Environmental Initiative

The initiative for the development of environmental policy and advocacy in Ukraine is being implemented by the International Renaissance Foundation with the support of Sweden. Our goal is (a) to contribute to the sustainable development of Ukraine through the spread of environmental-minded thinking and the growth of informed public demand for environmentally friendly policies and practices; (b) to implement the logic of sustainable development and environmental standards in policy development and public discourse; (c) to support a high-quality and independent environmental assessment; (d) to strengthen the environmental movement through the support of new, institutionally powerful public initiatives that have environmental protection and sustainable development among its strategic priorities; (e) to contribute to the establishment of an ecological and inclusive minded majority which will help achieve a new high-quality practice of implementing environmental policies at all levels

• To create conditions for modern organizational development of civil society institutions whose activity largely includes an ecological component. This organizational development involves the development of a system of governance of the organization, its management, financial system, strategic planning, operational activities, communications, etc.
• To enable the organizations selected in an open competition to increase their level of expertise and quality of activities through an exchange of best practices with domestic and foreign environmental organizations.
• To strengthen the interaction between civic organizations and other important stakeholders that in cooperation are able to raise relevant environmental issues and influence their resolution at the national and regional/local levels.
• Through the development of organizations participating in the Initiative, to promote the expansion of the circle of ecologically-minded citizens of Ukraine, in particular officials of different levels, representatives of the media, etc.

The initiative will last for four years, from January 2019 to December 2022.

The participants (grantees) of the Initiative will be determined by the results of an open competition which will take place in three stages. Potential grantees are civil society institutes whose activities are related to environmental issues and include the following components: environmental issues research, public awareness campaigns, clean environment values, promotion of ecologically healthy environments, development and policy analysis of environmental protection, advocacy, monitoring, counseling on the implementation of environmental policy at the national and regional / local levels, preventing and combating corruption in the environmental field.
Organizations that demonstrate innovative environmental practices and approaches to solve environmental problems will deserve the Initiative's special attention.

It is important to remember that by receiving funding from Sweden, you agree with the importance of sharing the world-wide recognized values such as human rights. In partnership, you share common goals and build partnerships based on mutual trust, honesty, and dialogue, and understand the importance of transparency and accountability of the parties. You recognize the importance of such cross-cutting priorities as poverty alleviation, environment and climate change, gender equality, conflict prevention, and promotion of sustainable development (more on this).
Sweden does not fund organizations or companies that are in the EU sanctions list. Activities that are not funded include: the production of weapons, ammunition or parts used for weapons and military strategic products; drug production; tobacco production and products from it; production of alcohol and alcoholic beverages; activities related to gambling and betting; destruction of territories with high ecological value; promotion or production of pornography; promotion or production of media products with racist or anti-democratic content; promotion or manufacture of chemical products not allowed in the EU.