“Engaging Civil Society in Ukraine’s EU Accession Process” call for proposals

Ukraine has declared its European choice essentially since the beginning of its independence. In 2014, the Association Agreement was signed, providing for the gradual integration of Ukraine into the EU market within the framework of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. In 2022, Ukraine obtained EU candidate status, and in 2024 accession negotiations were opened.

By now, a detailed screening of Ukraine’s legislation for compliance with EU law has been completed across all 33 negotiation chapters. The European Commission’s assessments of Ukraine’s alignment across these chapters are publicly available through the annual Enlargement Package reports. The latest report on Ukraine was presented on November 4, 2025.

At this stage, due to Hungary’s veto, the EU does not have unanimous support among all Member States to officially open negotiation clusters with Ukraine. However, this does not mean Ukraine should wait for the EU to reach consensus. If Ukraine aims not only to open but also to move quickly toward provisional closure of the negotiation clusters, it must begin and deliver its “homework” as quickly and as well as possible already now.

To support Ukraine’s obligations for EU membership, in spring 2025 the Government of Ukraine approved Roadmaps on the rule of law, public administration reform, the functioning of democratic institutions, and an Action Plan for the protection of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities (communities) of Ukraine. Currently, based on the screening results, the Government is preparing a National Programme for the Adaptation of Legislation to EU law — a comprehensive and systemic plan to fully harmonize Ukrainian legislation and relevant institutions with EU acquis.

This approach—frontloading reforms and “homework” before the formal opening of the relevant negotiation chapters — received support at an informal meeting of EU Member States’ ministers in Lviv on December 11, 2025. The meeting also endorsed 10 reform priorities in anti-corruption policy and the rule of law for 2026.

Given the scale of tasks, in 2024 36 working (negotiation) groupswere established to prepare Ukraine’s negotiating positions across relevant chapters of the EU negotiation framework. Representatives of civil society are included in each group. Yet the scope of transformation required calls for broader engagement of active society in Ukraine’s EU accession process.

Accordingly, this call aims to mobilize civil society expertise for the accession process, increase understanding among opinion leaders of the necessary legal and institutional transformations, support independent non-governmental expertise, and promote inclusive stakeholder dialogue to improve public policy related to Ukraine’s EU “homework”.

Aim of the Call

To support civil society engagement in Ukraine’s EU accession process through expertise provision, advocacy, stakeholder engagement, learning and training, and public communication on related policy and legislative changes.

Expected Results

Enhanced capacity of civil society organizations to actively contribute meaningful inputs to the accession process; increased public awareness; and improved quality of public dialogue on policy and legislative changes across sectors covered by EU accession negotiations.

Eligible Applicants

Civil society organizations, think tanks, unions, associations, societies, and other entities registered under Ukrainian law as non-profit or charitable organizations.

Priorities

• Independent expert analysis and monitoring of alignment of national policy, legislation, institutions, implemented and planned reforms with EU requirements, and related advocacy and support to government planning and implementation of EU assessments, recommendations, and roadmaps, including analysis of potential impacts of reforms.
• Raising public awareness and building a national stakeholder consensus around specific regulatory, legislative, and policy changes required for EU accession.
• Strengthening professional competence of opinion leaders, civil society organizations, business and professional associations, public authorities, and local self-government bodies regarding EU law and policies in specific negotiation areas.
• Analysis of the potential implications of Ukraine’s accession for the EU, trends in reforms of key EU policies in view of future enlargement, preparation of proposals for Ukraine’s positioning in negotiations, and facilitation of dialogue with EU experts and stakeholders on sensitive enlargement-related issues.
• Analysis of experience and achievements of other candidate countries (with priority to those demonstrating the strongest progress according to EU conclusions), including sectoral integration, adoption of required legislation, stakeholder engagement, and development of recommendations for Ukraine.

Possible Activities

• Analysis of EU policy documents, reports and recommendations; government strategies and plans; draft laws and secondary legislation; Ukrainian legislation and EU acquis; preparation of assessments and recommendations, including inputs for public progress reports on negotiations.
• Assessment of compliance of reforms and policies with EU requirements, identification of bottlenecks and implementation challenges, and development of solution proposals.
• Facilitation of inclusive and constructive dialogue between governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in public and closed formats (hearings, consultations, roundtables, strategic sessions, etc.) to improve mutual understanding and reconcile positions while balancing cross-sectoral interests.
• Trainings and other short-term learning formats on EU law and policies for young professionals, project implementers, other CSOs, and civil servants engaged in negotiation-related processes; development of training courses in cooperation with universities; exchanges and study visits in Ukraine and abroad, including visits to EU Member States.
• Public dialogue and expert exchange with stakeholders in EU Member States and candidate countries, including assessment of potential impacts, benefits and costs of accession for specific EU policies and markets, and formulation and advocacy of shared interests.

Please Note

Project duration: up to 12 months.
Expected start of implementation: not earlier than March–April 2026.

Selection Criteria

• Thematic relevance to the goal and priorities of the call.
• Logical project design: clear thematic focus, realistic action plan; level of stakeholder and international partner engagement; feasibility of achieving expected results through proposed activities.
• Effectiveness: tangible outputs and outcomes; impact on target audiences and positive change; objective success indicators; sustainability of results.
• Availability of support letters from listed partners.
• Applicant competence: prior experience and knowledge of the topic; involvement of qualified experts; familiarity with key relevant documents (including references in the proposal).
• Understanding of stakeholders and target audiences; legitimacy and trust among partners and audiences; cross-sectoral stakeholder engagement (public sector, civil society, business).
• Budget justification, including balance between costs and results.

Funding

Total budget of the call: 35,000,000 UAH
Minimum budget: 500,000 UAH
Optimal budget: 1,000,000–1,400,000 UAH
Maximum budget: 1,800,000 UAH

Key Dates

Deadline for submissions: February 3, 2026, 15:00 (Kyiv time)
Announcement of results: by March 23, 2026

Submission Procedure and Technical Requirements

Project proposals (application form with annexes) must be registered on the IRF website using the Electronic Competition service. All documents must be uploaded in .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, or .pdf format. The maximum size of each annex is 8 MB.

Proposals registered after 15:00 on February 3, 2026 (Kyiv time) will not be considered. Submissions made by any other means will not be considered.

Eligible and Ineligible Costs

Eligible budget costs must be:

• necessary for project implementation;
• actually incurred during the project period;
• compliant with appropriateness and value-for-money principles (highest quality at the lowest price) and cost-efficiency;
• properly documented, justified, clear, and supported by accounting/financial documentation.

Ineligible costs include those related to:

• preparation of the proposal;
• establishment and registration of the organization;
• repayment of debts;
• compensation of currency exchange losses;
• direct fiscal support to public authorities;
• political activity or religious propaganda;
• activities leading to direct or indirect discrimination;
• profit-making projects;
• construction or renovation works;
• procurement of humanitarian aid and/or military equipment;
• procurement of vehicles and/or luxury items and related services;
• providing financial support to third organizations (re-granting).

Additional Conditions

The grant recipient is responsible for monitoring implementation and evaluating results, as well as compliance with EU communication and branding requirements. Reporting will be submitted in the format defined by IRF.

As a rule, the same organization may not receive more than EUR 60,000 in total support during implementation of the project “We Join the EU Together” (2025–2027); in duly justified cases, this amount may be increased to EUR 100,000.

IRF does not provide grants to political parties, religious communities, private individuals, or for-profit entities. Submitted materials are not returned and are not reviewed. All applicants will be notified of results by email. The final decision is not subject to appeal. Reasons for rejection are not provided.

Consultations

Consultations on call requirements for preparation and submission are provided only in written form. If you have additional questions, please contact us by February 2, 2026at:

• Dmytro Shulga, Director, “Europe and the World” Programme, International Renaissance Foundation (IRF), shulga@irf.ua
• Olga Kvashuk, Programme Manager, “Europe and the World” Programme, International Renaissance Foundation (IRF), kvashuk@irf.ua