Friend or foe? Foreign donors’ role in the formation of civil society in Ukraine

For a long time, civil society in independent Ukraine lacked visibility and seemed passive and underdeveloped. Yet lately foreign observers have defined civil society in Ukraine as the richest in the former Soviet Union in terms of the number and variety of organizations. In the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity, as the state institutions are unable to perform their basic functions, civil society organizations (CSOs) have been compelled to take over some of their duties, getting involved into multiple spheres of public life, such as volunteering in the army, crowd-funding for internally displaced people and military needs. They are particularly strong in advocacy for reforms and acting as watchdogs of institutional change. However, while having proven its resilience in crisis, civil society in Ukraine still shows low sustainability and a high level of dependency on foreign donors.