The project creates opportunities to strengthen the capacities of CSOs and assist CSOs in providing support to their beneficiaries as well as the communities they operate in under the challenges of russian invasion. The Action has a considerable re-granting component offering financial support for assistance projects and covering human resources of CSOs. The target group CSOs will develop adaptive capacities through “learning by doing” principle under the pressure of the war circumstances. Due to the project they will be able to continue their operations and keep their staff and volunteers, to establish and strengthen partnerships with local authorities and local activists, and their public image will be improved. The project will assist the beneficiaries in order to satisfy the basic needs, including security and protection needs in times of war by means of:
• Provision financial support - grants will be provided to CSOs to ensure opportunities to utilise developed skills and competences while implementing initiatives in local communities.
• Coordination and education activities will capacitize CSOs and connect between themselves as well as with state officials in order to provide community assistance and restore supply chains to the regions affected by the warfare and under the threat of warfare
• Communication activities to inform citizens about civil society efforts to counteract the challenges of the war.
• International fundraising activities aimed at raising funds from abroad - developing and creating possibilities for ISAR Ednannia’s fundraising activities.

Key components in the framework of the project:
1) Grant Component (Emergency Grants, Institutional Support Grants, War Crimes Documentation Grants, Grants to counteract Disinformation)
2) International Fundraising component development capacities of ISAR Ednannia
3) Coordination/Partnership/Capacity Development Component (NGO Studio, Coordination events for CSOs)

1) Grant support
208 grants were provided to counteract the consequences of war;
About 3 million people who suffered from the consequences of war have been supported by SCOs provided with grants all over Ukraine;
More than 10 000 CSOs’ representatives received services and opportunities that strengthened their capacities to adapt to the emergencies of wartime, coordinate with other actors, and scale up.
Types of Grant support provided to 3 mln people due to grant support for CSOs:

- Rapid support to CSOs to act in emergencies - 100 organizations from 22 oblasts of Ukraine received sub-grants for a total of UAH 36,000,000 or EUR 900,000. These costs were used to provide help to 150,000 persons, who felt the negative impact of the war and to adapt the work of organizations to the new conditions and needs.

- Institutional support of CSOs for scaling up their activities. This unique competition conducted in the conditions of a full-scale war has been helping civil society organizations to continue their activity under very difficult circumstances and to scale up their services. 15 organizations have received institutional support and they will in turn support 1,300,000 people in Ukraine. The total sum of the grant support is UAH 18,000,000 or EUR 450,000.

- Strengthening of CSO capacities in documenting war crimes. Within this grant competition, 22 organizations received support for UAH 11,000,000 or EUR 275,000. Since the beginning of the project implementation in February 2022, more than 700 war crimes have been documented.

- Support to CSOs to strengthen their counteraction of propaganda and disinformation. 17 projects of civil society organizations will cover one million people on the territory of Ukraine and beyond (Poland, Germany, and Czech Republic). Projects of different formats: video, articles, exhibitions – will unveil facts and news about the current war, as well as historical events that were distorted by Russian propaganda.

The sub-awards were provided for:

• Support operation of humanitarian hubs and coordination initiatives to provide humanitarian assistance, well to displaced persons, vulnerable groups, and people in communities affected by hostilities, including Kharkiv, Kherson, Melitopoland others (in cases when humanitarian assistance was difficult to obtain from other sources)

• Arrangement of temporary and long-term accommodation for IDPs (including for people with disabilities and the elderly) with services to people with disabilities, creation of special spaces for children, etc;

• Psychological, legal, and informational support for IDPs and vulnerable groups and centers where such assistance is provided in communities (as well as the launching of a mass online course "Psychological First Aid")

• Interactive methods of rehabilitation of displaced children (activities with elements of psychological support) to provide psychological support and organizing children's leisure in humanitarian centers and shelters for IDPs

• Creation of digital solutions (chatbots) for quick search of information in communities both for locals and displaced persons

• First medical assistance training, including such training for the hearing impaired

• Procurement of medicines for hospitals in places of complete isolation of hospitals from the usual supply chains (in communities occupied by Russians)

• Procurement of generators to protect communities from water outages

• Core support for CSOs engaged in international communications and international advocacy to counteract the threats to Ukraine in war times and communicate effective areas of support for Ukraine by the world

• Supporting volunteers with operational repairs of vehicles to ensure their smooth operation

• Documentation and communication of war crimes

• Monitoring and recording of the damage to cultural objects

• Support relocation for CSOs

• War crimes documentation

• Disinformation counteraction

2) International Fundraising component development capacities – attracting funds from international organizations, institutions, companies, and individuals, interested in targeted and trustworthy support.

The fundraising campaign started on Feb 25 via https://sos.ednannia.ua.

Among donators: Ch. S. Mott Foundation, Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society, NY, Berks County Community Foundation. European fundraising: Community Foundations, MAECENATA, private fundraisers.

Total collected: 290 000 Euros

• 25 donations from organizations
• 155 private donations

Distribution of funds raised. Separate Call 4Proposals launched since May, 2022: People 4 people: WORLD SAVES UKRAINIAN COMMUNITIES

The main idea is to address requests of Community-based organizations that most efficiently represent the needs of the communities they operate.

• 294 proposals received
• 60 projects supported

Main priorities:

• Restoration of critical social infrastructure/providing equipment that will contribute to improving the quality of life of people in communities
• Sustainable solutions to increase food and economic security for groups of people/communities
• Activities or decisions aimed at permanently improving the quality of life
- residents of the community;
- forcibly resettled persons to other communities;
- specific vulnerable groups of people (children, large families, orphans, people with disabilities, children with disabilities, and others) who were forcibly resettled in communities.

• Evacuation from communities under threat of occupation
• Targeted assistance to people or groups of people, if it lays the foundations for sustainable improvement of the quality of life for a long time.

3) Coordination/Partnership/Capacity Development Component

EVENTS to strengthen capacities In WARTIME

5 events for CSOs to coordinate and plan further activities, and develop partnerships conducted – 1000 representatives of CSO participated offline, 10 000 joined online.

1. Conference: War aftermath: reconsidering the Future of Civil Society (162 participants took part off-line in the Conference in Warsaw and 19 in Lviv(side event), 106 speakers –both online and live, 28 sessions, 11 706 visits to the website Conference, 5 100 views of streams on the website, YouTube and FB).

2. Coordination of Volunteering Movement for Addressing Humanitarian Challenges in Ukraine During the War ((180 participants, 90 speakers – both online and live 12 sessions).

3. Civil Society Side event in Lugano Paving the Way to a Successful and Inclusive Recovery Process of Ukraine (200 participants, 18 speakers, 3 sessions).

4. Two Forums for Civil Society conducted

Capacity development/Digital Component

NGO.Studio continued its work within the framework of the project. This is a media platform for the discussion of topics of interest to civil society, and the exchange of ideas, experiences, and knowledge.

NGO.Studio relaunched addressing the challenges of wartime

82 000 users benefited from the content of NGO.Studio on civil society sector good practices and challenges - covered by NGO.Studio products (website, FB and YouTube)

New thematic blocks integrated:

Volunteers and humanitarian support
WAR Crimes documentation and Human rights
Recovery of Ukraine
We also provide studio space for other CSOs to record or broadcast their events
Studio events are broadcasted through ISAR Ednannia’s FB and YouTube Channels and are accessible through https://studio.ednannia.ua/.

Legal and financial consultations on CSOs operation (legal challenges for CSOs in wartime)

Ednannia developed and launched the landing page https://podatok.ednannia.ua/

On a permanent basis, we collected requests provided consultations, and made regular updates on legislation changes.

7 webinars were conducted (on issues of humanitarian aid, cooperation with volunteer service providers, and general tax changes in wartime)

300 CSOs participated via Zoom;
150 watched live FB stream and asked questions via FB;
3500 views in the record.
A volunteer contract template and a methodical advisor for accountants were elaborated within this component which helps to adjust all documentation in accordance with the new law regulations.

When a significant part of Ukraine was under attack, it was extremely important to provide emergency assistance to the communities, especially those under attack by Russian regular troops. Overall objective of the Action is to strengthen CSOs’ capacities to be able to adapt and respond to the community and citizens’ needs effectively in times of emergency and warfare, to achieve adopted missions and respond to the immediate needs of the population.
Specific objectives of the Action are:
SO 1. Empowered local CSOs capable of mobilizing and coordinating local communities’ efforts to counteract military challenges Ednannia plans to tap into the sources of local expertise and provide support to strong local CSOs to become platforms for local resources mobilization.
SO 2. Local CSOs and activists are capable of implementing a set of monitoring measures to document damages, war crimes and human rights violations and counteract fakes and disinformation in local communities. Ednannia in cooperation with its partners, organizes quick learning, and provides grant support to strengthen approximately 30 CSOs that will become focal points for documentation of the crimes against humanity, war crimes, damages and losses as well as human right violations.
SO 3. Strengthened/reinforced ecosystem of civil society emergency response (At the beginning of the war the situation with coordination of efforts looked rather chaotic and hectic. Ednannia will become a bridge between local CSOs and state officials and international organizations in order to connect them with one another and assist both sides in coordination.)

The Action aims to provide financial and capacity strengthening assistance to CSOs to ensure that they will be able respond to the needs of communities, IDPs, volunteers, as well as to support local authorities in establishing shelters for IDPs, collect funds for their communities, etc.
As the result of the project implementation the CSOs will ensure relief and support to the most vulnerable groups of the population. They will also develop local networks of partnerships not only among CSOs and local authorities but also activists in territorial (communities) hromadas. In a longer term, the image of CSOs will be improved in their local communities and after the war they will be viewed as reliable partners for social and economic development.