Ukraine No. 30/2021 and the Cabinet Decree No. 125 to foster development of the social services market. The Order of the President provides for improving the quality of social services and harmonizing social services. The Cabinet Decree aims at improving the legislation for developing and regulating social services market (Activity joined the working group). Draft Law No. 3718 “On Fundamental Principles of Youth Policy” (approved for the second reading) envisages establishment of the Youth Fund for Public Funding, National Youth Council and youth councils (may include civic organizations of youth and children) at all executive authorities (in progress); allowing administrative and organizational expenses in case of public funding of CSOs; providing right to youth and children CSOs to rent state owned premises without auctions (UCIPR proposals were partially incorporated to the draft law). Draft Law No. 2679 simplifies availability of CSO registration or evidence amendment services to CSOs and initiative groups and proposes to allow providing administrative services (are available) at administrative services centers (previously, available at justice departments in oblast cities only). Draft Law 3196-д “On amending the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Security Service of Ukraine’ as regards to improving organizational and legal principles of the operation of the Security Service of Ukraine” proposing to extend the powers of the Security Service of Ukraine and grant vast rights to inspect all organizations, including CSOs. Draft Law No. 4521 “On amending certain laws of Ukraine with regards to supporting voluntary activities” significantly deteriorates conditions for involving foreign citizens and stateless persons in voluntary activities, particularly by
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
informing the Ministry of Social Policy of all details of stay and activities of such volunteers and inspecting them by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Draft Law No. 3291 “On amending Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Judiciary and Status of Judges’ forbidding to hold gatherings near court buildings”, which received negative opinion from the Central Scientific and Expert Department. Draft Law No. 4607 “On amending the Budget Code of Ukraine with regards to support to civic organizations of people with disabilities” included risks for CSOs. It does not define institutional support to CSOs and envisages funding from the state budget only to all-Ukrainian civil society organizations of people with disabilities (UCIPR developed its proposals and provided to the authors of the draft law).
For better understanding of the opportunities or challenges posed by these draft laws, 5 comprehensive analyses of legal acts were conducted (on social services, humanitarian aid, powers of security service, ban for peaceful assemblies near courts and volunteer activities). Based on the monitoring and analysis, the Activity developed recommendations to foster changes demanded by the civil society. These recommendations were presented to a wider civil society and provided them to the public authorities. In addition, the analysis helped the Activity to discuss these legal acts with the public authorities during public consultations and meetings as well as mobilize partners for preventing legislation negatively affecting CSOs and introducing better legal framework for CSO operation.
Finally, the monitoring helped the Activity to identify gaps and issues in CSO legal frameworks and develop legislative proposals to address them. After developing such proposals, the Activity presented them to the wider civil society, expert and international donor community and public authorities.
Advocacy and Coalition Building
To further improve the legal enabling environment for civil society in Ukraine, the Activity worked to increase the number and effectiveness of demand driven advocacy campaigns and improve coalition building at the national and local levels. Advocacy campaigns were inclusive and involved a broad range of civil society stakeholders to promote ownership and to improve effectiveness.
During the reporting period, the Activity was focused on preventing the adoption of the restrictive legislation, implementation of LEE RRM for civil society and building thematic coalitions around LEE RRM as well as worked with existing national and regional coalitions to advance legislative reforms and created new ones to promote critical legislative changes for advancing the self-reliance of the civic sector. To foster LEE RRM implementation, the Platform for Legal Reform for CSOs was formed to advocate and monitor the LEE RRM implementation (currently 12 advocacy campaigns have been run). In addition, the Activity team participated in meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to discuss the incorporation of LEE RRM provisions into the draft National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development in Ukraine 2021-2026 (the majority were included).
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Advocacy campaign for implementing Legal Reforms Roadmap for Civil Society in Ukraine. To implement the Legal Reforms Roadmap for Civil Society in Ukraine3, the Consortium with the support of all interested CSOs started to develop proposals to legal acts, develop new legal acts and run advocacy campaigns for implementing the decisions of the highest priority for the civil society. The Consortium participated in the various GOU working groups and organized meetings to discuss their proposals to legislation. Consortium Members provided information about progress in implementing the Roadmap by publishing information on the official Facebook page of the Roadmap.
To illustrate the implementation process of the Legal Reforms Roadmap for civil society, CEDEM introduced an online mechanism for monitoring its implementation with the help of Trello monitoring board. The board allows to show the progress of all components of the Roadmap and to allow monitoring the progress of the Roadmap by the advocacy groups. Separately, Trello provides an update bar that indicates specific status changes among dozens of the Roadmap solutions.
For promoting the agenda formed by the Legal Reforms Roadmap for Civil Society among the sector, CEDEM has launched a series of online interviews (vlogs) where respondents are representatives of the stakeholders of the Map (CSOs, donors, public sector), and the interviewer conducts a conversation in the context of challenges for a specific area (Two seasons of such interviews were conducted and the third one started).
The first season consisted of three issues covering focal topics for civil society during COVID- 19 and quarantine, such as open data (Nadiya Babynska, Expert, OpenUp Coordinator, shared her views about working with socially important and big data), online services (EGAP Project Manager Olga Ryabukha spoke about the sets of services available electronically for NGOs), and IT solutions for CSOs (TechSoup Program Coordinator Maxim Mazypchuk spoke about free and discounted software for the Ukrainian NGOs)4.
The second season was devoted to six issues on NGOs' sustainability, use of grant support, self-reliance, participation in policy implementation. During this season, a number of the interviews were held, in particular, the interviews with representatives of: 1. USAID DOBRE Program about the agenda for activists in the new territorial communities; 2. Head of the local Youth Department (Ternopil) about volunteer support 3. Head of the IRF Territorial Unit about Open society values, democracy, and work with donors 4. Deputy Director of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation about the implementation of the largest in Ukraine funding of NGOs from the state budget
3 Comprehensive analytical and visionary document on necessary reforms for improving the legal environment for civil society organizations in Ukraine developed during the first year of the project implementation and contains over 90 problems identified by the Ukrainian civil society sector and over 300 solutions to them 4 A summary of the season is presented in the author's column "Three life hacks for NGOs: data, digital, software" on the Prostir.Ua portal.
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5. Head of the largest crowdfunding platform in Ukraine, "Big Idea (Spilnokosht)," about the values and mechanisms of support for NGOs and sustainable projects 6. Head of the Center of Street Cultures about the rebirth of youth subcultures into generators of changes in urban spaces using NGOs
Given the continuing danger to civic activism and freedom of association, it was decided to dedicate the third season to attacks on activists. Two talks were held with the Head of the Human Rights Center "ZMINA," human rights defender Tetiana Pechonchyk about the activists’ intimidation and legal obstacles to CSO operation and with the Head of the Digital Security Laboratory for NGOs, Iryna Chulivska, about the digital security of CSOs.
National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021– 2026 The Activity continued to improve the legal enabling environment for civil society. For setting the agenda for the government in the area of civil society development, the Activity contributed to the development of the Draft National Strategy for Civil Society Development 2021 - 2026 (provided for commenting by Ministries in December 2020) and continued to advocate for the adoption of this strategic paper. Ednannia, CEDEM and UCIPR joined meetings of the working group, established under the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers, to develop the draft National Strategy and to be able to advocate the Legal Reforms Roadmap decisions. The Draft Strategy was developed based on the LEE RRM for civil society, USAID CSOSI, EU CSO Meter, Monitoring Reports on implementation of the National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021-2026. In particular, it was successfully incorporated into the Strategy the Roadmap’s provisions on tax designation mechanism, development of volunteer activities, and security of CSOs and activists. In addition, the Activity actively promoted the National Strategy and CEDEM prepared the article “What should you know about the new draft of the Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development in Ukraine?” (published in Hromadsky Prostir in October 2020).
The Activity also continued closely cooperating with the Secretariat of Cabinet of Ministers and a working group established under the Secretariat of Cabinet of Ministers to finalize the Strategy before it submitted for the adoption to the President (expected in June 2021).
Advocacy campaign for introducing tax designation mechanism in Ukraine. CEDEM continued to work on introducing the tax designation mechanism for CSO funding and developed the Draft Laws on amendments to the Tax and Budget Codes for introducing the tax designation mechanism in Ukraine, which were presented to 30 MPs and civil society representatives (March 22). Both Draft Laws received positive assessment from MPs and civil society and the promise to register them in the Parliament.
The Draft Laws were developed based on the Concept for introducing the tax designation mechanism in Ukraine, drafted with the support of different stakeholders both from civil society organizations and public authorities (Member of Parliament, representatives of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine) and the European Center for Not-for Profit Law. For this purpose, CEDEM conducted meetings and consultations with representatives from civil society organizations,
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT public authorities and international partners. It also started to cooperate closely with the Strategic Partners (European Centre for Non-profit Law (ECNL) and Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition). As a result of consultations, CEDEM also updated the Concept and presented it during public discussion “The tax designation mechanism – one of the steps towards the financial independence of CSOs” (November 27, 2020). Besides the Concept, it was presented the Ednannia Study on Impact Assessment of the Introduction of Tax Designation Mechanism on CSO financial sustainability (shows that there is a potential for mechanism in case it adopted). 35 participants from the civil society sector and public authorities attended this discussion and the majority of participants supported the idea of introduction the tax designation mechanism in Ukraine as one of the mechanisms to provide financial support to CSOs. To promote the mechanism, CEDEM experts also prepared and published a thoughtful analytical material in one of the biggest Ukrainian online newspapers - Ukrainska Pravda.
In addition, CEDEM successfully managed to include mechanism in the Draft National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021 – 2026. Extending contest-based public funding of CSOs of people with disabilities. UCIPR continued to improve, unify, and ensure transparency of public funding of CSOs of people with disabilities at the national and local levels. It ran advocacy campaign for extending contest- based public funding to all CSOs of people with disabilities (including the Ukrainian Society of the Deaf and the Ukrainian Association of the Blind receiving about 60 % of total funding allocated to all CSOs of people with disabilities without the contest5). In addition, UCIPR held wider consultations with different stakeholders to identify problems arising during service provision by the Ukrainian Associations of the Blind and Deaf. It also continued to run its advocacy campaign to ensure that all funds provided from the state budget to CSOs of people with disabilities were allocated through transparent contest procedures (Amendments to the Cabinet Decree No. 183).
Improving procedures of public funding of youth CSOs. For improving youth CSOs access to public funding and strengthening their financial sustainability, UCIPR continued its advocacy campaign for adopting amendments to the Ministry of Youth Order No. 808 on procedures for public funding of youth CSOs and Draft Law “On Fundamentals of Youth Policy” to ensure the enabling environment for youth organizations. The UCIPR experts developed proposals for allowing youth CSOs receiving public funding to cover 20% of administrative expenses
5 According to the Cabinet Decree No.183.
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(not approved by the Ministry of Finance). It also prepared and submitted proposals to the Draft Law No. 3718 on the Fundamentals of Youth Policy (adopted in the first reading). The Draft Law envisages introduction of program grants (including covering administrative expenses) and institutional grants (including expenses for logistics, training, etc.), establishment of a Youth Fund to provide program and institutional grants etc. In cooperation with the Ministry of Youth, MPs and the National Ukrainian Youth Association (NUYA), the Activity Partner PLAST managed to incorporate a part of the UCIPR proposals to the Draft Law. UCIPR also participated in online meetings of working groups to discuss the provisions of the Draft Law No. 3718.
Improving CSO registration procedures. UCIPR experts continued to improve the procedures for CSO registration. In particular, it prepared analytical research on the main problems arising during the CSO registration by reviewing statistical information and conducting interviews with the state registrars and CSO representatives. The results of the Research were presented to 60 participants (including Deputy Minister of Justice for State Registration, representatives of Ministry of Justice, Territorial Justice Departments and CSOs) during online presentation “Practice and Legislative Challenges in the Registration of Public Associations” (December 10, 2020). The research identified that the main problem in CSO registration is improper implementation of Law on Registration. Based on the finding of the Research, the Activity developed a concept of changes and a comparative table to the Draft Law on Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning the Regulation of Activities and State Registration of All-Ukrainian Public Associations. The main purpose of these amendments was to implement the recommendations prepared under LEE RRM (simplifying procedures for CSO registration and termination, introduction of online registration at the “Diia” portal, excluding CSOs from the list of legal entities providing information about ultimate beneficiary owners etc.) These Amendments are expected to be discussed with CSOs and submitted to the Ministry of Justice in the next reporting period.
In addition, UCIPR also developed proposals to the Draft Law No. 2679 to simplify availability of CSO registration services at administrative services centers (previously, they were available at justice departments in oblast cities only). Finally, amendments to the effective legislation were developed and submitted to the Ministry of Justice to cancel all- Ukrainian status for CSOs, term “civic assembly” (to be replaced by “civic organization”) and launching on-line CSO registration.
On-line contest-based public funding for CSO. UCIPR and EGAP Program (East Europe Foundation) continued to work on introduction of the on-line contest-based public funding of CSOs from the state and local budgets. For this purpose, UCIPR developed Regulations for this platform and amendments to the Cabinet Decree No. 1049 the Cabinet Decree 1049 allowing organizing contest based public funding through the platform (to be adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers) and EGAP Project (East Europe Foundation) funded the development of the (to be administered by the Ministry of Digital Transformations). In addition, UCIPR also analyzed Draft Regulation on the Online Platform for Contest Based Public Funding of CSOs from the State and local budgets (Vzaemodiia Online Platform), developed by the Ministry of Digital Transformation and provided its proposals for improving Draft Decree provisions (to be adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers). Vzaemodiia will also ensure
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT interaction between civil society and public authorities, monitoring the implementation of the National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society 2021 - 2026, public consultations etc.
In addition, UCIPR continued to advocate for improving public funding for CSOs, by allowing 20% of organizational development expenses for CSOs receiving public funding. It compared the allowable cost of the Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry for Veterans Affairs and Ministry of Youth and Sports and suggested introducing standard forms of budgets, reports and other documents (not approved by Ministry of Finance). Moreover, it studied allowability of Expenses for CSO public funding at the local level. The study identified the discrepancies to the CSO funding at the local level (no unification of CSO support, no transparency and openness). The Activity will continue to improve the legal framework for CSO access to public funding.
Improving taxation of charitable aid. UCIPR continued to improve the tax regime for charitable aid from corporate and individual donors. It continued to work on amendments to the Tax and Customs Codes of Ukraine to improve the tax environment for the CSOs’ and charitable activities in Ukraine. In particular, the Draft Law reduces tax burden on citizens receiving charitable aid and introduces tax incentives for corporate charity and donations from individuals. It also built cooperation with the MPs from Batkivshchyna Faction and MPs and the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Committee on Tax and Customs Policy to support Draft Law registration in the Parliament and its consideration by MPs (under discussion with the charitable organizations).
The Draft Law was also discussed with the business associations, including European Business Association, and provisions about improving tax regime for charitable aid was included in the Draft National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021 – 20266.
In addition, the Draft Law No. 4607 “On amending the Budget Code of Ukraine regarding providing support to CSOs of people with disabilities” was analyzed and risks for CSOs were identified (no definition of institutional support to CSOs and public funding from the State Budget only to CSOs of people with disabilities with national status). Having surveyed the representatives of different ministries about definition of the institutional development, the proposals to the Draft Law No. 4607 were prepared and provided to the authors of the draft law.
Improving regulation for public participation at the national level. To enhance CSO access to decision-making processes at the local and national level, UCIPR continued to run its advocacy campaigns for improving regulation of local democracy instruments (local initiatives, participatory budgeting, public hearings etc.) and public participation in decision- making at the national level. During last year, UCIPR developed proposals to the Law of Ukraine “On Local Self-Government in Ukraine” (not registered yet) for improving citizens participation in decision making at the local level. The amendments envisaging regulating
6 The Detector Media has published materials in support of this advocacy campaign.
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT public hearings, public consultations, public evaluations of the work of local self- governments, introduction of an online mechanism for community participation in the decision-making process of local self-governments by the Law.
Furthermore, UCIPR experts contributed to development of the Draft Law No. 4254 “On Public Consultations” (adopted in the first reading), which determines the basic standards for holding public consultations while forming and implementing public policy. The Draft Law introduces a consistent approach to the regulation of public consultations (expected to be adopted in the fall 2021).
Finally, UCIPR improved the provision of the Draft law No. 4535 “On the development of the starosta institute” (approved in the first reading). The Draft Law grants local residents with the greater role in local decision-making processes and provides a right to influence starosta nomination through public discussions.
Preventing adoption of restrictive legislation for civil society. In order to avoid the deterioration of legal environment for civil society, the Activity in cooperation with its partners, continued to work for preventing the adoption of restrictive legislation for civil society. For this purpose, Activity started to develop the mechanism for preventing the adoption of legislation negatively affecting CSO operation (will contain the algorithms of actions allowing to stop the adoption of restrictive legislation and preventing registration of such legal acts in the future).
Moreover, it also continued to run advocacy campaigns for preventing adoption of legal acts restricting operation of CSOs with foreign funding. Through ongoing monitoring and analysis of all draft laws registered in the Parliament, it was identified legal acts deteriorating the environment for civil society in Ukraine. With the partners’ support, the Activity managed to prevent adoption of the ‘foreign agents draft laws” (Draft Laws No. 3564 on transparency of CSOs with foreign funding, Draft Law No. 3936 on Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine Regarding Disclosure of Information about Funding of Public Associations, No. 3193-1 restricting being a member of boards and managing bodies of the state Enterprises and banks, No. 3326 on Amendments to the Law on Lustration. Jointly with the strategic partners, it was developed advocacy strategy and prepared analytical materials with argumentation against such provisions. It cooperated with MPs and the media to inform them about the negative consequences of such regulations. In addition, the UCIPR Expert Opinion was prepared to highlight the negative impact of these draft laws on freedom of association and violation of Ukraine’s international commitments. In addition, the online meeting with the participation of MPs, CSO representatives, experts, and ECNL was held to present ECNL Opinion and UCIPR analysis on these Draft Laws as well as to discuss threats and challenges for CSO operation and civil society development (October 2, 2020). The discussion contributed to building MPs’ understanding about undemocratic provisions of these draft laws.
Moreover, the Activity and its Partners (RPR, ECNL, Zmina, Opora) managed to prevent the adoption of four Draft Laws on Lobbying (Draft Laws No. 3059, 3059-1, 3059-2 and 3059-
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3), which could restrict CSO advocacy and public consultations. Due to the Activity efforts, all draft laws were recognized by the Verkhovna Rada Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy as unconstitutional and rejected (March 3, 2021). The decision of the Committee was adopted based on the Consortium and its partners' arguments about limiting the right to freedom of association granted by the Constitution of Ukraine. Based on the discussion, all draft laws were excluded from parliamentary agenda and returned to the authors for revisions (Resolution of the Committee on Legal Policy recognized all four Draft Laws on Lobbying as violating the Constitution of Ukraine). Before that civil society had closed online meeting ( February 17, 2021) to discuss the Draft Laws on Lobbying (Zmina and OPORA presented their analysis of all four draft laws and outlined the risks to freedom of association, public participation and public consultations. public participation). The discussion helped to develop the Joint Statement of Civil Society Organizations calling to reject all Draft Laws on Lobbying (published on Facebook page and signed by 24 CSOs). Both UCIPR and ECNL analysis and the Statement were submitted to the Committee on Legal Policy. The issue was discussed at the meeting of the Subcommittee Political Reform and Constitutional Law (March 2, 2021) with the participation of the Consortium Members, RPR and ZMINA.
In addition, among restrictive for civil society legal acts, it was identified the Draft Law 3196- д “On amending the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Security Service of Ukraine’ (significantly extends the powers of the Security Service of Ukraine and grant the right to inspect all organizations, including CSOs), Draft Law No. 3291 “On amending Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Judiciary and Status of Judges’ (forbidding to hold gatherings near court buildings” restricts the right of CSOs and citizens to peaceful assembly), Draft Law No. 4521 “On amending certain laws of Ukraine with regards to supporting voluntary activities” (significantly deteriorates conditions for involving foreign citizens and stateless persons in voluntary activities). All draft laws are not adopted.
In addition to planned advocacy campaigns, the Activity ran advocacy campaign to expand the list of public grants to youth CSOs (amendments to the Draft Law of Ukraine No. 3718 “On Fundamentals of youth policy” – adopted in the first reading), to allow 20% of administrative expenses for youth CSOs receiving public funding (amendments made to Order No. 808 of the Ministry of Youth and Sports), to support the development of social entrepreneurship by introducing the terms “social entrepreneurship” and “social enterprise” into Ukrainian legislation (Draft Law of Ukraine “On support for social entrepreneurship in Ukraine”) and contributed to development of the Cabinet Decree No. 835 “On disclosure of data held by the state” (adopted) to prevent the introduction of additional financial reporting to CSOs.
Support national and regional coalitions. After in-depth interviews, analysis and research conducted by the CEDEM team with local coalitions in August 2020, recommendations for the development of their institutional capacity were developed. Based on the developed recommendations, CEDEM launched a series of training activities, which are combined into a course on the development of institutional capacity of CSO coalitions. The training course is a 6-month project for members of CSOs and civil society activists working for the development of their communities in Ukraine. 10 coalitions (2 people from each coalition)
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT get 3 individual sessions each with experts, based on their request of knowledge during the study course. The course consists of 6 training sessions for selected 10 organizations and all interested. The structure of the training includes consideration of practical cases, group work, homework, as well as providing advice on the individual needs of participants. The participants' coalition-building capabilities were assessed prior to the start of the course and will be assessed at the end of the latter.
The first training within the course was conducted on March, 23 and regarded the concept of "Community building" - where the unification of people into a community begins and at what stage the community chooses the mechanisms of work.
Moreover, the Program continued to support the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition (RPR) for improving its organizational capacity and jointly implementing the program activities. In particular, the Activity engaged RPR in advocacy campaigns for promoting positive changes into CSO legislation, including through the building partnerships with the Government and Parliament and promoting civil society development through Ukraine Reforms Conference (November 2020) as well as for preventing the adoption of restrictive legislation (“foreign agent acts”, lobbying regulations, regulations affecting participation in the supervisory boards, restricting freedom of assembly etc.)
In order to implement the reforms, set by the Legal Reforms Roadmap for civil society in Ukraine, CEDEM established a Platform for Legal Reforms for CSOs. The primary purpose of the Platform is to bring active CSOs together for joint support and advocacy of the Reforms Roadmap decisions. CEDEM developed a Concept of the Platform, which provides detailed information about its creation, joining the Platform, working effectively, possible ways to advocate changes proposed by the Reforms Roadmap, and possibility for joining the Platform. CEDEM also developed a separate document with benefits for CSOs to join the Platform. The Platform also has numerous common values shared by all organization members (currently, 19 leading CSOs are co-organizers of the Platform7).
Ensuring long-term public-government mechanism to support Civil Society Development in Ukraine. In order to better advocate for CSOs legislation and better environment, Ednannia and Consortium Members in partnership with OSCE and Cabinet of Ministry (CMU) strengthened long-term public-government platform (PGP) to facilitate improvement of the legal environment and effective multi-stakeholders dialogue in Ukraine. PGP facilitated the design of the National Civil Society Development Strategy, and reviewed the public- government dialogue effectiveness and facilitated its improvement.
7 Ednannia, Centre for Democracy and the Rule of Law, UCIPR, Caritas Ukraine ICF, Human Rights Centre ZMINA, Centre of Policy and Legal Reform, Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (UHHRU), Center for Civil Liberties, International Renaissance Foundation (IRF), Together Against Corruption, Association for the Promotion of Self-Organization of the Population, Ukrainian Volunteer Service, Association of Ukrainian human rights monitors on Law Enforcement (Association UMDPL), Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition, Odessa Institute of Social Technologies, Women's Anti-Corruption Movement, Plast – National Scout Organization of Ukraine, Detector Media and the Center for Innovations Development.
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Legal Awareness Raising and Capacity Building
To raise awareness about new legislation and civic space developments, the Consortium Members continued to inform civil society and the donor community through weekly updates on the legal enabling environment for civil society. During the 6 months, UCIPR informed the sector about the changes in the area of legal environment for civil society through a weekly information bulletin containing information about registered and adopted draft laws, potential impact of legal proposals adopted/registered on legal environment for CSOs and informed civil society about opportunities available under the Activity, including operation of the hot line on issues related to CSO operation (registration, termination, taxation, reporting etc.) 14 issues of the bulletin were distributed to 1,400 recipients every Friday. In addition, web portal for civil society activists provide information for civil society activists (45085 people visited the UCIPR website). The 36 weekly-updates about the legal enabling environment for CSOs were distributed.
Moreover, it held a series of information and education activities for improving understanding of CSO legal enabling environment opportunities and challenges. UCIPR and East Europe Foundation held 2 workshops (webinar) for 25 CSOs from the regions about CSO registration, amendment to CSO statutory documents, CSO termination, taxation, reporting and entrepreneurial activities using the example of school social entrepreneurship. The events were broadcasted live and attracted a wide range of audience and seminar participants. ❖ A seminar on CSO registration procedure was held by UCIPR and Eastern Europe Foundation (November 11, 2020) under the School for Organizations on Business Development within the USAID Competitive Economy Program for Ukraine (East Europe Foundation). During the seminar, over 40 participants from different cities of Ukraine learnt about CSO registration and functioning of the UCIPR “hotline” and Web Portal for Civic Activists - www.dovidnyk.org,ua. ❖ Seminar on legal issues for School of social entrepreneurs under Project “Development of School of Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine” – the Pilot Establishment of Social School Enterprises in Rural Areas and Small Towns implemented by the East Europe Foundation and the German non-governmental organization “ChildFund Deutschland e.V.” with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (February 23, 2021). During the seminar 77 participants learnt about the requirements to statutes and other statutory documents of youth CSO, non-profit status, principles of social entrepreneurship and disclosure of an ultimate beneficial owner of a non-profit organization8.
Finally, the Activity voiced concerns about new legislative proposals that may restrict CSO operation or shrink space for civil society through open statements and publications, press conferences, public round tables and public discussion with public authorities. It prepared and distributed up-to-date information about new legislation for CSOs. Information on
8 Seminar was online on UCIPR’s Facebook page.
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT changes in legal enabling environment, stakeholders’ opinion, legal analysis of CSO legislation were communicated through different communication channels.
Legal Aid
For expanding legal assistance for civic activists and CSOs, the Activity continued to work for ensuring availability of legal aid for civic activists and organizations, particularly those experiencing harassment and attacks because of their work. For this purpose, the Activity continued to map stakeholders (coalitions and organizations) working in the area of the legal protection of civil society activists, studied CSO needs in legal assistance, and engaged Strategic Partner Zmina to support activists experiencing attacks due to their work. Together with the human rights CSOs, the Activity monitored attacks and pressures on civil society activists, raised awareness about such cases at the national and international levels, provided legal and information support and strengthened CSOs’ resilience in case of deterioration of the enabling environment.
Security Trainings. To strengthen civil society capacity in protecting CSOs and activists experiencing attack, CEDEM jointly with Ednannia and International Center for Not-for- Profit Law held International Workshop "International practices in legal aid measures for protection of civil society activists and CSOs" (March 18, 2021) to raise awareness and enhance knowledge on effective international practices to counter prosecution of civil society activists and CSOs, and obstruction of their activities, as well as to develop practical skills in the use of available legal aid measures. The event gathered together prominent international human rights defenders and activists, including Clement Voule, UN Special Rapporteur on Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association; Natalia Bourjaily, ICNL Vice President - Eurasia; Ona Flores, ICNL Civic Freedoms Research Advisor, as well as 35 representatives of the Ukrainian CSOs and foreign activists from Russian, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Venezuela, Uganda. During the workshop, it was learnt about international law instruments in the protection of rights and advocacy, sharing international experience on practical aspects of organizing legal aid to activists, and building practical skills based on the received information through the practical tasks9.
As a result, 45 unique participants enhanced their knowledge of the best international instruments for legal protection, practical advocacy strategies, and tactics for ensuring protection of activists and CSOs experiencing legal prosecutions and infringement of the right to freedom of association and assembly. Moreover, participants learned how to assess their digital risks and identify threats, as well as received skills on the protection of their accounts, devices, and online communication.
In addition, CEDEM jointly with Ednannia, the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, and Internews CEDEM started held a series of 5 online workshops, aimed at enhancing the capacities of civil society activists and CSOs representatives in terms of best international practices in legal aid measures for civil society activists and CSOs (March 29 - April 2). The
9 The first part of the event is available in record on Facebook via this link.
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Furthermore, CEDEM, in partnership with the Association of Ukrainian Human Rights Monitors, finished a series of online training “Activism without damages and prosecutions” for Community Advisers10 on security protection issues (February 24, 2021). These events aim to strengthen the protection of civil society activists (local activists, human rights defenders, and journalists) through the training of Community Advisers. The training sessions were performed by national lawyers and protection experts and covered the following topics: physical security, cyber-security, interaction with law enforcement bodies.
As a result, 25 Community Advisers from different regions of Ukraine were trained about assessing security risks and developing security measures plan, securing themselves from various digital risks and frauds on the Internet through 11 trainings. In addition to the trainings, the course experts developed a legal guide "Algorithms of action for civil society representatives in cooperation with law enforcement agencies." Due to the course, the participants enhanced their knowledge on the interaction with law enforcement officials and documentation and verification of attacks on activists, as well as received practical advice from the Ukrainian attorney on the step-by-step procedure in case of attacks. Additionally, based on the information materials prepared for this series of training, CEDEM in partnership with the Association of Ukrainian Human Rights Monitors, developed an online course on the ILIA platform. This course is free of charge and is open for enrolling on a permanent basis for all civil society activists and CSOs representatives interested. This contributed to the ongoing process of designing sustainable solutions to securing assistance for civic activists experiencing attacks.
Moreover, CEDEM has initiated development of Risk Assessment Methodology. The main purpose of this tool is to provide civil society activists and CSOs with comprehensive guidance on assessment of risks of being subjected to legal and protection attacks.
Finally, for ensuring sufficient local legal capacities and expanding legal assistance to the national and local civil society organizations, nascent civic groups and activists in Ukraine, the Consortium members started building the Network of Legal Aid Providers for civic activists and CSOs. In this regard, the first Draft Concept of the Network was developed. This Draft Concept determines the core provisions and principles of the Network, the establishment and coordination procedure.
Legal Consultations to CSOs. To ensure sufficient and good quality legal support for CSOs and activists in legal consultations, the Activity continued administering UCIPR Hot Line for CSOs, which allowed CSOs and activists to get UCIPR experts’ consultations on CSO registration, taxation, reporting, termination and labor relations within CSOs. The 148 legal consultations were provided within 6 months to 103 activists and 45 CSOs. Among the most
10 Community Advisers are members of a network of active citizens who do not have a formal legal education; however, they took special legal courses and are able to provide members of communities with paralegal services free of charge.
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT requests, it was registration of CSOs and charity funds, revision of CSO statutes for compliance with the law, non-profit status and CSO reporting procedure.
Objective 3: Enhance research and learning of civil society sectoral challenges, opportunities, and best practices (Primarily implemented by Ednannia)
All activities carried out within Objective 3 complemented and supported activities within Objectives 1 and 2. Therefore, during the reporting period, the following studies were designed and/or completed - Study of the legal aid needs, Study of attitudes influencing citizens’ perception of CSOs and their work and COVID-19, lockdown and civil society.
In-depth research on new challenges and opportunities impacting civil society
During the reporting period, civil society sectoral challenges, opportunities and best practices were researched and surveyed by the Consortium Members in cooperation with prominent Ukrainian think tanks, other relevant national and international organizations and experts. Following consultations with different stakeholders, researches were conducted to measure the CSO source diversification, level of citizen involvement in activities of CSOs, the level of trust towards the sector, expectations of citizens regarding activities and priority areas for CSOs’ engagement, citizens willingness to donate and the areas to be supported (environmental issues, anti-corruption etc.).
Study on needs of CSOs in times of COVID-19 and lockdown. The quarantine measures–social distancing, remote work, transportation limitations etc. imposed severe limits on activities and plans of civil society organizations, as well as posed important questions for those supporting civil society organizations, e.g., donor community, ISOs. These questions include (but not limited to): (1) how the CSOs and communities could receive emergency support in times of crisis; (2) how to provide support for fast adaptive and technical capacity building for CSOs to ensure their continuous operation; (3) what measures should be taken to design long-term strategies to cope with the consequences of this crisis and those which might arise in the future.
The quarantine has made it clear that the approach to work and operations would be changed and the civil society should adapt to new paradigms. Therefore, Ednannia designed a survey to harvest data and insights from CSOs themselves, to see how they evaluate the circumstances they had found themselves in as well as ask them directly about their strategies to remain sustainable and continue to provide their services for the community.
The web-based survey was conducted in a period of November 30 – December 10, 2020, and it collected 105 responses via a convenient sample. This is the second COVD-19 related survey of Ednannia (the first one was conducted in March 30 – April 10, 2020). The survey was distributed via social media, mailing lists, and Ednannia web-site. The sample method: convenience sampling. The total number of respondents represents most regions of Ukraine, excluding the temporary occupied territories and annexed Crimea.
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The key findings are as follows: ❖ Overall, the respondents experience moderate challenges, estimated as 4.04 points on a 10-point scale. ❖ The financial challenges are generally lower higher than others, but open- ended response suggest underestimation of these issues. The respondents see themselves moderately successful in addressing the financial challenges— 5.34 on 10-point scale. ❖ As for organizational challenges, the respondents report their struggle with the lack of hardware and software, as well as technical and digital skills necessary for remote / online work. The respective procurements are seen as necessary to address the challenges of remote work. The education on how to provide services online is also perceived as essential. The mean for the challenge is 3.83 points, while the overall estimation of success is 5.58 points. ❖ The project challenges are reported to be the in the middle, with the mean being 3.49, while the estimation of success scored 6.16. One may hypothesize that this is due to the wide project support the respondents received from the donor community (60%). ❖ The respondents still claim the rigidity of donor bureaucratic procedure, which suggest general misunderstanding on how donor organizations operate; and the nature of procedures being imposed on them by their donors, e.g., their government. ❖ The respondents expect the donors to support risk management and digital capacity building of their grantees. However, other areas, such as advocacy and fundraising should not be overlooked. ❖ The scars the lockdown and the economic crisis have caused for the civil society are deep and will require a long time to heal. Therefore, the community should consider long-term recovery programs that would encourage HR- sustainability of the sector as well.
Based on these findings, Ednannia identified the following recommendations and implements them in the organization’s specific program, targeting certain organizational capacities. The recommendations are as follows: • Focus on digital capacity building should stay a priority: The crisis demonstrates low digital and technological literacy. Certain educational packages in forms of online demonstrations or workshops will make the organizations more tech and digital savvy, and ensure their consistent and effective work with their beneficiaries online. • Focus on crisis management, financial management, and adaptive capacities. The survey suggests that those who know how to adapt and cherish this capacity within the organization, tend to be more successful project wise and financially. • Pre-institutional support should be considered. Many organizations report their struggle to cover administrative costs in times of quarantine and numerous cancellations of activities, including those in the scope of social services / entrepreneurship. The teams and staff are under a threat of losing
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their salaries and honoraria, which may result in seizing their operations. However, the institutional support requires certain level of capacity from the applying organizations. The programs aimed to put an organization on-track to institutional support should be considered. They may not be financial, but rather mentor ones in nature. • More flexibility is still desirable. As of now, many organizations are struggling to meet project indicators or deliver planned results, just like the March survey trend demonstrated; however, the respondents still report the rigidity of bureaucracy. Donors’ flexibility in terms of reporting or other necessary paperwork, and general empathy with these struggles would be much appreciated. • In times of a healthcare crisis, it is important not lose sight of other areas. Despite the respondents urge donors and philanthropists to support healthcare and economics, other areas should not be ignored. The shrinking of civic space, attacks on democracy are still unfortunate Ukraine’s present, therefore, strong and capable watchdog organizations are needed more than ever.
Study of the legal aid needs of CSOs. To identify CSO needs in legal aid, the Activity launched the Study of the legal aid needs of CSOs. For this purpose, it analyzed reports of the strategic partners of the Consortium, ZMINA, which has been working with the activists experiencing attacks on various grounds (e.g., defamation campaigns in the media, physical attacks that endanger the lives or property of the activists etc.) ZMINA and other legal professionals, such as Masi Nayem or Oleksandr Pavlichenko of Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, claim that there are much more requests than the available aid providers are able to handle. Also, UCIPR’s hotline for legal consultations on CSO operation issues provides approximately 30 consultations per month. Therefore, it has been decided to deepen the Consortium’s knowledge on the legal needs and identify any other potential gaps in the accessibility of the legal aid for CSOs and activists.
The research has started with the two exploratory surveys for grantees of Ednannia and other CSOs that have been reached via our web-based survey, as well as legal professionals. Although not representative, these surveys now serve as a base of qualitative inquiry to investigate any specific legal obstacles that CSOs may encounter in their operations. o Survey for legal aid providers (82 respondents). The most common legal need is sustainable legal supervision in daily operations and legal regimes (tax reporting, labor code, registration of CSOs etc.) o Survey for CSOs in need of legal aid (40 respondents): before seeking a professional legal advice, there is a tendency to ‘ask around’: consult with other CSOs that may have faced a similar problem in the past; respondents claim that they prefer to outsource legal aid and look for a professional, treating every need as a unique inquiry every single time11.
11 The intermediary report on legal aid may be found via this link.
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The in-depth data collection and analysis are scheduled for April-June 202112.
Study Giving in Ukraine. For identifying key issues affecting giving in Ukraine at the national and local levels, the Activity jointly with ECNL developed a study for identifying key issues and challenges affecting giving in Ukraine. The study will be built in the form of desk research, interviews and focus groups with engagement of representatives of different groups of stakeholders (public and private sector, CSOs and international donor community). The findings of the study will be used for developing Roadmap for advancing the ecosystem for giving in Ukraine.
The Consortium team with the help of ECNL, a strategic partner, has identified the key elements of giving ecosystem, which will be subjected to further social research (planned in March-September 2021). The main inquiries are classified via the following categories: 1. Fundraising infrastructure a. Available mechanisms of fundraising b. Patterns of utilization of the infrastructure elements by business and private individuals c. Hierarchy of fundraising mechanisms as imagined by the users 2. Reasons for business to provide or refuse their support for CSOs The concept is a foundation for social study of giving, reasons to (dis)engage with giving practices, and desired formats. The study is scheduled for May-July 202113.
Study on attitudes affecting CSO support. To identify the attitudes affecting CSO support, including individual giving, the Activity conducted study to assess citizens’ attitudes affecting their decision-making regarding CSO support. For this purpose, the concept of study and methodology will be developed, and the partner will be identified. The findings of the study will help understand factors affecting citizens readiness to support CSOs.
Despite there are regular opinion polls on support or awareness about the role and work of the CSOs conducted by various agencies, the fundamental reasons behind the CSOs reputation have not been properly studied. Therefore, the CSO community tends to heavily rely on the scattered data, tacit knowledge, and professional intuition when developing their communications and engagement with their constituency and broader public. Such situation of lack of understanding how the reputation mechanisms work is also used against the civil society in defamation campaigns. According to the recent study conducted by Democratic Foundations Initiatives and Ednannia, 8% of Ukrainians see CSOs as those acting on behalf of the foreign governments and against interests of Ukraine. Although it is impossible to see if the percentage has decreased or increased in comparison to previous years, this number must be taken into consideration as a benchmark.
However, there are 44% of those who would like to know more about the CSOs and their activities. This is a very optimistic number, but we must remember that ‘knowing’ may come
12 The guides for expert interviews, focus-group discussions, and in-depth interviews for Phase 2 of the research, may be found via this link. 13 The concept draft of the eco-system elements may be found via this link.
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The field work for the study started on February 26, 2021, with the focus group discussions with the citizens of Ukraine14.
Study impact of intermediary support organizations on civil society. To assess the impact of intermediary support organizations (ISOs) on development of the civil society in Ukraine, the Activity conducted expert interviews. The resume of the prospect functions of ISOs are as follows: o Research and development aimed at demonstrating the economic and social benefits of the civil society. As of now, such function is very weak, if existent at all. However, it is an absolute must, if the civil society wants to be on a socio- political map and considered seriously both by the citizens and state bureaucracy. o Capacity building for constituency engagement. This is seen in connection with the R&D function, as in theory, consistent work with constituency and a greater public awareness about the role and benefits of the CSOs, will have an influence on the policy environment for the CSOs through the electoral pressure. This would also secure the sector’s positions and counteract the constant defamation campaigns (see Introduction). o Facilitation of expertise transfer. The infrastructural organizations should design mechanisms to facilitate this exchange (grant programs, methodologies, assistance in systematization of knowledge and experience etc.) o Capacity building for meaningful business engagement. The experts consider the infrastructural organizations to be the ones to understand the mechanisms of business engagement into the support of the civil society and help the sector to develop sustainable practices of cooperation with the private sector. The experts, however, do not see it only in the financial dimension and encourage to explore the opportunities to include business into advocacy efforts of the third sector. o Sector policing. These organizations have the most significant chances to establish good practices and standards. First of all, the infrastructural organizations have to work to ensure transparency and accountability of the sector. According to experts, such function is quite challenging both in terms of acquiring the legitimacy to fulfil it and designing the mechanism of control and discipline. However, it is a necessary provision for the sector to become sustainable and respectable15.
The study will be continued with focus group discussions among CSO professionals, which are scheduled in June-August 2021.
14 The working guide for the discussions may be found via this link. 15 The full summary of the expert interviews may be found via this link.
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Knowledge Clearing House
The Activity continued to develop Knowledge Clearing House, which would serve as a platform for disseminating research and survey findings in the area of civil society development available in Ukraine and beyond. In a series of consultations with IT-specialists, the Activity recognized the necessity to conduct a discovery phase for the Knowledge Clearing House development. The Developer was identified and Discovery Phase development was launched (March 2021). The discovery phase will identify the key characteristics of the future platform (user load, User interface for ensuring positive user experience, speed etc.), security, organizational and business goals, as well as contribute to the development of business processes (financial and management processes). The main deliverable of the phase is a detailed description of the platform.
For improving CSO access to research findings and expert opinions, as well as materials developed under the Activity, Ednannia developed the concept and vision of the Knowledge Clearance House platform to be serving as a platform for information collection and ensuring better information-sharing about civil society developments throughout Ukraine and beyond. To bring internationally recognized best practices and knowledge of the civil society development, Ednannia engaged and continued to cooperate with different internationally recognized stakeholders.
V. PROGRESS AGAINST TARGETS
Despite the data is reported annually, the Activity met all targets set for the first half of the second year of the project implementation. In particular, 139 CSOs in different regions received grants for improving organizational capacity and for supporting Activity implementation. 103 CSOs receiving funding under the Activity or 95% (out of 109 CSOs supported) improved their organizational capacity (100% are satisfied with services received from the providers). Moreover, 23 learning and networking events were organized to improve CSO capacity (including workshops, seminars, presentations, training, Forum, etc., 1 mentorship program for newly-established CSOs was launched.
Moreover, 5 legal acts were analyzed by UCIPR and CEDEM, 4 legal acts were repealed (Draft Laws on Lobbying) due to supporting 12 advocacy campaigns of CSOs were supported (for introduction tax designation mechanism in Ukraine, benefits for charity, Governmental Strategy for Civil Society Development 2021 - 2026, extending contest based public funding to all CSOs of people with disabilities, improving access of youth CSO to public funding, introduction of online contest based public funding of CSOs) and 52 CSOs received support from the Activity (grants, consultations, support in legislation development), which were engaged in advocacy.
Furthermore, 2 joint projects between CSOs and public authorities were implemented (CEDEM and Ministry of Culture and Information Policy to outline successful projects of CSO
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT and public authorities; CEDEM and Digital Security Lab to teach CSOs in cyber security measures) 25 CSOs improved their knowledge about CSO legislation and 148 CSOs and activists received legal assistance (45 CSOs and 103 activists).
Finally, 1 study was conducted on CSO needs in times of COVID-19 and lockdown and 2 studies were launched (CSO legal needs, attitudes affecting CSO support).
VI. PERFORMANCE MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING
The Activity continued to monitor, evaluate and learn according to the designed approach in order to support a sufficient, timely, and enabling response to progress, changes and challenges which the Activity might have in the course of its implementation. Based on the MEL system developed for the Activity, each Consortium Member monitors and evaluates their activities, as well as learns from them. It also shares the M&E data and lessons learnt among the Consortium. In particular, to ensure proper implementation of all project activities by all Consortium Members with or without previous experience of receiving direct funding from USAID, Ednannia held trainings and consultations for the program and financial staff of the Consortium Members, to explain all aspects of project implementation under this Cooperative Agreement.
In addition, Ednannia conducts constant monitoring of the Activity implementation and financial management of the funds. It organizes regular staff meetings with the key personnel and the Consortium Partners’ coordinators to discuss important issues and problems to be solved. It also organizes meetings to discuss the implementation of the Annual Working Plan, meeting MELP targets, MELP data collection and ensuring of their quality.
Based on the Activity MEL, Consortium Members also developed their own monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure proper monitoring and recording of all data related to project activities. In the framework of the project, CEDEM and UCIPR team ensure proper recording of the data by collecting MEL data. They also record data about people (men and women, persons with disabilities, veterans, LGBTQI people and representatives of other marginalized groups), documents and geographic location of the Activity implementation. As regards to the analysis of legislation and draft laws, the Activity uses websites of public authorities (VRU, Cabinet of Ministers etc.). All documents analyzed or developed are recorded by the organizations and Ednannia.
In terms of monitoring of grant making process, the procedure is outlined in the Grant Manual. Ednannia uses granting data base to monitor the number of grants, CSOs receiving grants, self-assessment and reporting. Its Grants Managers ensure monitoring of implementation of the grant making-process, including implementation of each project of Ednannia grantees. The monitored is conducted through the personal and remote consultations, monitoring visits and inspection reports. In most cases, distant monitoring is conducted (e.g. checking grantee by phone, interim reports, personal communication with
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT grant managers, joining online events etc.) Selectively, the online site visits are conducted. The criteria for sites visits are defined in the Ednannia Grant Manual. For example, implementation of project is problematic (deadlines are not met, problems with reporting, etc.), no timely feedback from grantee (CSO does not respond to requests and emails), Ednannia has information from partners/experts/donor about the inconsistencies in the project implementation, Ednannia gets a request from a donor to monitor the relevant organization and Ednannia Strategic and Thematic Partners.
Usually, Ednannia conducts monitoring visits to at least 30% of all grantees. The goals of these visits are to provide grantees with expert advice on project management and assist in developing financial and narrative reports (if needed); to ensure implementation of the projects due to conditions of grant agreements and approved descriptions of the projects, workplans and expected results; to ensure achieving all targeted indicators and goals; to receive information about ad-hoc needs of the grantees. Monitoring reports as well as recommendations are prepared by Grant Managers based on the findings of the visits. Ednannia Grant Managers provide ongoing personal and remote consultations to grantees as well.
During COVID-19 and quarantine, Ednannia conducted online monitoring of subgrantees and joined online events on a selective basis, requested detailed information about project activities and events etc.
VII. LESSONS LEARNED
During the project implementation, a number of lessons were learnt. In particular, due to a high number of ongoing online events, it was learned that online events have to be well structured, moderated in accordance with the agenda and facilitated to keep the audience interested and engaged. Otherwise, people lacking face-to-face communication are unwilling to actively participate in the online events.
Moreover, for ensuring higher effectiveness of the mentorship program, preliminary webinars were held to ensure better selection process and promote the program. This practice was a new approach to be implemented in the further activities.
Furthermore, COVID-19 pandemic and national quarantine restrictions showed that many organizations would prefer to continue to work online or in semi-offline/semi-online format after lifting all restrictions. Such working format also will be used by public officials. The process of drafting the National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development, showed that public officials can easily use new technologies for online communication and such work can be efficiently organized and allows to engage a high number of participants both from the national and local levels. At the sometime, online communication can’t replace offline events and communication, particularly aimed at people networking, strategic planning, practical trainings etc.
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Finally, difficult economic situation in the country significantly affect advocacy efforts for granting benefits for CSOs (tax benefits for charity, allowing administrative and organizational development costs for CSOs receiving public funding etc.) as it treated by the public authorities as losses from the State Budget.
VIII. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
All activities implemented under this Section B, Program Description, of this award fell under Categorical Exclusion (RCE) number 2019-UKR-036 (Annex 1 of this Cooperative Agreement), which has been approved for the Program funding this award.
IX. PROGRESS ON LINKS TO OTHER ACTIVITIES
During the 6 months period, the Activity cooperated with different partners, including other USAID activities and activities funded by other donors. In particular, the Civil Society Development Forum, organized by Ednannia, engaged the most reputable donor’ entities such as the EU Delegation to Ukraine, United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine, Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine, OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine; Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and Government of Canada.
For avoiding duplications and overlapping, the Activity coordinated its activities with the USAID Democratic Governance East (DG East) Activity (Chemonics International) for strengthening capacity of civil society organizations in the east of Ukraine; Enhance Non- governmental Actors and Grassroots Engagements (ENGAGE), Pact, Inc. for conducting assessment of CSOs needs; Media Program in Ukraine (Internews Network) to promote activity efforts and improve public image of CSOs; Ukraine National Identity Through Youth (UNITY) Activity (IREX) to improve youth CSO access to public funding; and Ukraine Responsive and Accountable Politics Program (U-RAP) through National Democratic Institute (NDI) to improve citizens access decision making through local referendum (joint work on the Draft Law on Local Referendum).
Together with the Responding to Human Rights Violations and Empowering Citizens and Human Rights Defenders in Ukraine (Human Rights in Action program) implemented by the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, and Zmina, it coordinated efforts in the area of attacks on activists and expanding legal support for civic activists experiencing pressure due to their activities.
The Activity also shared information about local democracy development with the USAID PULSE Project, implemented by the Association of Ukrainian Cities. It consulted USAID Competitive Economy Program (East Europe Foundation) regarding registration of Business Associations, and collaborated with the USAID Civil Society Organizations Sustainability Index, implemented by FHI 360 and UCIPR to support the assessment of the developments in the area of CSO sustainability in 2020.
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In addition, the Activity cooperated with other donor projects, the EGAP project, implemented by the Eastern Europe Foundation to introduce online contest based public funding of CSOs; IRF, the United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine and Sida to develop concept of institutional support to CSOs to be funded from the State Budget and School Social Entrepreneurship of East Europe Foundation and ChildFund Deutschland e.V. with financial support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to support establishment of social enterprises.
Finally, the Activity cooperate with the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law and the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law to ensure better legal framework civil society in Ukraine and with the USAID RADA Program implemented by the East Europe Foundation to improve access of CSOs to the Parliamentary Committees and strengthen advocacy skills of the local CSOs.
X. PROGRESS ON LINKS TO HOST GOVERNMENT
Despite the quarantine restrictions, the Activity continued to cooperate with the public authorities, including MPs, Government and local authorities. In particular, it closely cooperated with the Secretariat of Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to develop and finalize the Draft National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021 – 2026 and National Strategy for Barrier Free Environment.
Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Social Protection Fund for People of Disabilities, Ministry for Veterans' Affairs, Temporarily Occupied Territories persons, local city councils etc. In particular, it continued to cooperate with the State Secretary of the Cabinet of Minister of Ukraine and CMU Secretariat leading the process for developing the National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021-2026. It also closely cooperated with the Ministry of Social Policy, the Ministry for Veterans Affairs, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Digital Transformation to introduce online contest based public funding of CSOs from the state and local budgets.
Furthermore, the Activity developed collaboration the Ministry of Regional Development, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and Committee on State Building, and helped to develop amendments to the Law of Ukraine on Local Self-Government for strengthening instruments of public participation and Draft Law on Public Consultations, and collaboration with the Ministry of Justice contributed to development of the Draft Law for simplifying the registration of CSOs and introduction of online CSO registration etc.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine and The Secretariat of Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Activity held an information campaign "Civil Society and Government - Best Practices for Cooperation", to promote efficient collaboration of
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT the Ukrainian CSOs and public authorities16. All of the stories were included in the Success Story Collection.
Moreover, it built a close relationship with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, particularly in the area of improving regulations for public funding of youth CSOs and strengthening capacity of youth CSOs.
Finally, it built relationship with MPs to support the introduction of the tax designation mechanism (percentage philanthropy) in Ukraine and tax incentives for corporate charity and private donations, as well as counteracting restricting draft laws (Draft laws on lobbying and “foreign agents”).
XI. PROGRESS ON INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT
Gender: Despite the activity was not designed to improve gender equality, all activities of the project addressed gender considerations, ensured that both men and women benefited from the USAID support and that gender awareness was a built-in component of project activities. Following the recommendations of the USAID/Ukraine’s Gender Analysis Report for technical support in Ukraine, the Activity incorporated gender equality issues in all activities, including analysis of policies, legislation, and advocacy activities. The Activity ensured the inclusive participation of women in training and capacity building events. It engaged the equal number of women and men in its training and activities, and ensured 70/30% female/male participation in all program activities. In particular, out of 3,300 participants of Civil Society Development Forum, 1,876 were women (70,1%) and 790 men (29,9 %).
In particular, out of 111 participants of the trainings on the registration of CSOs, operation and taxation (organized jointly with the East Europe Foundation), the majority of participants were women – 73% (27% of men). Furthermore, out of 168 participants joining discussions on restricting draft laws and the presentation of an analytical study on the registration of CSOs, the representation of man and women was 42%/58%.
In addition, it improved the capacity of women’s CSOs at the national and local levels (e.g. Creative Space Women, Women in Business, Women’s Federation for World Peace, Women for the Right of Internally Displaced Persons, Ukraine Women Lawyers Association "JurFem", Women's charity organization 'Our Vision" etc. through providing subgrants for improving their organizational development.
Finally, proportion of men and women from CSOs and initiative groups seeking legal assistance was almost the same: 52% of men 75 and 48% women (72).
Inclusive Development: The Activity ensured inclusive development and assisted organizations of people with disabilities, veterans, LGBTIQ, youth and children CSOs etc. how
16 Joint projects of civil society organizations (CSOs) implemented together with the government authorities
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Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT to use CSO enabling environment and improve their organizational capacity. It helped these organizations to improve their capacities through providing sub-grants for capacity building and engaged them into its capacity building events and CSO legislation development. In particular, the Activity engaged CSOs of people with disabilities, veteran, youth and children, and LGBTIQ into its public events and trainings (CSD Forum, LEE RRM development). Moreover, the Activity improved regulations for public funding of CSOs of persons with disability and run advocacy campaign for extending contest based public funding of CSOs of persons of disabilities and improving access to public funding for youth CSOs through allowing 20% of administrative expenses for youth CSOs receiving public funding. Moreover, the Activity engaged CSOs of people with disabilities, youth, and children, and LGBTIQ into its advocacy campaigns, public events and trainings (Civil Society Development Forum, Draft National Strategy 2021 -2025 development, LEE RRM implementation. The Activity also joined and supported the development of the National strategy for Free Barrier Environment to secure absence of barriers in physical, information, civic, economic areas.
Finally, it strengthened the capacity of CSOs of people with disabilities and youth through training for on CSOs registration, providing legal assistance (11 youth CSOs, 12 CSO of veteran, 28 CSOs of people with disabilities and 2 LGBT CSOs) and engaging into the Activity discussions (representatives of 1 youth CSO, 2 LGBT CSOs, 1 CSO of persons with disabilities participated in the discussion regarding “foreign agents” draft laws.
Sustainability and Self-Reliance: to ensure financial viability of CSOs and self-reliance of the civil society sector, the Activity contributed to the growth of domestic funding sources, in particular, it supported improving of CSOs organizational capacity to be able to secure diverse funding sources and improve the procedures for CSO public funding through extending contest based public funding to all CSOs of persons with disability including Associations of Deaf and Blind, introduction of online contest based public funding of CSOs from the state and local budgets etc. Moreover, the Activity continued to develop the model for percentage mechanism in Ukraine. Finally, the Activity contributed to the development of procedures for social contracting to improve procedure for procuring social services from civil society organizations.
XII. FINANCIAL INFORMATION (Required for Contracts; Optional for Other Award Types)
Cash Flow Report and Financial Projections (Pipeline Burn-Rate)
In this section, please detail your financial projections. At a minimum, categories should include:
1. Obligations (the funds authorized to date for expenditure for the activity; this is NOT the Total Estimated Cost, but amount already obligated up to the time of the writing of this report). $2,983,491 till March 30, 2021
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2. Actual expenditures through the current reporting period. $ 2,193,613.95
3. Pipeline projection (expenditures expected, by quarter, for the coming three quarters, based on planned activity hiring, procurements, expansions, etc.). $491,000.00
XIII. SUB-AWARD DETAILS
Total amount in the approved budget for sub-awards: $3,724,000 Total amount sub-awarded to date: $1,023,630.04
Table. Ednannia Sub Awards See Annex I. Ednannia Sub Awasrd.
XIV. ACTIVITY ADMINISTRATION
A. Constraints and Critical Issues
Among the biggest challenges the Activity faced during the project implementation were the attempt to introduce restrictive regulation for civil society through regulating lobbying activities and Ministry of Finance opposition to any benefits to civil society organizations.
B. Personnel During the reporting period, there were some changes in the staff of the Consortium members. Project Coordinator in UCIPR, expert on CSO taxation and an expert on public funding of CSOs were replaced.
C. Contract, Award or Cooperative Agreement Modifications and Amendments
Modification of Assistance No.2 from March 29, 2020
D. Status of Deliverables/Milestones Activity Status Objective 1. Strengthen institutional capacities of civil society organizations Administer sub-grants for strengthening organizational development of CSOs In progress
Administer sub-award management system to support Strategic, Institutional and Thematic In progress partners
Strengthen infrastructure for civil society In progress
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Promote different kinds of giving for strengthening financial sustainability of Ukrainian CSOs In progress
Improve technical capacity of online platform CD Marketplace In progress
Develop IT solution for conducting events online In progress
Promote culture of organizational development In progress
Hold 2nd Mentorship program for newly established CSOs In progress
Capacity Building Educational Events and Activities In progress
Maintain the Alumni network of Mentorship program participants In progress
Conduct short-term internship programs for newly established CSOs working in inclusion In progress areas
Hold practical training on coalition building Not started
Develop an online course on social data and research methods for beginners Not started
Promote the concept of CSO Good Governance In progress
Promote Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity In progress
Strengthen capacity of the Consortium partners to be champions for the civil society in Not started Ukraine
Objective 2: Improve legal enabling environment (LEE) for civil society
Monitor and analyze legislation In progress
Develop Roadmap for advancing the ecosystem for giving in Ukraine Not started
Run Advocacy campaign for implementing Legal Reforms Roadmap for Civil Society in In progress Ukraine
Advocate adoption of National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021– 2026 In progress
Advocacy campaign for adopting 2021 Action Plan for implementing National Strategy for In progress Promoting Civil Society Development 2021 - 2026
Renew work of Coordination Council for Civil Society Development Not started
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Run advocacy campaign for introducing tax designation mechanism in Ukraine In progress
In progress Extend contest-based public funding of CSOs of people with disabilities
Improve procedures of public funding of youth CSOs (Amendments to the Cabinet Decree In progress 1049 and Order of Ministry of Youth and Sport 808)
Advocate for improving CSO registration procedures (Draft of Amendments to the Law of In progress Ukraine “On Civil Associations” for the improving CSO registration procedures)
Introduce on-line contest-based public funding for CSO In progress
Improve taxation of charitable aid (Draft of Amendments to the Customs Code and Tax Code In progress in the Parliament)
Improve regulation for public participation at the national level (Draft Law “On Public In progress Consultations” and Law of Ukraine “On Local Self-Government of Ukraine”)
Develop mechanism for preventing adoption of restrictive legislation for civil society In process
Prevent adoption of legislation targeting foreign funding In progress
Prevent adoption of legislation on lobbying Completed
Support national and regional coalitions In progress
Build СSO Coalition to advance Legal Reforms Roadmap for Civil Society in Ukraine In progress
Build Platform for advancing ecosystem for giving in Ukraine Not started
Ensure long-term public-government mechanism to support Civil Society Development in In progress Ukraine
Support national CSO Network to Self-Regulate Civic Sector Not started
Raise awareness about new legislation In progress
Maintain cooperation with human right sector for securing assistance for civic activists In progress experiencing attacks
Develop and maintain the Network CSOs and Lawyers in Non-Profit Law In progress
Provide Legal Consultations to CSOs In progress
Strengthen Resilience of CSOs In progress
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Objective 3. Enhance research and learning of civil society sectoral challenges, opportunities, and best practices
Study CSO financial sustainability models In progress
Study Giving in Ukraine Not started
Develop Study of tax benefits for donations to CSOs in the European and Eastern In progress Neighborhood Countries
Study on attitudes affecting CSO support Not started
Study impact of intermediary support organizations on civil society Completed
Develop Knowledge Clearing House Platform In progress
Establish direct links with Civil Society support entities for the best practices sharing and In progress learning in Ukraine and abroad
Improve CSOs public image and promote their role in Ukraine In progress
Conduct external assessment of consortium partners’ activities Not started
E. Coordination and Partnerships To ensure more efficient project implementation and to promote greater coalition building across all project activities, the Activity cooperated closely with different partners and stakeholders, including USAID activities, activities funded by other donors, international and local partners. It continued to cooperate with the Strategic Partners and engaged new ones (ECNL, Zmina, RPR, DIF, Detector Media). The Activity involved Strategic and Institutional and Thematic Partners to support the Activity implementation. In particular, it continued to Cooperate with the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law to ensure that the best European and international practices in the area of regulation for CSOs operation incorporated into the Ukrainian legislations and practice. It cooperated with ECNL, UPF, European Community Foundation Initiative, Academy for the Development of the Philanthropy in Poland, Local Philanthropy Development National Network to learn best practices for civil society and to improve legislation for civil society. It also collaborated with the USAID INSPIRES and International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), Zmina Ukrainian Helsinki Human Union and Ukrainian Association of Human Rights Monitors (UMDPL) to secure protection for the civil society activists experiencing attacks and pressure due to their activities.
It continued to engage the Reanimation Package of Reforms (RPR) and its regional coalitions to support LEE RRM implementation and to prevent the adoption of CSO legislation negatively effecting civil society.
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Furthermore, the Activity jointly with CSOs of people with disabilities (Together Against Corruption, Fight for Rights, Group of Active Rehabilitation, Legal Sotnya) worked to introduce transparent contest-based public funding for all CSOs of people with disabilities and with EGAP Program (East Europe Foundation) to launch online contest based public funding, the Activity closely cooperated. It also engaged the Association for Self-Organization of Population and with the Center of Community Development to improve local democracy.
Finally, collaboration with the Democratic Initiative Foundation (DIF) contributed of sociological surveys to improve implementation the Activity implementation and Detector Media engagement contributed to the outlining work of civil society and improving public image of civil society.
F. Geographic Information During the reporting period, the Activity mostly worked as at the national level, but the CSD Forum and other events attracted participants from all over Ukraine, including Crime, online and offline. Moreover, the engagement new organizations-participants of the Platform for legal reforms for CSO was joined by the CSOs from almost all regions of Ukraine.
Also, the subgrants improving CSO capacity were granted to CSOs from Kyiv and 24 oblasts, including Kyiv and Kyiv oblast (9); Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsya, Mykolaiv, Rivne, Kherson, Chernihiv, and Zaporizhzhya oblasts (3 in each oblast); Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Poltava, Kharkiv, Khmelnytsky and Lviv oblasts (2 in each oblast), Volyn, Kirovohradska, Luhanska, Zakarpattya, Sumy, Ternopil, Chekasy, Chernivtsi and Zhytomyr oblasts (1 CSO in each oblast), etc.
Moreover, the 9th Civil Society Development Forum engaged CSOs from all oblasts of Ukraine, including Crimea. CSOs from 18 cities and villages were engaged into the Mentorship Program 2.0 (Mentors represented Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro and Rivne oblasts; mentees – Berdyansk (Zaporizhzhya oblast), Poltava, Mykolaiv, Novoaydar (Luhansk oblast), Khmelnytsky, Brody (Lviv oblast), Pishchanka (Vinnytsia oblast), Chernivtsi, Lutsk, Rivne, Nemishayeve (Kyiv obalst), Kryvyi Rih, Sataniv (Khmelnytsky oblast).
CSOs engaged in advocacy from 22 cities and villages received support from the Activity: Kyiv, Berdiansk (Zaporizhzhya oblast), Poltava, Mykholaiv, Novoaydar (Luhansk oblast), Khmenlnytsky, and Brody (Lviv oblast), Pishchanka village and Khmilnyk (Vinnytsya oblast), Chernivtsi, Lutsk, Rivne and Rogizne Village (Rivne oblast), Nemishayeve Vilage
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(Kyiv oblast), Lviv, Sataniv vilage (Khmelnytska oblast), Kryvyy Rih (Dnipropetrovsk oblast) Odesa, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhya, Pokrovsk (Donetsk oblast). 2 nationwide collations were supported (RPR Coalition and Platform for reforms for CSOs).
Furthermore, 3 legal aid offices were supported in Kyiv and Kharkiv. 148 Legal consultations were provided to CSOs and activists from 34 locations, including Lviv Sambir, Stryi, Chervonohrad (Lviv oblast); Chernivtsi; Kyiv, Gatne village, Fastiv and Brovary (Kyiv oblast); Zaporizhzhia; Kharkiv; Odesa; Dnipro; Zhytomyr; Konstantinivka, Pokrovsk, and Mariupil (Donetsk oblast); Boromlya village (Trostyanets district, Sumy oblast); Tyachiv (Zakarpattia oblast); Kozylets (Chernihiv oblast); Vesele village of Melitopol district and Berdyansk (Zaporizhia oblast); Korosten (Zhytomyr oblast); Shatsk (Volyn oblast); Ladyzhyn (Vinnytsia oblast); Zavodske, Kremenchuk, Myrhorod and Lubny (Poltava oblast); Kamianets-Podilskyi (Khmelnytsky oblast); Halych, Dolyna, Rohatyn (Ivano-Frankivsk oblast); Schastia (Luhansk oblast); Novomoskovsk and Nikopol (Dnipropetrovskv oblast).
Finally, representatives of local and regional CSOs from 24 oblasts improved their understanding of the legislation on CSO registration, taxation and reporting.
XV. ATTACHMENTS
A. List of Deliverables
1. Amendments to the effective legislation on cancelling an all-Ukrainian status for CSOs 2. Argumentation regarding the draft laws on lobbying contradiction with Constitution of Ukraine 3. Analysis of the state servants on provision of funds for CSOS organizations development 4. Analytical material in one of the biggest Ukrainian online newspapers - Ukrainska Pravda about benefits of the percentage tax designation mechanism. The full version of Analytics is here (link).
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5. Comparative table to the allowable expenditures of the Ministry of Social Policy, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and the Ministry of Youth and proposals to introduce standard forms of budget, reports and other documents 6. Draft Concept of the Amendments to the Tax Code and Customs Code of Ukraine 7. Comparative table of the Amendments to the Tax Code and Customs Code of Ukraine 8. Comparative of expenditures of the ministries conducting the projects contests 9. Concept of work of the Platform for legal reforms for CSOs - link (here link to the Concept for the previous format of Coalition for legal rights for CSOs). 10. Concept of Study Visits for newly-established CSOs in inclusion spheres working - link. 11. Concept of changes to the Draft Law on Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning the Regulation of Activities and State Registration of All- Ukrainian Public Associations 12. Comparative table to the Draft Law on Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning the Regulation of Activities and State Registration of All- Ukrainian Public Associations 13. Draft National Strategy for Civil Society Development 14. Legal Reforms Roadmap for Civil Society in Ukraine 15. Legal guide "Algorithms of action for civil society representatives in cooperation with law enforcement agencies." 16. Proposals to the Draft Law No. 4535 “On the development of the starosta institute” 17. Proposals to the Draft Law No. 3718 “On Fundamental Principles of Youth Policy” 18. Proposals to the Draft Concept of a mechanism for ascertaining the accuracy of the information on the ultimate beneficial owners contained in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Private Entrepreneurs, and Individuals. 19. Study on needs of CSOs in times of COVID-19 and lockdown 20. Study of the legal aid needs of CSOs. The intermediary report on legal aid may be found via this link 21. Study impact of intermediary support organizations on civil society. The full summary of the expert interviews may be found via this link. 22. Proposals to the Draft Law No. 3718 “On fundamental principles of youth policy” 23. Analytical Research “Practice and Legislative Challenges in the Registration of Public Associations” 24. Recommendations to the Ministry of Justice based on Analytical Research “Practice and Legislative Challenges in the Registration of Public Associations” 25. Recommendations to the Vice-Minister of Digital Transformation based on Analytical Research “Practice and Legislative Challenges in the Registration of Public Associations” 26. Statement on draft laws on lobbying (in English) 27. Success Story Collection (link) during the information campaign "Civil Society and Government - Best Practices for Cooperation" that was initiated by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine and the Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity Project and supported by the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers.
B. Public Outreach Documents
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1. A video explaining in details the grant process on the Marketplace Platform 2. Trello monitoring board
C. Performance Data Table Reported annually
D. Sub-Awards Table (if applicable) See Annex 1. Ednannia Sub Awards
E. Future Activities Table
Date Location Activity April –September 2021 Kyiv Administer sub-grants for strengthening organizational development of CSOs
April –September 2021 Kyiv Administer sub-award management system to support Strategic, Institutional and Thematic partners
April –September 2021 Kyiv Strengthen infrastructure for civil society
April –September 2021 Kyiv Promote different kinds of giving for strengthening financial sustainability of Ukrainian CSOs
April –September 2021 Kyiv Improve technical capacity of online platform CD Marketplace
April –September 2021 Kyiv Develop IT solution for conducting events online
April –September 2021 Kyiv Promote culture of organizational development
April –September 2021 Kyiv Hold 2nd Mentorship program for newly established CSOs
April –September 2021 Kyiv Capacity Building Educational Events and Activities
April –September 2021 Kyiv Maintain the Alumni network of Mentorship program participants
April –September 2021 Kyiv Conduct short-term internship programs for newly established CSOs working in inclusion areas
April –September 2021 Kyiv Hold practical training on coalition building
April –September 2021 Kyiv Develop an online course on social data and research methods for beginners
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April –September 2021 Kyiv Promote the concept of CSO Good Governance
April –September 2021 Kyiv Promote Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity
April –September 2021 Kyiv Strengthen capacity of the Consortium partners to be champions for the civil society in Ukraine
April –September 2021 Kyiv Monitor and analyze legislation
April –September 2021 Kyiv Develop Roadmap for advancing the ecosystem for giving in Ukraine
April –September 2021 Kyiv Run Advocacy campaign for implementing Legal Reforms Roadmap for Civil Society in Ukraine
April –September 2021 Kyiv Advocacy campaign for the adoption the National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021– 2026
April –September 2021 Kyiv Advocacy campaign for adopting 2021 Action Plan for implementing National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021 – 2026
April –September 2021 Kyiv Renew work of Coordination Council for Civil Society Development
April –September 2021 Kyiv Run advocacy campaign for introducing tax designation mechanism in Ukraine
April –September 2021 Kyiv Extend contest-based public funding of CSOs of people with disabilities
April –September 2021 Kyiv Discus the Amendments to the Cabinet Decree 1049 and Order of Ministry of Youth and Sport 808
April –September 2021 Kyiv To register the Draft of Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Civil Associations” for the improving CSO registration procedures
April –September 2021 Kyiv To Introduce on-line contest-based public funding for CSO
April –September 2021 Kyiv To register the Draft of Amendments to the Customs Code and Tax Code in the Parliament
April –September 2021 Kyiv Adoption the Draft Law “On Public Consultations” in the second reading and as a whole
April –September 2021 Kyiv, Adoption in the first reading the Amendments to the Law of online/offline Ukraine “On Local Self-Government of Ukraine”
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April –September 2021 Kyiv Develop mechanism for preventing adoption of restrictive legislation for civil society
April –September 2021 Kyiv Prevent adoption of legislation targeting foreign funding
April –September 2021 Kyiv Adoption the Amendments to the Draft Law 3718 “On Basic Principles of Youth Policy”
April –September 2021 Kyiv, Seminars to improve monitoring and analysis skills, to online/offline preparing the amendments to the draft laws and laws of Ukraine
April –September 2021 Kyiv, A workshop for СSOs of veterans, people with disabilities, online/offline youth and children’s organizations receiving public funding regarding in-kind contributions
April –September 2021 Kyiv A workshop for 25 CSOs to explain procedures for contest based public funding carried out through the online platform for public funding
April –September 2021 Kyiv A workshop for public authorities about the benefits of the online platform for contest based public funding of CSOs from the local budget
April –September 2021 Kyiv Develop mechanism for preventing adoption of restrictive legislation for civil society
April –September 2021 Kyiv Build СSO Coalition to advance Legal Reforms Roadmap for Civil Society in Ukraine
April –September 2021 Kyiv Build Platform for advancing ecosystem for giving in Ukraine
April –September 2021 Kyiv Ensure long-term public-government mechanism to support Civil Society Development in Ukraine
April –September 2021 Kyiv Support national CSO Network to Self-Regulate Civic Sector
April –September 2021 Kyiv Raise awareness about new legislation
April –September 2021 Kyiv Provide Legal Consultations to CSOs
April –September 2021 Kyiv Strengthen Resilience of CSOs
April –September 2021 Kyiv Study CSO financial sustainability models
April –September 2021 Kyiv Study Giving in Ukraine
Award No: 72012119CA00003 54
Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity FY 2020 SEMI-ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
April –September 2021 Kyiv Develop Study of tax benefits for donations to CSOs in the European and Eastern Neighborhood Countries
April –September 2021 Kyiv Study on attitudes affecting CSO support
April –September 2021 Kyiv Establish direct links with Civil Society support entities for the best practices sharing and learning in Ukraine and abroad
April –September 2021 Kyiv Develop Knowledge Clearing House Platform
April –September 2021 Kyiv Improve CSOs public image and promote their role in Ukraine
April –September 2021 Kyiv Conduct external assessment of consortium partners’ activities
Award No: 72012119CA00003 55