The CSO Meter project provides regular and consistent monitoring of the environment in which civil society organisations operate across the Eastern Partnership countries. It is based on a set of standards and indicators covering 11 different areas, assessing both legislation and practice in line with international standards and best practices. In Ukraine, this report was prepared by experts from ISAR Ednannia in cooperation with the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL), with the support of the European Union.
In 2025, Ukraine’s overall score for the civil society operating environment was 4.7 out of 7, indicating no change compared to 2024. Key developments during the year included the adoption of strategic roadmaps for EU accession and the entry into force of the law on people’s participation at the local self-government level. In the context of the war, an important step was the introduction of the status of a verified humanitarian organisation. At the same time, reductions in donor funding, including from USAID, led to the closure of some media outlets and the scaling down of CSO activities, while the lobbying law creates a risk of conflating advocacy with commercial lobbying.
The full report offers a detailed analysis across all 11 areas and provides 40 recommendations aimed at strengthening civil society capacity. Amid the war and Ukraine’s EU integration path, civil society finds itself at the centre of key transformations, and its resilience and capacity will shape the quality of future reforms.
In the next section, we will outline the 7 key priorities for civil society development in 2026, based on the report’s findings.
Action “CSO Meter: Empowered for Action” is funded by the European Union. The Project is implemented by the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law Stichting (ECNL) and its partners: Transparency International Anticorruption Center in Armenia; Promo-LEX Association in Moldova; and the ISAR Ednannia in Ukraine.
