Both within Ukraine and internationally, officials at the highest levels consistently state that citizens must be an integral part of the rebuilding of Ukraine. The joint statement of the February 2023 EU–Ukraine summit, for instance, acknowledged ‘the crucial role civil society, local administrations and private actors will play in Ukraine’s reconstruction’. And three of the seven guiding principles for recovery (the ‘Lugano Principles’) agreed at the July 2022 Ukraine Recovery Conference are directly related to citizen engagement: democratic participation, multi-stakeholder engagement, and gender equality and inclusion. Ukrainian officials have emphasized that recovery must consider the needs of communities. But little has been said or done to identify how the engagement of civil society could take shape.
Up to now, civil society has chiefly been engaged in planning for the recovery on an ad hoc basis, or around high-profile international events. Ukrainian think-tanks and experts were invited to contribute ideas to the National Recovery Plan. The RISE coalition helped the new State Agency for Recovery and Infrastructural Development set up its integrity procedures. Experts from think-tanks working on transparency and anti-corruption helped design operational procedures, rules governing the allocation of funding, and best practice for governance of public agencies. The coalition has also been commissioned by Ukraine’s digital transformation ministry to design a new digital recovery management system called DREAM (Digital Restoration Ecosystem for Accountable Management). Many CSOs have repurposed their spending to address war-related needs. But a more systematic approach to ensuring inclusion and wide engagement is still lacking.
Prior to the February 2022 invasion, Ukraine’s civil society was already recognized – including in research published by Chatham House – as one of the key factors contributing to the country’s resilience to Russian aggression. The following characteristics were evident:
- An active network of CSOs and a vibrant volunteer movement. This has been important in helping to overcome the Soviet-era legacy of a low-trust society. In 2020, around 30 per cent of Ukrainians considered that most of their fellow citizens could be trusted, compared with 23 per cent in 2011. Charitable and humanitarian organizations were trusted by around 58.5 per cent of Ukrainians in 2020.
- A prevailing culture of non-hierarchical links between citizens as a main organizing feature of society, reinforced by an effective policy of decentralization. Community is a main building block of governance.
- Previous successful social mobilization – most recently the Euromaidan protests and Revolution of Dignity in 2013–14, and efforts to resist Russian aggression since the annexation of Crimea – which has strengthened a sense of solidarity among Ukrainians. CSOs have been active in countering disinformation, fighting corruption, helping to reintegrate veterans, supporting IDPs and developing community journalism.
Ukraine’s resilience has been further underpinned by institutional reforms undertaken since 2014, which increased the role of citizens in governance and helped strengthen trust in local authorities. The establishment of bodies such as the High Anti-Corruption Court and National Anti-Corruption Bureau has also gone some way in reinforcing the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state. EU candidate status, granted to Ukraine in June 2022, will provide a blueprint for further reforms and can be expected to catalyse deeper change.
Mobilization of civil society has intensified since the 2022 invasion, with the sector adapting quickly to meet the enormous new challenges of the war and engage more segments of society. In one survey conducted by the Zagoriy Foundation within Ukraine in mid-2022, 86 per cent of citizens stated that they were involved in charitable activity in support of the resistance. The number of registered charities has increased eightfold since the start of the war.
Civic grassroots initiatives also proliferated in the early months of the war. These, primarily involving local non-profit groups, focused on assistance to the Ukrainian armed forces (e.g. supplies of food, protective gear, drones and communications equipment) and helping IDPs (housing, assistance for children, mental health support). Many such initiatives continue to operate, mainly as volunteer hubs, training organizations and housing coordination centres for displaced people. Around a fifth of these groups have officially registered as a charity or CSO.
Through their mass engagement in grassroots activities since the Russian invasion, millions of Ukrainians now have experience of crisis management, teamwork, fundraising, cross-sectoral cooperation and partnerships that will prove invaluable in post-war reconstruction. These same citizens will demand a greater say in politics – beyond voting in elections – at national and regional levels, and will expect vibrant self-governance and strong accountability. By the beginning of 2023, 94 per cent of respondents to the National Democratic Institute survey considered it either very important or important for Ukraine to become a functioning democracy, compared with 71 per cent in 2021.
This energy and ambition must be channelled into efforts to rebuild the country. The depth of civic participation will clearly differ from region to region, but opportunities must be created across the country for citizens to fund, create and deliver recovery projects and shape the policies and norms of post-war Ukraine. Some regions, especially around large cities and in areas towards the west, will likely retain a more highly skilled population and vibrant civic life that will help drive the recovery, while communities closer to the front lines of the war are at much higher risk of depopulation and stagnation. But across the country, and regardless of differences in capacity between regions, Ukraine will need to shift from a focus on its citizens being predominantly ‘consumers’ and beneficiaries of laws and regulations to a culture in which they are empowered to co-design and shape the policies that affect them.
If properly undertaken, the engagement of citizens and civil society will strengthen Ukraine’s social capital, with positive impacts for national and local governance, social trust, public health and well-being. Sustaining and giving new purpose to the connections forged between citizens during the war – including those that transcend social, ethnic, religious and other divides – has the potential to give a strong impetus to reconstruction and enable a faster and more inclusive recovery. Evidence from other countries already shows that civic connection matters both for local economic growth and for building a sense of optimism within communities. Citizen participation in post-war recovery could make Ukraine a global test case for reinvigorating democracy and building participatory institutions.
