On a summer day in August, nestled in the beautiful Carpathian mountains, I had the opportunity to engage with Ukrainian activists in a profound discussion about our vision for civil society — how we perceive it and what we aspire it to become.
Defining Civil Society
Our conversation began with an exchange of personal definitions of civil society. Many agreed that it’s a vast concept, encompassing diverse institutionalized and non-institutionalized groups. These entities can be actively engaged one moment and dormant the next, reacting to events and organizing spontaneously.
I posited that a “human rights spirit” is a fundamental attribute of civil society. This means being sensitive to various injustices, not just those that affect us personally. For instance, able-bodied people must care about disability rights. Or upon learning about the struggles of people with addiction, they should seek to understand from those directly affected rather than relying on intentionally biased sources.
This commitment to human rights extends to fighting for a broad spectrum of freedoms: movement, thought, assemblies etc., which is not limited by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It means caring about the fair execution of human rights for all members of society, including marginalized groups like those with mental disorders or people experiencing drug addiction. If access to free medical services is available in cities but not in rural areas, it signals a problem with the equitable execution of rights.
Diluting Civil Society’s Purpose
I argue that NGOs and funders should prioritize nurturing this human rights spirit through their projects and programs. This approach provides long-term perspectives for activism and strengthens connections between movements. It encourages deeper engagement with our work, making us more united and resilient. Moreover, it aids in developing justice systems and identifying practical shortcomings.
Without this spirit, activism risks becoming mere “service provision” — actions defined externally and constrained by arbitrary standards. It becomes vulnerable to instrumentalization by capital and authorities. The top-down approach often employed by development agencies or international humanitarian organizations comes to mind. While foreign institutions often introduce beneficial policies aimed at meeting EU standards for quality of life and justice in Ukraine, these initiatives often fall short without efforts to cultivate a deep understanding of the human rights values embedded within them.
Challenges in Ukrainian Civil Society
Our discussion also touched on the “sore points” of civil society in Ukraine. We noted a low culture of creating assemblies and cooperating across movements, organizations, and groups. This is partly due to a lack of perceived value in such collaborations, but also stems from practical obstacles like the absence of partnership databases, limited resources for building partnerships, and an atmosphere of competition.
Ukraine’s vast geography presents another challenge, making it difficult for activists from different regions to meet. The lack of community spaces for spontaneous gatherings is also problematic. While churches serve this purpose in Western Ukraine and shopping centers or coffee shops in larger cities, questions remain about the inclusivity and effectiveness of these spaces in encouraging activist exchanges.
We must remember that building community spaces and fostering professional gatherings is particularly challenging in the Ukrainian context, given our history of movement oppression, power dynamics between business, state, and church, and persistent stereotypes about activism and Western donors.
Another challenge is a tendency to overburden civil society with responsibilities that other sectors can’t handle. The low entry threshold for starting projects, especially for youth, contributes to this. While Ukrainian civil society has proven extremely powerful and efficient in crises, many activist groups or small organizations struggle with growth, overcoming failures, conflicts, and resource scarcity.
Cooperation difficulties also play a role here. In our individualistic society, where smartphones enable independent action, learning to trust and negotiate with others becomes crucial. While NGOs relying on donor support learn project management, building sustainable institutions requires different resources and processes — support that Western donors often don’t provide.
Aspirations for Civil Society
During our conversation we also exchanged our “wishes” about civil society.
We envision operational support services for small Ukrainian organizations/groups to help implement activities professionally. This could partially solve the problem of lacking back offices and allow small groups and diverse models of collective action to thrive. For example, we dream of having operators who can provide financial assistance, bank accounts for unregistered groups, or even free office space — services that are available in the Global North.
This support would allow founders to focus on their field of expertise instead of spending excessive time on establishing administrative work and office creation. Currently, it seems that organizations have no chance if they don’t create their own powerful back office, forcing all to grow bigger and leaving small groups with no chances.
We also need to foster connections between different actors and streams of civil society to avoid duplicated efforts and enable mutual learning. The current situation is critical: we see many unsynchronized efforts, sometimes doing double or triple work. It’s hard for us to learn from each other and find learnings from other organizations. For instance, hundreds of organizations are now publishing “best practices” or manuals, but who reads them?
Many activists give up their work and change spheres; they don’t need manuals. We need cooperation that can strengthen us and allow us to spread the wisdom of systematic work. Better coordination and synchronization could enhance overall effectiveness and reduce resource competition. Instead of competing for resources and wasting precious time writing applications in a toxic atmosphere of blind competition, we could be more effective overall. We desperately need more coordination to avoid repeating the same work.
Conclusion
Tiredness and working on our last legs have become commonplace. After each bomb explodes we feel obligated to persevere, but we often lack the space to imagine a better perspective for our work. We often speak about survival as the best perspective. I think carefully moderated dreaming sessions about changes in civil society could bring hope and energy to tired and desperate Ukrainian activists. As we navigate these challenges, it’s crucial to maintain our commitment to human rights and collaborative spirit, fostering a civil society that is resilient, inclusive, and truly transformative.
Photos by Olha Zarko
