The Center for Democracy and the Rule of Law has compiled a collection of successful case studies from 2024–2025. These include 56 stories from various regions of Ukraine across nine categories: support for the military, social projects, creation of spaces, reconstruction, humanitarian aid and rehabilitation, education, information campaigns and contests, culture, and other projects. The collection also includes a story about the “Window of Recovery” media network as an example of a partnership for the transparent and inclusive recovery of Ukraine.
The concept behind the collection
Olesya Kholopik, director of CEDEM, noted that the initiative began in 2020 as a way to showcase dialogue between the government and NGOs, but later evolved into a “trialogue” that also involved the business community. Stories for the collection are selected through a competitive process, and the number of submissions grows each year.
This collection aims to promote collaborative projects and serve as a model for addressing challenges during wartime and post-war reconstruction.
“Each of these projects can serve as a foundation for new initiatives, demonstrating how cooperation based on trust and the combination of the strengths of civil society, government, and business gives rise to the most sustainable, interesting, and scalable solutions,” emphasized Inna Pidluska, Deputy Executive Director of the International Renaissance Foundation.
What is the content of the 2024–2025 collection?
The collection of stories “Civil Society, Business, and Government—Best Practices for Cooperation” is the result of the fifth annual campaign, implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers, the National Social Service, Global Compact Network Ukraine, and with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation. Anna Isichko, Deputy Director of CEDEM and moderator of the event, spoke about this.
Oleksiy Tretyakov-Grodzevich, Project Manager at CEDEM, provided statistics on this year’s collection:
- a total of 136 stories were received, of which 56 were included in the collection;
- selection criteria: tripartite cooperation, implementation in 2024–2025, and public availability of information about the project;
- breakdown by authors: 82 stories were submitted by government agencies, 50 by civil society, and only 4 by the business sector.
“We have a story from a small local village where they set up a space so that veterans could gather and pursue their interests, we have stories at the level of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, where they run a book club and invite people there, and we have stories that unite all of Ukraine,” listed Oleksii Tretyakov-Gvozdevych.
According to Anna Isichko, this year’s anthology includes a new section titled “Information Campaigns and Contests” for the first time. In general, the collection includes stories about the rehabilitation of soldiers with the help of specially trained dogs in Kyiv’s Muromets Park from the Baza 4.5.0 project, about VR lectures on protecting children’s rights from the National Police, about a modular shelter in Trostyanets in the Sumy region, about the Center for Creative Economy in Bar, and many others. In particular, the collection also includes the story “Windows of Recovery” as a collaboration between the media and civil society sectors for the transparent and inclusive recovery of Ukraine.
Hanna Krasnostup, Director of the Department of Strategic Communications and Promotion of Ukrainian Culture at the Ministry of Culture, highlighted the uniqueness of each story. At the same time, she singled out safety-themed scavenger hunts for internally displaced children in Zaporizhzhia, a project to help stray animals in Kyiv, a center for social and psychological support for victims of domestic violence in Dobroslav, and the “Stritkod” initiative (QR codes about historical figures on buildings), which has already been scaled up to 17 cities.
“This collection is truly inspiring—not just for civil servants, but for everyone who reads it,” said Hanna Krasnostup.
The online version of the collection is available at this link. All stories will also be published on the Government Portal, said Natalia Oksha, Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Public Communications and Head of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
The event was organized by the Center for Democracy and the Rule of Law with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation. The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the National Social Service of Ukraine, and the UN Global Compact in Ukraine are the media partners of the competition.
Source: Window of Recovery
