The war changed the organisation’s mission and broadened the scope of its activities.
Olga Czyzhova & Hennadiy Maksak
First published with the Democracy In Action blog 13 May 2024
‘Our house is being shelled; we are on fire! Help!’ Clearly, as a think tank employee, this is not a message you would ordinarily expect to receive in your work chat. Such, however, was the situation greeting the team of Ukrainian Prism when we awoke on 24 February 2022.
Ukrainian Prism is one of the leading think tanks in Ukraine. Directed by a core team based in Kyiv, Chernihiv and Odesa, the organisation provides much-needed foreign policy, international security and diplomatic expertise.
As was to become clear, the wartime diplomacy we were soon to be engaged in requires all hands on deck, including civil society and volunteers. Against this backdrop, we were able to draw numerous lessons that ultimately led to a transformation in the organisation’s objectives and how it operates.
During the first days of the Russian invasion, though, we were consumed by such immediate concerns as donating blood, attempting to enrol in the Territorial Defense Forces, feeding fighters at improvised checkpoints, and delivering necessities to volunteer centres. While these activities were undoubtedly important, we soon realised we were best placed to help by doing what we knew best. Thus began the remarkable story of our organisational evolution under pressure of war.
At out next online team meeting, we decided to switch towards providing on-the-ground reporting to wider audiences abroad. Soon, our experts were commenting for the world’s media from bomb shelters and the illusory safety of ‘two walls’ (the rule of two walls states that you should have at least two walls separating you from danger). Alongside this, we initiated a daily digest of Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine, which was widely disseminated among our foreign partners and contacts.
From providing expertise to humanitarian assistance
Many of Ukrainian Prism’s team remained in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine that was very quickly besieged by Russian forces. Faced with constant shelling and air raids, a lack of food and medicine, and damaged electricity, gas and heating infrastructure, the situation in the city became dire within a matter of days. To make matters worse, all this took place in the middle of a bitterly cold February.
Despite having no previous experience in humanitarian missions or activities, Ukrainian Prism felt compelled to act by capitalising on what we did have: a widely acknowledged reputation for reliability, built on established relations with donor organisations, Ukrainian diplomatic missions abroad, and foreign diplomatic missions in Ukraine. Having reached out to these various partners and donors, we promptly received the support we asked for. Aside from funds for our team members’ evacuation, there was substantial aid – including medicine, food, flashlights and powerbanks – provided to the residents of Chernihiv.
This, then, is how Ukrainian Prism’s Humanitarian Assistance Initiative began life. Fundraising campaigns abroad allowed us to secure several important deliveries, with such work becoming more organised and systematic following Russia’s retreat from the north of Ukraine. As an implementing partner of the International Organization for Migration, we distributed everything from blankets and mattresses to construction materials across the Chernihiv region.
The angels of reconstruction
As civil society experts, we took part in discussions about Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction. These were underscored by a slogan of ‘Build back better’, and had the overall aim of ensuring a modern, green and successful future for the country. Even as we spoke, however, multiple neighbourhoods around us were being reduced to ashes.
Daily, we witnessed people visiting the wreckage of what used to be their home and organising the remaining bricks into neat piles, or met children confined to shelters and unable to study. In light of such destruction, we realised the importance of rebuilding some facilities straightaway, rather than waiting for the end of the war.
This realisation kickstarted the ‘Angels of Freedom’ project, which aimed to provide the children of Chernihiv with education facilities by making use of selected schools that did not require major reconstruction works. To raise funds, we used with the help of motanka dolls – a type of traditional good luck amulet – made by children and volunteers. We received donations ranging from a couple of euros from a child in Germany up to tens of thousands of dollars from big donors like Ukraine TrustChain in the USA. Thanks to this, four schools in Chernihiv were able to re-open, as well as several kindergartens, which we helped reconstruct and equip with bomb shelters.
From think-tankers to campaigners
While this humanitarian work was undoubtedly important, we also needed to move forward with our other professional activities. With this in mind, we decided it was time to reorganise how our think tank functioned.
Our first major endeavour in this regard came in June–July 2022, when we helped foster Ukraine’s EU candidacy status – a step that would contribute to both the country’s European integration and its reconstruction. Towards this end, the Ukrainian Prism team travelled to Budapest, Berlin, Brussels, Warsaw, Stockholm and Rome to meet decision-makers, politicians, think-tankers and representatives of academia. During these meetings, we gave briefings on why Ukraine should be a part of a common Europe.
Prior to the Russian invasion of 2022, Ukrainian Prism had facilitated expert diplomacy toolkits for NGOs and think tanks. This included, among other things, bilateral expert forums, expert pools of international forums, and expert councils. We therefore decided to resume these activities, adopting a ‘wartime diplomacy’ lens that involved focusing on topics relevant to achieving Ukrainian victory or the country’s rebuilding strategy.
Since then, our advocacy activity has grown and become ever more refined. Drawing on data obtained from Ukrainian Prism studies, our tailor-made advocacy campaigns have reached various European capitals. Brussels in particular has been a focus of attention, as well as those countries holding the Council of the EU presidency.
New challenges, new structure
In order to stay attuned to emerging wartime diplomacy issues, and so remain capable of advising decision-makers on acute issues, Ukrainian Prism has had to adjust its research structure.
First, our programmes on Ukraine’s relations with the EU and NATO were expanded, including the recruitment of new members to the team.
Second, the increased importance of the Russian and Belarusian studies programme meant it underwent a reset.
Third, we launched a new Latin America and Caribbean programme in order to meet Ukrainian and international partners’ requests for expertise. While the Russian and Belarusian programme looked into the aggressor states’ domestic processes, the Latin America programme contributed to Ukraine’s outreach towards the Global South.
Making Ukrainian voices heard in Brussels
Travel difficulties (scarce transportation options, including the lack of flights operating from Ukraine, meant business trips could take several days) and restrictions on males leaving the country posed significant challenges when it came to Ukrainian experts being present at important European events. At the same time, keeping Ukraine on the European agenda and ensuring the voices of its representatives were heard in decision-making institutions was hugely important.
It was this need to pursue effective international awareness-raising campaigns that provided the impetus for Ukrainian Prism to open its Brussels office, which could then maintain stable outreach in relevant European institutions and EU member state capitals. Since its official launch in February 2023, the new office has grown into a platform for expert discussion on Ukraine’s urgent needs. This has involved dialogue on, among other things, disinformation, sanctions, NATO–EU cooperation, Ukraine’s participation in EU programmes, the EU’s neighbourhood and accession policies, and its support for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
These activities were greatly facilitated by European institutions cultivating a conducive environment for Ukrainian NGOs. For instance, the European Parliament (EP) granted an event space to Ukrainian civil society at Station Europe, the EP visitor centre located in the heart of Brussels. At the same time, the European Economic and Social Committee provided working spaces for NGOs that had fled the war or decided to become more vocal in Brussels.
Lessons learned in support of Ukraine’s resilience and reconstruction
The organisational transformation undertaken by Ukrainian Prism over the past two years or so has yielded a number of important lessons.
First, in order to multiply their efforts and therefore play an instrumental role in the country’s victory and reconstruction, Ukraine’s civic organisations and nongovernmental actors must learn to rely on networks of like-minded, aim-oriented partners. That is why we at Ukrainian Prism act as multipliers for initiatives aimed at elevating Ukrainian expertise to the EU capital and member states. This means assisting partner think tanks from Ukraine to achieve their goals by talking to the right people in the right institutions.
Many of our foreign counterparts are also looking for insights regarding how best to help and rebuild Ukraine, which brings us to our second lesson learned: any well-thought-out communication campaign must be able to provide clear answers to inquiries raised by Western partners. In this respect, expert interventions should not only be data-driven and based on on-the-ground knowledge of the situation in Ukraine, but should take account of decision-making processes in partner states and organisations.
Finally, our most important lesson for rebuilding Ukraine is to not be afraid of doing the simple things – any effort that might help people at the grassroots overcome (if only partially) the complexities inflicted by war truly matters.
Olga Chyzhova is communication director of the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”. She leads several international research projects on disinformation, focusing on the Kremlin’s information campaigns in Central and Eastern Europe. She runs Ukrainian Prism’s Humanitarian Assistance Initiative. She is a co-founder of the Digital Communication Network, connecting communication professionals in more than 30 countries. She has over ten years of experience in Ukrainian media. Previously, she edited the Eastern Partnership Think Bridge Digest and coordinated the Eastern Partnership Think Bridge Network. She is an expert trainer on digital communications and policy advocacy for civil society organisations.
Hennadiy Maksak is the executive director and one of the founders of the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”. He is an expert in international relations, security and foreign policy of Ukraine and Eastern Europe. He is a member of the Ukraine and Eastern Europe Programme at GLOBSEC Policy Institute in Bratislava, Slovakia. He was a coordinator of the Ukrainian national platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, and chaired the Civic Council under Ukraine’s Ministry on Foreign Affairs. He took part in the drafting of Ukraine’s Foreign Policy Strategy and Public Diplomacy Strategy.