Project profile — Supporting Inclusive Grassroots Democracy in Ukraine

• Ukraine (100.00%)

• Democratic participation and civil society:
Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (75.00%)
Media and free flow of information (15153) (25.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (principal objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (significant objective)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Nutrition (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

This project aims to strengthen Ukraine’s grassroots democratic movement by supporting actors with limited opportunities to grow due to their small size and lack of experience to become more effective, diverse and gender sensitive. The project promotes an inclusive and consolidated civic and political process, dialogue and consensus building, and enhancing women's civic participation, especially in the rural regions of Ukraine, and advocates for vulnerable or marginalized groups, such as LGBTQ2 organizations and activists. In response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, they adapted certain project activities to address new immediate needs and protect previous development gains. Canada’s development partners in Ukraine pivoted project activities to respond to the evolving context in several ways, such as providing emergency supplies, equipment and services, mental health support, transportation, and accommodation. the beneficiaries, scope, expected results, and geographic location of project activities may have changed from the original description.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) strengthened diversity, effectiveness, gender-sensitiveness and sustainability of local pro-democracy actors; (2) increased inclusive, gender-sensitive and consolidated civic and political processes, dialogue, and consensus building; and (3) strengthened women’s civic and political influence.

Results achieved as of June 2023 include: (1) provided a lifeline to 25 grassroot media platforms across Ukraine’s regions, including media organizations fleeing Crimea and the Donbas region due to the full-scale invasion, ensuring freedom of the press, documentation of war crimes, and access to information for over 16 million users, readers and listeners on average per month; (2) provided 78 grants cumulatively since 2019 and launched the ‘Ukraine Emergency Support Mechanism’ on 25 February 2022, which provided grassroot organizations with grants to cover urgent expenses, allowing for: evacuation to safer locations, coordination of urgent humanitarian and emergency assistance, replacement of equipment lost or damaged due to the war, and reopening of offices in new locations; (3) supported women, veterans, human rights and LGBTQ2 organizations in Ukraine and helped them deliver comprehensive services, including humanitarian, informational, legal, educational, employment consultations, and psychological support, to various vulnerable groups. Also provided 400 legal consultations to internally displaced populations and representatives of local humanitarian aid centres, and 3,000 people received humanitarian aid; and (4) supported women’s organizations and other grassroot organizations to develop comprehensive and intersectional roadmaps of needs for 66 communities in coordination with local governments.

• Proactive disclosure