The European Students’ Union among the 159 organisations calling the European Commission to societal accountability on the “RebuildUkraine” platform.

European Commission must guarantee a meaningful role for civil society in ‘RebuildUkraine’ 

Statement by European and Ukrainian civil society organisations 

Published during the Ukraine Recovery Conference,  

Lugano (Switzerland), 5 July 2022 

European civil society has been standing and continues to stand in solidarity with Ukraine and its people in the face of Russian aggression and the horrendous war. Russia must stop its aggression immediately and withdraw its troops from the entire territory. We hope that peace will soon return to  Ukraine.  

Civil society across the EU welcomes the agreement to grant Ukraine the status of candidate country for accession to the EU. European civil society organisations are ready to work with their members,  partners and friends in Ukrainian civil society to reconstruct the country, to strengthen civil society and to ensure a strong, resilient, equitable and sustainable Ukraine.  

Civil society organisations in Ukraine have been playing a crucial role since the start of the full-scale  Russian invasion and escalation in February 2022. They have been central in providing humanitarian and medical assistance, helping those fleeing the country, documenting atrocities and war crimes, reporting environmental and cultural heritage destruction as well as organising the spread of independent information and access to vital services. 

In May, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced ‘RebuildUkraine’,  the platform for the reconstruction of Ukraine. ‘RebuildUkraine’ is led by both the Commission and the  Ukrainian government with support from like-minded partners, such as EU countries and financial institutions.  

The European Commission and its partners still need to pledge amounts for the reconstruction of Ukraine.  The direct blow to Ukraine’s economy from the damage and destruction of buildings and infrastructure  has been estimated to be well above $100 billion. While seized Russian assets may be used for reconstruction efforts, lawmakers have mentioned a possible EU contribution of 50-60 billion EUR.  

It is not yet clear how the reconstruction funds will be distributed and which conditions will apply.  The Commission has stressed that reconstruction funds will be made conditional on reforms in line with  Ukraine’s accession to EU membership. The Commission’s Communication from 18 May argues that rebuilding the country’s infrastructure and energy resilience must be in line with the most recent  European policies and standards, including all of the European Green Deal policies, strategies and initiatives (including the New European Bauhaus) and that the support for the recovery of Ukraine’s economy must promote a sustainable and inclusive economy contributing to the green transition of the country. It emphasises that the reconstruction funds aim at supporting Ukraine on its path towards good governance and the respect of the rule of law and human rights. Ukrainian civil society has been calling for the reconstruction of its country to be based on the principles of sustainable development.  

As civil society, we welcome the setting up of ‘RebuildUkraine’. However, what is absent from the set-up of ‘RebuildUkraine’ is a role for Ukrainian and European civil society. The Commission’s  Communication refers to Ukraine’s National Council for Recovery in charge of the post-war recovery and development of Ukraine, which, according to its regulation, includes Ukrainian authorities at all levels, municipalities and civil society. The European Commission does not mention civil society and has not set out a clear role in the set-up of ‘RebuildUkraine’.  

Ukrainian civil society organisations and some of the European networks have already pointed in an open letter to the European Commission that the success ‘RebuildUkraine’ is fully dependent on its real ownership by the Ukrainian people. In Ukraine’s modern history, many decisive political and cultural developments have been driven by civil society. Therefore, we call on the European Commission to ensure proper governance structures for public participation by impacted communities and civil society groups from Ukraine and European civil society organisations. As argued by Ukrainian civil society, the financial instrument should apply the partnership principle in line with the European Code of Conduct on  Partnership to ensure involvement of all stakeholders, including civil society organisations in all stages of decision-making and implementation. This includes the full-scale participation of Ukrainian civil society in steering and monitoring committees under the financial instruments as is also the practice in the EU with  Cohesion Funds programming and management. 

A close involvement of non-governmental organisations, both on the EU and Ukrainian sides, will help increase the transparency and accountability of how EU public funds are distributed and spent. As civil society, we have relevant expertise to bring in, and must be able to play a watchdog role to ensure that investments in new infrastructure are aligned with the goals of the European Green Deal – in particular,  the path to carbon neutrality and a zero-pollution environment, and that reconstructive is nature positive.  It will also ensure that investments benefit all diverse groups in society, and primarily the most vulnerable groups including minorities and people with disabilities and taking into account the specific impacts of war on women. Civil society must have a clear role in defining priorities, planning and programming regarding long-term reconstruction measures, as well as being part of implementation and monitoring efforts. 

Furthermore, Ukrainian civil society organisations have been strongly active in providing support to fulfil  the current needs and will be implementing some of the reconstruction measures on the ground which  are being adopted. The expertise that Ukrainian civil society organisations possess and have  gathered on the ground is fundamental to the success of the measures. Local and national CSO in  Ukraine must be given a leading role in the efforts to build peace, to provide humanitarian assistance and  in reconstructing their country. 

Finally, civil society organisations will also need clear financial support to be able to carry out their tasks  of contributing to peacebuilding and reconstruction, service-delivery, acting as watchdogs and fighting corruption, also in view of the accession process of Ukraine to the EU. Strengthening civil society should  be seen as an integral part of the reconstruction and accession processes. 

This is also emphasised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) who recently called for a strong role for both Ukrainian and European civil society in the reconstruction process to contribute to rule of law reforms, the fight against corruption and the green transition5.  

We call on the European Commission to: 

• Guarantee a clear role and functions within the governance of ‘RebuildUkraine’, including meaningful consultations and an official observer status in all deliberations, for European civil society organisations, networks and trade unions, as well as Ukrainian civil society and municipalities. 
• Involve civil society and trade unions, including social, environmental, feminist and youth organisations, and those who work with most vulnerable groups, directly in the programming and planning of reconstruction measures, and ensure full transparency of this process. 
• Ensure an equal role for women and women’s rights organisations in peacebuilding and reconstruction.  
• Grant access to information on how the funds are distributed and under which conditions. 
• Involve the EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform and the EU and Ukrainian domestic advisory groups, set up under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, within ‘RebuildUkraine’.
• Young Ukrainians must be involved in the decision-making process about their future at all levels, including but not limited to the traditional youth field. 
• Ensure that the RebuildUkraine plan, as endorsed by the bilateral platform, is based on green, social, sustainable, accessible and ‘rebuild better’ principles.
• Include direct funding for Ukrainian civil society organisations through the reconstruction funds for the purposes of capacity building, organisational support and civil society activities within the framework of reconstruction efforts and the reform path towards EU membership, including to those Ukrainian organisations that have decided to leave the country during the war  and will eventually want to return and need support to achieve this. 
• Encourage and financially support partnerships between EU and Ukrainian organisations through ‘RebuildUkraine’ and funding programmes related to Ukraine’s candidate status.
• Set up a meeting between a civil society delegation containing both Ukrainian NGOs and European networks with the cabinet of the Commission President to discuss the role of civil society in ‘RebuildUkraine’.
• Rapidly invite for a broad civil society consultation meeting to ask for Ukrainian and  European civil society’s advice and input for the setup of ‘RebuildUkraine’, the programme and the conditionalities for funds to be dispersed. 

European and Ukrainian civil society are ready to share their experience and to channel the voices of those active on the ground to contribute to the rapid reconstruction of Ukraine and to a bright future for a  strong, democratic, resilient, equitable and sustainable Ukraine within the EU. 

Signatories: 

European organisations and networks 

1. Civil Society Europe  
2. European Environmental Bureau 
3. SDG Watch Europe 
4. SOLIDAR 
5. European Youth Forum 
6. Youth and Environment Europe 
7. ADRA Europe
8. AEGEE-Europe
9. BirdLife Europe and Central Asia (PanEuropean) 
10. CAN Europe 
11. Carbon Market Watch 
12. CEE Bankwatch Network 
13. Centre for European Volunteering (CEV) 
14. CONCORD Europe  
15. Culture Action Europe 
16. EAEA (European Association for the Education of Adults)  
17. Erasmus Student Network  
18. Eurodiaconia  
19. European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD)
20. European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) 
21. European Civic Forum
22. European Disability Forum (EDF) 
23. European Network Against Racism (ENAR) 
24. European Network on Statelessness 
25. European Patients Forum 
26. European Roma Grassroots Organizations (ERGO) Network 
27. European Students’ Union (ESU) 
28. European Women Lobby (EWL)  
29. ILGA-Europe 
30. International Council of Jewish Women (ICJW)  
31. International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) 
32. JEF Europe  
33. Lifelong Learning Platform 
34. LYMEC – European Liberal Youth  
35. Philea – Philanthropy Europe Association 
36. Phiren Amenca International Network  
37. SMES-Europa Mental Health Social Exclusion  
38. Transport & Environment  
39. Volonteurope  
40. Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF) 
41. Women for Water Partnership  
42. YMCA Europe 
43. Youth of European Nationalities 

Ukrainian civil society organisations  

44. All-Ukrainian Association for Youth Cooperation Alternative V (Ukraine)
45. All-Ukrainian league of blind and partially sighted people organizations  “Contemporary view” (Ukraine) 
46. All-Ukrainian NGO Coalition for People with Intellectual Disabilities (Ukraine) 
47. All-Ukrainian Parents Forum on Early Intervention (Ukraine) 
48. All-Ukrainian public organization of visually impaired people “Generation of  successful action” (Ukraine) 
49. Angel Detstva (Ukraine) 
50. Autism-Zhytomyr (Ukraine) 
51. Baltic Physical Culture and Sports Center for the Disabled, Phoenix (Ukraine) 
52. Caritas Ukraine (Ukraine) 
53. Centre for Economic Strategy (Ukraine) 
54. CF «Right to protection» (R2P) (Ukraine) 
55. Cultural and educational organisation “Grono” (Ukraine) 
56. Development of a child’s personality plus (Ukraine) 
57. Ecoaction (Ukraine) 
58. Environment People Law (EPL) (Ukraine) 
59. Erasmus Student Network Ukraine (Ukraine) 
60. Family for persons with disability (Ukraine) 
61. Go “Hope” (Ukraine) 
62. GO “I KNOW YOU CAN” (Ukraine) 
63. GO “VELES” (Ukraine) 
64. Hard bread Iryna (Ukraine) 
65. Helping hand of the city of Sumy (Ukraine) 
66. HOME with cerebral palsy “Nasha rodina” (Ukraine) 
67. Insight public organization (Ukraine) 
68. Institute of Creative Innovations NGO (Ukraine) 
69. International Renaissance Foundation (Ukraine) 
70. Kharkiv Regional Foundation “Public Alternative” (Ukraine) 
71. Mykolayiv Regional Movement of Support for People with Disabilities” Strong  together ” (Ukraine) 
72. National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine (Ukraine)
73. National Youth Council of Ukraine (Ukraine) 
74. NGO “Special Children” (Ukraine) 
75. Odesa regional organization of persons with disabilities and combatants  (Ukraine) 
76. Pokrov District Organization of Children with Disabilities (Ukraine)
77. Poltava City Public Association of Persons with Disabilities “Vira” (Ukraine) 
78. Public organisation “Art Space” (Ukraine) 
79. Public organisation “Artistic simple” (Ukraine) 
80. Public organisation “Autism. Conscious parenthood” (Ukraine) 
81. Public organisation “Educational and rehabilitation center “Sonyashnyk”  (Ukraine) 
82. Rehabilitation center “ARIS” (Ukraine)
83. Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (Ukraine) 
84. Resource & Analysis Center “Society and Environment” (Ukraine)
85. Roma Women Fund Chiricli (Ukraine) 
86. SD Platform (Ukraine) 
87. SHTUKA (Ukraine) 
88. Sign language interpreters and persons with disabilities “bridge” (Ukraine)
89. Social Synergy (Ukraine) 
90. Specially for you (Ukraine) 
91. Together Against Cancer (Ukraine) 
92. Trace (Ukraine) 
93. Ukrainian organization The League of the Strong (Ukraine) 
94. Unfolded Wings (Ukraine) 
95. VGOOI Movement for equal opportunities (Ukraine) 
96. YMCA Ukraine (Ukraine) 
97. Youth Agency for the Advocacy of Roma Culture “ARCA” (Ukraine) 
98. Youth Space (Ukraine) 
99. Zhytomyr Regional Public Agency for Disabled People (ZHOGOLI) Youth.  Woman. Family (Ukraine) 
100. ZORAX (Ukraine) 

National-level CSO from across Europe 

101. Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations (Denmark) 
102. Alliance Sud (Switzerland)  
103. Ambrela – Platform for Development Organisations (Slovakia) 
104. ASTRA – Anti-trafficking Action (Serbia) 
105. AVSI Foundation (Italy) 
106. Central Council of German Sinti and Roma (Germany) 
107. Civic Alliance -Latvia (Latvia) 
108. Civil Society Development Foundation (Romania)  
109. Clean Air Action Group (Hungary) 
110. Club de Madrid (Spain) 
111. CNCD-11.11.11(Belgium)  
112. Defend Democracy (Netherlands)  
113. Democracy and Human Rights Education in Europe (DARE network) (Belgium)
114. Democracy International (Germany) 
115. Democratic Society (Belgium) 
116. Donum Animus (Latvia) 
117. DVV International (Germany) 
118. Ecoteca (Romania) 
119. European House (Hungary)  
120. European Movement Italy (Italy)  
121. Evropský Institut Renaissance (Czech Republic)  
122. Fagic Federación de Asociaciones Gitanas de Cataluña (Spain) 
123. FOND – The Romanian NGDO Platform (Romania)  
124. Friends of the Earth Cyprus (Cyprus)  
125. Greek Forum of Refugees (Greece)
126. Green Alternative (Georgia)  
127. Green Liberty (Latvia)  
128. Hellenic Platform for Development (Greece)  
129. International Falcon Movement- Socialist Educational International (IFM-SEI)  (Belgium) 
130. Instytut Spraw Publicznych / Institute of Public Affairs (Poland)
131. International Federation of Liberal Youth (Netherlands) 
132. Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development – AsviS (Italy)  
133. Kreativ Research (Romania) 
134. La Strada International (Netherlands) 
135. La Voix des Rroms (France) 
136. Latvian Platform for Development Cooperation (Latvia)  
137. LDH -Ligue des droits de l’Homme (France)  
138. Lithuanian Disability forum (Lithuania)  
139. Make Mothers Matter (Belgium)  
140. National Youth Council of Romania (Romania)  
141. New Europeans International (Belgium)  
142. Nevo Parudimos (Romania) 
143. Open Dialogue Foundation (Poland/Ukraine/Belgium) 
144. Organization Earth (Greece)  
145. Our Fish (Netherlands) 
146. Polish Council of Youth Organisations (Poland)
147. Polish Disability Forum (Poland) 
148. Povod Institute (Slovenia) 
149. Roma Active Albania (Albania) 
150. Romanian Youth Council (CTR) (Romania)  
151. SLOGA – Slovenian NGO Platform for Development, Global Education and  Humanitarian aid (Slovenia)  
152. Slovo 21 (Czech republic) 
153. Spiralis (Czech Republic) 
154. The Roma Forum (Serbia) 
155. The Wheel (Ireland)  
156. Women’s lobby of Slovenia (Slovenia) 
157. Women’s NGOs Cooperation Network of Latvia (Latvia)  
158. Youth Council of Spain (Spain)  
159. ZERO – Associação Sistema Terrestre Sustentável (Portugal)

PDF version of the statement here.