Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Abstract

Letter to The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars It would not be an exaggeration to say that after the Revolution of Dignity Ukraine's civil society and its rising influence over the process of the country's transformation have been in the spotlight of the international community. Along these lines, the recent article 'Wake-up Call for Ukraine's Civil Society' by Ms. Kateryna Smagliy, published by the Wilson Center, about the current challenges that Ukrainian third sector is facing -both from outside and from within -has gained a lot of international attention. However, while Ms. Smagliy had undoubtedly good intentions, a number of serious claims made in the article, particularly, about the Reanimation Package of Reforms, do not correspond to reality. Therefore, reason for writing this open letter to the Wilson Center -the organization that I deeply respect -is to respond to Kateryna Smagliy's assessments and judgments, which she expressed in the above-said piece and which we find misleading. For more than three years, Ukrainian society has been experiencing a difficult period of reformation. The path turned out to be more complex than it seemed in March 2014, when the first constituent meetings of leaders of NGOs, the founders of the coalition the Reanimation Package of Reforms (hereafter -RPR), took place. The conclusion reached unanimously after the first two years of promoting reforms is that this process resembles more a marathon distance than a sprint race, which requires a precise estimation of our resources and concentration of efforts. It is not a secret that at the time of establishment of the RPR coalition after 24 years of Ukraine's independence, there was not a single сivil society platform capable of working on the common agenda and being an influential player among stakeholders for a long time. Some similar initiatives were created to solve specific problems and did not last long. It was for the first time in 2014, on Maidan, that a motivation to create a multidisciplinary group of participants with expertise and ability to work in groups for the sake of development a joint action plan emerged. Although three years have already passed since then, this determination not only has not vanished, but was even solidified.