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EC must guarantee a meaningful role for civil society in ‘RebuildUkraine’

RebuildUkraine

In May, the President of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, announced ‘RebuildUkraine’, the platform for the reconstruction of Ukraine. As civil society, we welcome the setting up of ‘RebuildUkraine’. However, we are concerned about the absence of the mention of a role for Ukrainian and European civil society. 159 civil society organisations including La Strada International have called on the European Commission to guarantee a clear role and functions within the governance of ‘RebuildUkraine’. This should include meaningful consultations and an official observer status in all deliberations, for European civil society organisations, networks and trade unions, as well as Ukrainian civil society and municipalities.

A close involvement of non-governmental organisations, both on the EU and Ukrainian side, will help to increase the transparency and accountability of how EU public funds are distributed and spent. Moreover civil society should be able to play a watchdog role also to ensure that investments benefit all diverse groups in society, and primarily the most vulnerable group, taking into account the specific impacts of
war on women. Civil society must have a clear role in defining priorities, planning and programming regarding long-term reconstruction measures, as well as being part of implementation and monitoring efforts.

Moreover local and national CSO in Ukraine must be given a leading role in the efforts to build peace, to provide humanitarian assistance and in reconstructing their country. In the statement CSOs call also for financial support to be able to carry out their tasksof contributing to peacebuilding and reconstruction, service-delivery, acting as watchdogs and fighting corruption.

See here the full joint statement