East Europe Foundation had its own special program in the framework of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023, which took place in London on June 21-22.

Together with our partners in the Agency for Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine and with the support of the Folke Bernadotte Academy, which is the Swedish government agency for peace, security and development, we held a one-day seminar to support the role of civil society in the socially cohesive reconstruction of Ukraine.

With the participation of representatives of about 30 non-government organizations, we developed recommendations and ideas for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Subsequently, Viktor Liakh, President of East Europe Foundation, had the honor to personally present this work at a meeting in Chatham House.

The overarching principles of the document include:

1. Ensuring the priority attention to human rights, inclusiveness, gender equality, and respect for human dignity.
2. Participation of the private sector and CSOs in reconstruction.
3. Subsidiarity in the distribution of donor aid.
4. Full access to factual data within the limits set by current legislation.
5. Deployment of mechanisms and platforms that will allow CSOs to work as partners with local and national governments in planning and implementing the Strategic Plan for the Reconstruction of Ukraine.
6. Support the discussion of ways to reintegrate the territories liberated from Russian occupation since 2014 into the Ukrainian political system.

Our readers can examine specific project proposals by following the link: https://bit.ly/46ctDVj.

Overall, the Ukraine Recovery Conference has shown that support for Ukraine is extremely high. All attendees, from Ursula von der Leyen to leaders of individual EU countries, declared: “We see Ukraine’s future in the European Union!”.

Our task, as representatives of civil society, is to help the nation and government with our expertise, advocacy of a common agenda, best practices, etc. And, of course, to ensure compliance with all democratic principles.