Civil Society Hub: A Blueprint for Grassroots Empowerment

We are proud to mark the successful completion of our Civil Society Hub — a pilot project launched in 2024 to support and strengthen grassroots organizations founded by displaced Ukrainians in the Netherlands.

Our research showed that displaced people rely deeply on their communities and volunteer leaders for support. Yet these leaders often lack access to tools and resources needed to sustain and grow their initiatives. The Civil Society Hub or "Grassroot start-up incubator" was created to change that.

Through our 1 year program, which included tailored mentorship, expert-led training, psychosocial support, and peer learning, we helped organizations navigate Dutch legal, financial, and governance systems — while building long-term resilience and capacity.

This pilot became a blueprint for empowering grassroots leadership and building sustainable organisations that have a capacity to strive. We applied an action research methodology to establish a continuous feedback loop for program development, ensuring that activities were co-created with the participating organizations and tailored to their specific needs. We are deeply grateful to our partners OpenEmbassy especially to Anna Bilenka🇺🇦, and of course to Oranje Fonds and Nationale Postcode Loterij for making this project possible. Special thanks to our colleagues Tetyana Kozak, Mateusz M. Krawczyk, Ulyana Loginova, Emilija Vidtmann for leading this impactful initiative.

Participating organizations included:

ABBA Student Association, Oekraïens Huis Rotterdam, Kastanje Dutch-Ukrainian Cultural Center, Gelukkig Jeugd, Stichting 'Slava i Volya' Zwolle, Ko-Station, VilnaJa, VATAHA Foundation, Vital'nya Ukrainian House Utecht, Oekraïense Club, The Community of Active Ukrainians in EastNL, Haarlem4Ukraine and leaders of the project supported by United Way the Netherlands: Ukrainian Women Refugees Association (UWRA) and Healing the mind. Anna Mamedova, Oksana Savchuk, Dr Denys Keshkentiy, Polina Borysenko, Oksana Patsiuk(Movchan), Uliana Bun, Anna Bieliaieva, Nataliia Gaievska, Bogdana Postrygan, Mariana Dzhulai 🇺🇦, Olena Tiutiunnyk, Ulyana Loginova, Kateryna Sakharchuk, Aljona Wertheim-Davygora.

The Civil Society Hub has proven to be a model that works — and we hope to expand it further to help more organizations at the start of their journey.

Stay tuned for what’s next — and here are a few moments from our closing evening.