ECNL and ICNL as leading resource and research centers in the field of civil society law have been involved in enabling legal and fiscal CSO legal initiatives in over 100 countries around the world. Drawing on this international comparative experience, ECNL/ICNL have been contracted to carry out the final assessment of the CSO legal environment component of UNITER, a five-year project implemented by Pact, inc and funded by USAID, running through September 31 this year.
The Enabling Legislative Environment Objective of the program aimed to improve the legal environment of CSOs through supporting local partners to advocate for change in government policies regulating CSO work. The objective of the assessment is to assess the existing legislative environment for civil society, the role of UNITER in the legal reform processes and provide recommendations for the further improvement of the legal framework.
In the course of the assessment ICNL/ECNL undertook desktop research, conducted an online survey through our local partner CCC and also travelled to Kiev between January 21-25, 2013 to conduct interviews with prominent representatives of CSOs, state authorities, and the donor community. The final assessment is expected to be completed by mid-March.
Background on the five-year Ukraine National Initiatives to Enhance Reforms (UNITER) program:
The main purpose of UNITER is to help consolidate democratic governance in Ukraine by strengthening and developing a more vibrant civil society and more robust NGOs. The Project addresses systemic sector-wide challenges to civil society and supports NGO monitoring and advocacy initiatives from various spheres of public life, which are essential to advancing Ukraine’s reform process. Before the launch of UNITER the lack of enabling legal environment was one of the main challenges for NGOs across Ukraine. It was a difficult and lengthy procedure to register an NGO; the NGOs were restricted to directly undertake any form of economic activities; the distribution of state funds to NGOs lacked transparency and unified procedure; social service provider NGOs had additional licensing requirement than other entities; Ukrainian business and individuals did not enjoy meaningful incentives to engage in charitable activities or to support NGOs. In recognition of these barriers, Enabling Legislative Environment became one of the main objectives of UNITER.