Discussion

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has witnessed ongoing drastic changes in the CSO’s operational environment. They are caused by different and previously relatively weakly correlated reasons. However, the war had become the core factor and significantly aggravated and interconnected regional challenges and trends. - Changes in socio-economic and cultural patterns of the region. The war has mercilessly challenged the complicated but established regional socio-economic and cultural landscape. An influx of hundreds of thousands of IDPs, an active relocation of businesses and their employees, has a direct impact on local communities and service providers, and uncompleted decentralization reform. The war dominated Ukrainian communities at the final stages of decentralization reform. On one hand, the reform channeled much more power and funds to the local communities. On the other hand, when the full-scale invasion began, many rural communities in the region did not complete the process of building up the social services system. Some are unavailable or lack professionals, equipment, knowledge, and experience. - Quality vs quantity. CSO’s dilemma. Since gaining its independence, Ukraine has steadily increased the number of CSOs. This quantitative growth reflects the institutional strengthening of the civil society in the country. Meanwhile, other figures suggest significant drawbacks of organizational development of CSOs, in particular: lack of professional approach, strategic thinking, planning, fundraising skills, organizational capacity, etc.