Dear friends! We are pleased to present to you the Final Report on the work of the Civic Synergy project, which was implemented by the European program of the International Renaissance Foundation with the support of the European Union for almost 4 years – from the second half of 2016 to March 2020.
In the framework of this Project, we helped Ukrainian civil society to be systematically involved in the promotion of European integration reforms – by supporting the development of two civic Platforms focused on European Integration. These are the Ukrainian side of the EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform (UA CSP) and the Ukrainian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (UNP), which together gather more than 350 NGOs and promote the implementation of the Association Agreement and the objectives of the Eastern Partnership, respectively.
Thus, with the support of the Project, the Platform’s experts prepared high-quality policy analysis papers on various topics of Ukraine’s European integration (more than 120 analytical materials in total), provided numerous proposals for public policies, feedbacks and opinions on draft laws (over 200 detailed expert opinions on legislative drafts), governmental strategies and road maps, and organized stakeholder discussions.
The project provided information and training not only to the members of the Platforms, but also to wider audiences – civic activists, students, entrepreneurs, farmers. In total, more than 100 training and awareness raising events were held for 2391 participants from all regions of Ukraine, where they were informed about the tasks, requirements and opportunities of European integration. Thanks to the Project, the first online course on the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement was launched in Ukraine, which provided an opportunity to understand the content of this complex legal document not only for civic activists but also for civil servants, students, and broader public interested in Ukraine’s European integration (for the time being, the course was used by 10,661 participants).
We have also ensured that the Platforms reach foreign target audiences and establish productive cooperation with NGOs, experts, journalists, diplomats and officials of the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries. Expert forums and visits of journalists gave an impetus to the development of a constructive bilateral societal dialogue with Ukraine’s neighbors (Belarus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova). A unique platform for trilateral cooperation with Moldova and Georgia in the field of European integration was created – the annual Association Exchange Forum in Kyiv.
Within the framework of the Project, 57 sub-grant sub-projects of the Platform member organisations were supported and successfully implemented, which carried out policy analysis, awareness raising and advocacy activities in specific thematic areas covered by the Association Agreement and the Eastern Partnership priorities.
The Project has also made great efforts to support the internal institutional development of the Platforms. Permanent Secretariats of the Platforms were established, which set up working processes, effective internal and external communication of the Platforms. The activities were strategized and the statutory activities of the UA CSP and UNP were fully ensured – regular meetings of working groups and governing bodies, large-scale annual Platforms’ meetings, participation in international events etc. Also, a number of trainings and webinars were held to deepen the knowledge and skills of the Platform members.
Strategically, the Project’s activities, in particular the civic expert monitoring and advocacy for the implementation of the Association Agreement, helped to adopt a number of important laws and move closer to the EU market integration in a number of sectors, to maintain the European integration agenda in Ukraine through the time of change of government, and initiate a discussion with the EU on updating and upgrading the Agreement in a number of areas. Together with the international networking and advocacy activities of the Project, all this helped to advance Ukraine’s ambitions to reform the Eastern Partnership and deepen integration with the EU.
You can learn more about all these activities and their results on the Project’s website www.civic-synergy.org.ua and in the public Final Report of the Project, available at the link.
We sincerely thank the Platforms’ members and all partners for their cooperation and contribution to the common cause of Ukraine’s transformation into a European state!
