Project background:

Since the start of the full-fledged war, despite tremendous challenges and upheaval, there has been a spike of activity in Ukrainian civil society. The country’s civil society in general has reoriented its activities and strategies in response to the challenges of the war, adapting and innovating practices to meet humanitarian needs and ensure the monitoring of human rights violations and abuses.

Civil society organizations in Ukraine were the first responders to the crises caused by the war, providing vital assistance to affected communities and advocating for their needs. Through their advocacy efforts, they have raised awareness about the impacts of the war on communities, mobilized resources to support those affected, and worked to ensure that the voices of those most impacted are heard in decision-making processes. Civil society organizations in Ukraine have demonstrated their ability to be agile, innovative, and responsive to emerging challenges.

As Ukraine moves towards long-term recovery, it is critical to ensure that civil society organizations are engaged in the planning process, so as to build forward better. In this context, it is essential to promote the participation of these organizations in the development of recovery plans, ensuring that they are impactful players in strengthening the country's resilience and recovery, democracy, and human rights agenda.

Project summary:

The “Civil Society and Youth Support” Project (CSYP) contributes to the following long-term result: “Ukraine's civil society and youth are impactful players in strengthening the country's resilience and recovery, democracy and human rights agenda, including issues of respect to diversity and women's rights and social cohesion.” The project has a three-dimensional approach. 

First, it works to strengthen civil society organizations, focusing first and foremost at the subnational level, to enable active civil society participation in strengthening Ukraine’s resilience, sustainable recovery and development processes, and to link established CSOs with youth groups –especially new initiatives that emerged after February 2022 – to ensure the cross-fertilization of skills. 

Second, the project works at the central level to create a more enabling policy environment for CSOs and support the national "youth machinery." At the national level, UNDP is also working with the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MYS) to re-design and transform the Youth Worker Programme by developing additional capacity development exercises, courses, and learning events for the youth workers, and to help the Ukrainian Youth Foundation kick-start its operations. CSYP supports CSOs in monitoring the implementation of national-level youth policies to determine how much progress has been made, and which areas need additional effort. 

Third and finally, the CSYP is designed to support young Ukrainians’ active participation in the country’s recovery by honing their skills in good citizenship and leadership. The project supports youth-driven projects and exposes young women and men to how local governments operate to implement locally relevant social cohesion initiatives.