Supporting Ukraine’s Civil Society: Bridging Capacities Amid the War

About the project

In the wake of the full-scale invasion in 2022, a new volunteer and civil society movement has emerged in Ukraine. The project is aimed at strengthening and empowering civil society in Ukraine by enhancing the capacity and providing organisational development to newly formed non-governmental and civil society organisations (NGO/CSO) and by integrating human rights principles into their work.

Mutual learning and exchange between Ukrainian and Danish civil society groups will enrich all members and establish new connections and networks linking Ukrainian NGOs and CSOs closer to their European counterparts.

The project aims to achieve these outcomes by connecting and facilitating the exchange of experiences and lessons learned between Ukrainian and Danish civil society resulting in the mutual strengthening and capacity enhancement of 190 NGO/CSO members from at least 10 Ukrainian NGOs/CSOs.

The long-term impact will be a better-equipped, skilled and independent civil society with a strong foundation based on human rights and democratic values who will be the future guardians of those principles in Ukraine in the context of war and post-conflict.

This project is supported by New Cooperation Mechanism.

Organisations involved

The Danish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights is a Danish non-profit organisation that works for the observance of international human rights agreements and points out threats to and violations of human rights and international treaties.

Charity Foundation “East-SOS”, an NGO based in Ukraine, originated as a volunteer civil initiative and a hotline in May 2014 through the efforts of activists from Luhansk Human Rights Center “Postup,” Crimean Human Rights Center “Diya,” and the Civil Sector of Luhansk EuroMaidan. They have been working to find shelter for internally displaced persons (IDPs), aiding in the evacuation of individuals from the conflict zone, collecting and distributing humanitarian aid to IDPs in Kyiv, delivering humanitarian aid to front-line settlements, and offering psychological first aid. Additionally, involvement extended to participating in the search, release, and rehabilitation of victims of abductions, monitoring and documenting human rights violations, and reporting on the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.