In 2025, civil society across the Eastern Partnership region faced escalating and interconnected pressures. The ongoing Russian war against Ukraine, rising repression of activists in Georgia or Azerbaijan, the collapse of USAID and with it huge shifts in the international funding system tested the limits of their resilience.
Our partners of the CSO Meter, a collaboration tracking changes in civic freedoms in the region, were also significantly impacted, but did not stop. They continued to turn evidence into action to protect their space even in the middle of disruption.
Through solidarity, partnership and funding, the CSO Meter became a lifeline. The CSO Meter action fund delivered flexible financial support that allowed organisations to keep working, adapt, and push forward critical reforms even under extreme pressure. In countries facing war, restrictive laws or financial isolation, this meant continuing to provide essential services, defend organisations’ access to funding, and engage governments on reforms that would otherwise have stalled. In Armenia, partners increased CSOs’ ability to bring public interest cases to court and engaged with the Prime Minister’s Office to boost public participation. In Ukraine, they worked to expanded CSOs’ access to wartime funding and financial services by modernising aid registration, embedding CSOs’ input in risk-based AML/CFT assessments and facilitated strategic dialogue on Ukraine`s new National Strategy for Civil Society Development. And in Moldova, partners convened discussions that shaped a digital rights reform roadmap featured in an Ombudsman study. These targeted interventions ensured that CSO Meter Hub members did not retreat but stayed active, visible, and effective in protecting rights and democratic space.
The CSO Meter model matters because of what it reveals about moments of real uncertainty. With the right kind of support, organisations can stay on their feet, adjust, and keep going when it counts the most. This is not merely emergency support: it is a strategic approach to sustaining civic action in the hardest conditions. Civil society remains a cornerstone of stability and democracy in the region, but it is being asked to do more with less than ever before. With greater investment, the CSO Meter model can expand from sustaining a network to supporting an entire region’s democratic resilience.
The difference this work made:
- Dedicated and strategic action fund for civil society monitors.
- Critical democratic voices among our CSO Meter Hub partners remained active and united despite growing pressure in the most challenging year to date.
- Spaces for dialogue and reform were protected and expanded in the countries.
- CSO Meter served as inspiration under the EU Civil Society Strategy, spotlighting the critical EU support for CSO-led civic space monitoring at times of declining trust and commitments to the work of the sector.
When we launched the CSO Meter project in Armenia in 2017, we could never have anticipated the importance and continued relevance it would have. What began as a small initiative for Transparency International Anticorruption Center has grown into one of our core strategic directions. CSO Meter has deepened our commitment to advocating for an enabling civic space, which we recognize as vital for promoting good governance, transparency, and anti-corruption—key areas of our work. (Transparency International Anticorruption Center, Armenia)
CSO Meter brought structure to fragmented efforts. It united CSOs around a common framework, its data provided much needed evidence for advocacy , and opened doors to dialogue with public institutions. CSO Meter became a reference tool for defending the civic environment. (Promo-LEX, Moldova)
Image: Members of the activist movement “RoR Chișinău - Rhythms of Resistance” during a demonstration condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and expressing support for the Ukrainian people. 24 August 2024 (Photo credit: Kseniia Lapa)