International Centre for Defence and Security has launched the development cooperation project called “Civil society support for strengthening national resilience and security in Ukraine”, which is supported by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Project aims
· Promote civil society actors in Ukraine as an integral part of Ukraine’s national security.
· Bring together government institutions and civil society to advocate a comprehensive approach to national security in Ukraine – a sector that is undergoing a dynamic process of transformation.
Project stakeholders and beneficiaries in Ukraine: Ministry of the Interior, National Guard, CIMIC, National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, Parliament, National Institute for Strategic Studies, civil society and volunteer organizations as well as local administrations in Kharkiv, Mariupol, Kramators’k and Sievierodonets’k.
Project team
- Mr. Dmitri Teperik – project leader and expert
- Mr. Grigori Senkiv – project expert
- Mrs. Anna Bulakh – project expert
Project design
The project period is September 2016 – February 2018 and it will consist of several tracks, which include conferences and practical workshops, research activities, professional training, development of policy recommendations, media events and promotional campaigns.
Main tasks of the project
1. Promote Estonia’s comprehensive approach to security and national resilience;
2. Study main factors, which support or obstruct a better involvement of civil society and volunteers into strengthening national security in Ukraine;
3. Train the Ukrainian stakeholders and beneficiaries on various topics related to national resilience;
4. Deliver policy recommendations for a more effective use of civil society’s and volunteers’ potential for strengthening national security in Ukraine.
Project background
Our study-visits and research activities conducted in Ukraine during the period of May 2015 – March 2016 have resulted in the findings concerning four main challenges which are to be addressed within the framework of the project:
1. As a developing nation, Ukraine lacks conceptual understanding of comprehensive approach to national security on two levels of governance: central and regional. There is still a big challenge of finding a suitable model for Ukraine in order to approach security and defence issues in a comprehensive and inclusive way.
2. There is absence of an independent overview of the main factors which affect the involvement and contribution of civil society into the system of national security in Ukraine.
3. There is a lack of capacity to provide a conceptual analysis of the overwhelming experience from the conflict, resulting in knowledge gaps and inconsistence of actions regarding national resilience and its crucial components (e.g. community and civil protection, psychological defence, informational resistance, cyber security).
4. There are too few foreign partners, who are able and willing to promote and advocate in Ukraine the interests and vital role of civil society and volunteers in order to realize their potential in strengthening national security.
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