Promoting integrity and trust in institutions
Ukrainian civil society is confident it can play a positive role in reducing the risk of corruption during the recovery process. Across national and regional organizations, the majority of respondents considered that independent civic oversight is their main added value. That so many identified their potential to contribute in this area is not unexpected, given that CSOs see the number-one risk to reconstruction as being corruption and misuse of funds (see Figure 4). Notably, around half of the CSOs who responded to the survey were concerned that new vested interests could emerge around reconstruction funds.
Ukraine already has a strong network of anti-corruption activists who have played a pivotal role in pushing for new anti-corruption agencies, increased transparency and judicial reform. But even with modern digital tools such as the ProZorro public procurement platform and the newly commissioned DREAM, there is much work still to be done to dismantle entrenched monopolies and root out a culture of ‘crony capitalism’ that has historically favoured politically connected business interests. For some years, Ukrainian civil society and investigative journalists have been working to expose corruption via the dedicated monitoring portal Dozorro, drawing on data from open registers as well as using laws on access to public information. This was already an uphill struggle, and access to data is often now restricted under the conditions of martial law imposed in response to the February 2022 invasion.
Ensuring the recovery is free of corruption matters for legitimacy, and for maintaining the energy that will ensure a strong economic rebound after the war.
The people of Ukraine need to have confidence in the reconstruction process in order to engage with it, and civic oversight can play an important role both in rebuilding the country and in building trust. Ensuring the recovery is free of corruption matters for legitimacy, and for maintaining the energy that will ensure a strong economic rebound after the war.
Fostering and sustaining resilience
Among Kyiv-based CSOs, 56 per cent of respondents considered they can add value to the recovery by contributing to social cohesion and resilience. This share is even higher among regional-level groups (79 per cent). The war has had a very powerful mobilizing effect, but CSOs will have a key role to play in further nurturing and strengthening Ukraine’s resilience during the recovery phase – above all by building confidence among citizens they have control over their future. More than a year after the full-scale invasion, Ukrainians maintain high levels of hope and believe that their country can successfully repel Russia’s aggression. But if they are to endure a prolonged war and still maintain the energy they will need for the difficult period to come, it is critical that citizens are brought to the table and can help design solutions from the outset.
Depopulation, poverty and environmental damage is likely to affect some communities for years after the war is ended. In the autumn of 2022, the World Bank estimated that 25 per cent of Ukraine’s population would be living in poverty by the end of that year, and as many as 55 per cent by the end of 2023. Large groups have been deeply affected by the war, among them veterans, children, women and IDPs, and it has been estimated that a mental health crisis could impact as many as 10 million people in the coming decade. All of these factors will create challenges for social cohesion. There are some grounds for optimism in that around a third of survey respondents identified their capacity to consider the needs of vulnerable groups as one of the ways they can add value to Ukraine’s recovery.
A more worrying indicator from the survey is that just 9 per cent of CSOs pointed to gender integration as an area in which they can add value. This may be partially explained by the fact that the survey did not specifically target groups working on gender. Rates of sexual and gender-based violence, including domestic violence, were already rising after 2014, and a 2017 report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine found that a lack of capacity within Ukraine’s justice system meant that there was often impunity for perpetrators of sexual violence while victims were unsupported and denied justice. Amnesty International highlighted in March 2023 that the impacts of Russia’s war on Ukraine are having a detrimental effect on women’s mental, physical, and sexual and reproductive health. Planning and budgeting for the recovery must allow for gender-sensitive analysis, and dedicated efforts will need to be made to ensure women’s participation in decision-making processes.
Challenges will additionally arise in reintegrating young men and women who have served in the armed forces. Ukraine will have around 1 million veterans and their families to support. Many service personnel, along with civilians, have suffered serious injuries, and will need to heal, reskill and rebuild their lives. The situation will be further complicated by the need to fully reintegrate territories occupied by Russia. If Ukraine re-establishes territorial integrity at its post-1991 borders, citizens who have lived under Russian occupation for around a decade will require a special approach. CSOs could be invaluable partners in designing programmes for these groups, especially given their prior experience in confidence-building efforts and in providing support for people living under occupation in Crimea and parts of Donbas after 2014. This means also engaging civic groups in upholding the framework for transitional justice that will necessarily form part of the reintegration effort.
Civil society priorities: modernization and innovation
Ukrainian civil society has a strong modernization agenda. Across all respondents to the survey, 71 per cent identified modernizing the country’s institutions – including by tackling crony capitalism, dismantling monopolies and eliminating the remnants of post-Soviet inefficiency and red tape – as the top priority for the recovery. It should be noted that modernization was identified as a greater priority by Kyiv-based groups (85 per cent), whereas for regional activists the chief recovery priority was rebuilding of physical infrastructure (62 per cent, compared with 55 per cent for institutional reform). This is understandable, as many CSOs based in the capital have a strong track record of reform advocacy, and in the years since the Revolution of Dignity civil society has often proved itself to be a driver of transformation and not just a watchdog over government. Many reforms implemented after 2014 have been successful because of strong engagement, intellectual contributions and pressure from Ukrainian civil society. Reforms around decentralization, anti-corruption and public procurement have all benefited from the engagement of experts from outside the state system.
![Figure 2. Responses to survey question 12: What is the main value added of civil society engagement in Ukraine’s recovery? [multiple choice] (107 respondents, Kyiv-based and regional CSOs)](https://www.chathamhouse.org/system/files/styles/reader_large/private/reader-content/publication-31881/file-57046/OEBPS/image/CHHJ9930-added-value-society-recovery.png?itok=rjbRpqpK)
