Civil society groups call for people-centered recovery at first-ever URC Civil Society Forum
The message is addressed to governments, donors, international institutions, and business representatives participating in the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2026 on June 25–26. More than 200 civil society organizations helped shape the document. Over several weeks, they held consultations to draft it. Anastasiia Rudenko, coordinator of Recovery Window, also helped draft the text.
The document was finalized and unveiled at the URC Civil Society Forum. During panel discussions, participants also shared feedback and ideas on how to promote it.
The Gdańsk Common Message is intended to influence the URC 2026 agenda and help shape preparations for URC 2027 in Estonia.
The Gdańsk Common Message draws on the experience Ukrainian civil society has gained during Russia's war against Ukraine. That experience shows that recovery must put people first, be grounded in human rights, and rest on real partnerships that treat civil society not just as a stakeholder, but as a strategic partner.
Anna Ackermann, coordinator of the Build Ukraine Back Better platform and policy analyst at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, drove that point home while presenting the document.
The statement argues that long-term recovery depends on both security and justice. Reconstruction can and should continue during wartime, but it can only fully succeed when Ukraine is protected through an end to aggression, credible security guarantees, and stronger societal and infrastructure resilience.
The document also says that a just and lasting peace must include Russia's accountability for its aggression, punishment for war crimes, and the payment of reparations.
The Gdańsk Common Message urges the Ukrainian government and international partners to commit to a set of priority actions that would turn those principles into lasting change.
The document says recovery must be inclusive, participatory, professionally run, and led locally. It argues that civil society should be treated as an equal partner at every stage of the process.
Civil society organizations, the statement says, should move from the sidelines of recovery to the decision-making table. Ukrainian and international civil society groups should help set priorities, design funding mechanisms, monitor project implementation, and guard the recovery process against corruption, exclusion, and short-term thinking.
As Ukraine moves closer to EU membership, the statement says recovery and integration must go hand in hand, driven by transparency, accountability, civic participation, and the rule of law.
The role of civil society is critical to strengthening democratic institutions, advancing reforms, and supporting Ukraine's successful integration into the European Union.
Those points were highlighted in a panel with Yaroslava Barbieri, Research Fellow at the Chatham House Ukraine Forum; Oleksandra Betlii, board member of the RISE Ukraine coalition and leading researcher at the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting; and Mila Leonova, director of the Alliance of Ukrainian Civil Society Organizations.
Organizers
The forum was jointly organized by the European Endowment for Democracy, the International Renaissance Foundation, and the Stefan Batory Foundation, in partnership with a broad coalition of Ukrainian and international organizations working on Ukraine's recovery, democratic resilience, and civil society development.
Partners included the Build Ukraine Back Better platform, Chatham House, the Foundations for Ukraine Network, the Open Society Foundations, the RISE Ukraine coalition, and the Robert Bosch Foundation.
The full text of the message is available online.
As previously reported, on June 25, the Recovery Window media network will host Recovery Talks in Gdańsk, a networking event for Ukrainian media outlets, civil society organizations, businesses, international institutions, and donor community representatives.
- Last
News by day
25 of June 2026
