Challenges for civil society organizations

Publication date: July 7, 2023

Author: Halyna Kolesnyk, communications manager of the Legal Development Network 

Almost half of the organizations participating in the training and mentoring program of the project “Capacity development of local NGOs – legal aid providers in Ukraine”, which is implemented by the Legal Development Network (LDN) with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine and the Government of Canada, were forced to leave their communities due to military actions. 

Some of them had to start all over again because they lost the established organizational structure. Their policies and procedures needed to be created or updated according to the conditions and challenges of martial law. Many new team members with no community service experience had to quickly adapt to the civil sector context.

One of the examples of such adaptation was the CF “Berdiantsi – own for their own”. The organization was created a year ago by residents of Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia oblast, who were forced to leave the temporarily occupied city. They had to start civil activities in an intensive mode. Before that, they all worked in different fields and had absolutely no experience working in the civil sector. Their goal was to help Ukrainian men and women who are under occupation. From May to August 2022, 3.5 thousand tons of various types of aid were delivered to them. In addition, legal advice was provided. 

“We observe that the flow of appeals has not decreased, because we not only help those who remained in the occupied territory, but also those who managed to leave for Zaporizhzhia. Our foundation has already adopted more than 7,300 families. Every fifth family applies for counseling, and some need to go to court,” says Viktor Dudukalov, a lawyer at the CF “Berdyantsi — their own for their own”.

In order to provide displaced persons with secondary legal assistance, the organization concluded a memorandum of cooperation with the local center of free secondary legal assistance. Specialists of the center not only advised the resettled people but also received positive court practices in some cases.

It was when the organization realized the need to move its activities to a more professional level that its founders came across an opportunity to participate in the initiative “Capacity development of local NGOs – legal aid providers in Ukraine”. 

“We started by issuing humanitarian aid kits and answers to simple questions. And today, thanks to our mentor Kateryna Maltseva, we have approved strategies, regulations, and policies that are often required by international partners. For example, thanks to this, we were able to participate in two new grant competitions in 2023. Also, knowing the standards of work of civil organizations, we understand what our partners are like and how exactly we can interact with them.

Due to the fact that we ourselves have been displaced and have often faced the same problems that we are approached about today, we can better respond to the needs of internally displaced persons. Support, mentoring, and training helped us to set up our operations. We often advise state and communal institutions so that they can provide services to displaced people more efficiently. Our help has a great reach and we get a lot of appreciation from people. We are not stopping and believe that after the de-occupation of Berdiansk, we will be able to continue our work in our hometown,” says Viktor Dudukalov.

In 2022, the NGO “Family Circle / Public Expertise“, which works in the Deliatyn community of the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, was created by nine IDPs from the Energodar community of the Zaporizhia oblast. Understanding the problems and needs of internally displaced persons, in partnership with local self-government bodies, they organized an information headquarters for IDPs in the community, which at that time numbered more than 1,500.  

“At first, we distanced the local residents from the work of our headquarters, mistakenly thinking that only we could understand the displaced people. But later we began to attract volunteers from among local residents. For the first six months, we focused on providing humanitarian aid, and legal services were provided very situationally. In August, when all the processes gained stability, our team began to look for ways to establish legal aid and came across an advertisement from the Legal Development Network. Thanks to participation in the training and mentoring program, we organized our internal documents and clearly divided responsibilities within the organization. This made it possible to bring human rights activities to a new level. Thanks to the tips of the mentor of the Legal Development Network, we prepared a proposal and received mini-grant support. We provide assistance to both displaced persons and residents of the temporarily occupied Energodar community. We understand that our strength today is structured work, which we were able to establish even without experience in the civil sector, in particular thanks to participation in the initiative “Capacity development of local NGOs – legal aid providers in Ukraine,” says Liudmyla Sirko, the head and the lawyer of the NGO “Family Circle / Public Expertise”.

Another organization “Strategies and Technologies of Effective Partnership” (STEP), Zaporizhzhia, has more than 12 years of experience in educational and awareness activities. But after February 24, 2022, the NGO began looking for opportunities to provide legal aid. The organization has been working in this direction since June 2022 within the framework of a partnership with the Danish Refugee Council, involving three lawyers in the team who provide legal assistance to internally displaced persons. 

“Our city is near the front line, and it has many relocated local self-government bodies that were forced to leave the temporarily occupied territories. We have concluded a memorandum of cooperation with almost every community of the Zaporizhzhia oblast, and our lawyers provide them with legal assistance. During the year of work, we provided about two thousand consultations to IDPs and local self-government bodies. We also received mini-grant support from UNDP for organizations participating in the project “Capacity development of local NGOs – legal aid providers in Ukraine”, thanks to which lawyers had the opportunity to help two more communities,” says Oleksii Ahientaiev, member of the board of the NGO “STEP”.

For reference

The project “Capacity development of local NGOs – legal aid providers in Ukraine” is implemented by the Legal Development Network with the support of UNDP within the framework of the UN Peacebuilding and Reconstruction Program with the financial support of the Government of Canada.

The UN Reconstruction and Peacebuilding Program (UN RPP) is implemented by four UN agencies: the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Framework for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and the United Nations Agricultural Organization (FAO).

The program is supported by twelve international partners: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the US Embassy in Ukraine, as well as the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland.

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