At the end of 2025, the International Renaissance Foundation, with the support of the EU, announced a grant competition to support the involvement of civil society in Ukraine’s EU accession process through the provision of expertise, advocacy, stakeholder engagement, training and clarification of related policy and legislative changes.
The сall for proposals ‘Engaging civil society in Ukraine’s EU accession process’ has five priorities:
- Analysis of the experience and achievements of other candidate countries, particularly in the areas of sectoral integration, adoption of necessary legislation, stakeholder interaction (priority – countries demonstrating the best dynamics according to EU conclusions), and development of recommendations for the Ukrainian side.
- Independent expert analysis and monitoring of the compliance of national policies, legislation, institutions, and implemented and planned reforms with EU requirements, and, accordingly, advocacy and assistance in the preparation and implementation of government plans, EU assessments and recommendations, including analysis of the possible consequences of implementing the relevant changes;
- Raising public awareness and building a national consensus among stakeholders on specific regulatory, legislative and policy changes necessary for EU accession;
- Improving the professional competence of opinion leaders, non-governmental organisations, business and professional associations, state authorities and local self-government bodies on EU law and policies in various specific areas of the accession negotiations;
- Analysing the potential consequences of Ukraine’s accession for the EU itself, trends in key EU policy reforms taking into account future enlargement, preparing relevant proposals on Ukraine’s position in the negotiations, organising dialogue with European experts and stakeholders on sensitive issues related to enlargement.
Non-governmental organisations, think tanks, unions, associations, societies and other associations registered under Ukrainian law as non-profit or charitable organisations are invited to participate.
To explain the logic behind the competition and answer questions, the Europe and the World programme team will hold an online presentation on 20 January. You can register for it at the following link: https://forms.gle/WbLHnWHeCWYYeHUPA
The presentation will begin at 4 p.m., and we will send you a link to participate on the day of the presentation. Further consultations regarding the terms of the competition and the requirements of the International Renaissance Foundation for the preparation and submission of project proposals will be provided electronically only.
If you have any additional questions, please contact us by 2 February 2026 at shulga@irf.ua and kvashuk@irf.ua.
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The competition ‘Engaging civil society in Ukraine’s EU accession process’ is organised by the International Renaissance Foundation in partnership with the European Union as part of the project “Whole-of-Society Accession: Strengthening Civil Society’s Role in Ukraine’s EU Accession.”
