At the end of March 2022, when the Russian invaders suffered the first significant defeat at the hands of the Ukrainian army, Ukrainian public started to believe that the victory of their country is certain and inevitable. At that time, the independent public association-coalition of experts "Ukraine after Victory" had the idea of developing a vision for the recovery of Ukraine. Just as it was after the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, and so after this victory, the Ukrainian State will need a clear understanding of its recovery based on already developed solutions and society’s consolidation around this vision.

As a first goal, our task was to formulate concisely the dreams of the independent society about the inevitable continuation of fundamental pro-European reforms with the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine alongside the post-war reconstruction. It is precisely how the visionary document "Ukraine after the victory. Vision of Ukraine 2030" was born. It was prepared by several dozen well-known scientists and public experts and put forward for public discussion — https://ces.org.ua/ukraine-after-victory/

At the same time, the Reanimation Package of Reforms (RPR) Coalition, with the participation of more than 100 experts, has developed and continues to develop expert recommendations for the National Recovery Plan for 20 recovery policy areas. This is highly anticipated as Ukraine’s recovery process is directly related to the continuation of reforms that will develop our country into a democratic and legal state — a potentially full member state of the European Union. These recommendations took into account previous expert work and public consultations with the participation of several thousand citizens and were presented at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in July 2022 in Lugano, Switzerland — https://rpr.org.ua/news/pryntsypy-toronto-ta-haluzevi-bryfy/

The second year of heroic resistance to the enemy, the counter-offensive of our troops, and the liberation of a large part of the country's territories from the occupier alongside the ongoing and enlarged military and economic support of our Western partners strengthen our certainty in Ukraine’s victory in the nearest future. Ukraine's acquisition of the status of a candidate for joining the EU meant the need to speed up European reforms for our full partnership. Our international partners in Lugano, Switzerland — 40 countries, including the United States, Great Britain, France, and Japan — signed a declaration that recorded their commitment to providing political, financial, and technical support and launched the Lugano Principles for Ukraine's recovery.

During the closing remarks at the second international conference on the recovery of Ukraine (The Ukraine Recovery Conference London on 21-22 June), our Western partners, emphasized the role and tasks of civil society in the process of implementing European reforms and rebuilding the country and reminded of the need for the interaction of the state and the wider private sector community. Civil society demonstrated its resilience; therefore, the people must lead the rebuilding process.

The war has dramatically elevated the role and importance of a self-governing civil society. These are volunteers in the ranks of active defenders of our country. It is a historically outstanding massive and solidarity volunteer movement, which contributes to our victory in virtually all the main areas of resistance to Russian aggression and spheres of public life, such as — the supply of the military at the front, social work with the population behind the frontline, funds collection for military weapons and equipment, aid to refugees, etc. Ukrainian human rights defenders received the Nobel Peace Prize for documenting the war crimes of the aggressors. Despite the restrictions in wartime conditions, civil society activists did not stop the effective fight against corruption and the promotion of reforms. Ukrainian intellectuals and artists share the achievements and national determination of Ukrainians regarding the protection of their own country through global mass media and social networks. Public figures interact with civil society organizations of Western societies to organize volunteer aid to Ukraine. Independent experts and analytical organizations actively advocate for the interests of the public at the level of parliament and government institutions, contributing to national stability and our common victory. The war completes the formation of an independent civil society as an inseparable institution of democratic Ukraine.

The consequences of the war finally confirm the fundamental role of civil society in Ukraine, which has proven its ability to be the most compelling form of self-organization. In the future, no political power will be able to ignore the self-organized civil society, which creates Ukraine’s living framework, connecting the formal institutions of the state with the direct energy of citizens.

The document "Vision of Ukraine: reform and recovery of socio-humanitarian sphere in the perspective of 2030" presented here is a continuation and an inevitable completion of the previous efforts of public experts to create an in-depth vision of preparation and implementation of this historical task in the field of social and humanitarian policy in the horizon of one generation.

Such restoration and development vision of the country is necessary so that in the difficult time of military trials, Ukrainian society - in Ukraine and outside of it - will receive a clear and attractive perspective of its future for the consolidation of efforts to resist the aggressor. This document is also necessary for our Western partners — to understand that we are entering the European community not as beggars of military and financial aid but as equal partners who can plan and see their way into the free world of democratic countries. After all, such a document is also needed to implement the necessary development reforms even now, despite the wartime, such as, for example, the procedure of integration into the EU.

The principles guiding us in creating this primary vision can be seen from the expert proposals in the document’s text. However, our vision singles out two groups of fundamental values which should be in the focus of reconstruction and reforms in the new post-war Ukraine.

First of all, these are universal liberal-democratic values — fundamental human rights, a state governed by the rule of law with a developed civil society — voluntary public associations, human dignity, recognition of the inviolability of property rights and market freedoms, along with fostering civil equality, social justice, inter-ethnic, religious and gender tolerance. The final perception of Ukraine as an independent actor belonging to the European world is our existential choice of shared values, which coincide with those laid down in the everyday basis of the socio-political organization of modern democratic countries.

At the same time, democratic values defend the subjectivity of the state of Ukraine and each of its citizens. The maximum reduction of the paternalistic role of state institutions in all areas of the development of the social and humanitarian sphere and the full guarantee of rights and freedoms of its citizens will provide opportunities for the effective action of human and social capital accumulated in the years after the Revolution of Dignity, in particular and especially by civil initiatives.

Secondly, these are the values of collective, national, and cultural identity. A war with an aggressor is not for life but for death to preserve the values of collective national identity — common history and culture, a common form of life — from violent destruction under Russia's imperial "spiritual grips". Our unconditional faith in victory over Russia is based primarily on the values of identity — patriotism, high heroism of military and civilians, and social solidarity. The liberation war of Ukraine as a resistance to authoritarian, dictatorial Russia is a struggle for the right of the Ukrainian nation to live by its own choice following its national and cultural values.

These groups of fundamental values of democracy, the rule of law, interaction, and development are the essential tasks in planning and implementing policy in the humanitarian sphere that are placed at the center of our expert attention.

The interaction and clash of these two groups of values is the core of political life in the organization of modern societies. The nature of the political organization of a given society depends on the predominance or dominance of one of these two value orientations — from a liberal-democratic to an authoritarian type of government, from the form of national democracy to the countries of radical nationalism transforming into aggressive Nazism, which we can see in the vivid example of the recent history of Putin's Russia.

The dilemma of finding an adequate approach in orientation simultaneously to both groups of values should be decisive in the social and humanitarian policy of the new Ukraine.

As a result of Ukraine's geopolitical location, the military threat of Russia's imperial intervention in domestic politics remains for an indefinite period, even if the war ends successfully in Ukraine’s favour. The democratic world clearly understands this fact, and it is one of the main reasons partners aid our country with armaments and deployment of economic sanctions against Russia — in Ukraine's national war for world (supranational) values of democracy. Today and for a long time, Ukraine's struggle for national survival is becoming the frontier of the battle for world democracy against autocratic and dictatorial regimes.

As the frontier of Western democracy in the first years after the victory, Ukraine will have to simultaneously combine a liberal democratic policy with a sufficiently centralized administration, which depends on the constant readiness to provide a military rebuff and prevent aggressive actions of a potential external aggressor — Russia. To ensure its own and international security, Ukraine must simultaneously and persistently carry out two tasks — strengthen the worldview foundations of its national and cultural identity and implement a democratic social policy at the European level. The socio-political and legal unity of the nation will directly depend on this as a necessary social-humanitarian prerequisite for Ukraine’s development and protection.

In the process of Ukraine’s restoration of such reforms after the victory, a mature civil society will play one of the central roles as its full participant. Currently, a unique way to overcome the historical problem of Ukraine and other democratic societies is opening up — the gap between "us" (society) and "them" (the state, politicians, elites). The role of a connecting link, which creates in society a sense of involvement in a common cause (res publica), is performed by a self-organized civil society (appropriate quotes by Oleksandr Sushko regarding the role of civil society have been used here).

In this visionary document, we present and bring to public-wide discussion the vision of reconstruction and necessary changes in the social and humanitarian sphere in the perspective of our victory, as well as European integration and obtaining membership in NATO. This document reflects not only the visionary part of what should and can be achieved in the perspective of 2030 but also outlines specific policies — strategic plans and steps for their implementation by the best independent public experts.

We consider the publication of this expert document as its public advocacy — as the formation of a solidary public opinion regarding the process of both current and post-war changes in Ukraine, capable of acting as a full-fledged partner in an effective and equal dialogue with state structures regarding such in a complex social and humanitarian sphere.

After an open public discussion of this document and agreement on the expressed comments and proposals, we will take the next step — the specified policies will be proposed to the authorities of Ukraine and our country's partners in its reconstruction after the victory.

1. METHODOLOGICAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE EXPERT GROUPS' WORK

Areas of the social and humanitarian sphere that were identified for expert analysis:

1. National identity: language, culture, national memory, and state-church relations

2. Civil society and media

3. Human rights: reintegration, gender policy, and LGBT+ policy

4. Education, science, and innovation

5. Healthcare

6. Youth and sports

7. Veterans, people with disabilities, and pension policy

During the analysis of policy development, we had in mind that our document addresses two issues - reforming a specific area, which should and can begin today from the perspective of the post-war reconstruction process.

There cannot be only one solution. In principle, several alternative decision policies can be formed. We assumed that experts united in working groups could represent the interests of different population groups. However, all group members must recognize such alternative solutions as equally well-argued.

Methodological recommendations did not limit the freedom of expertise and were proposed to standardize each expert's contribution in the final document. Expert work consisted of two stages.

The first visionary stage — is the development of a vision of the development of Ukraine, which society can realistically achieve in the specified perspective of 2030.

This stage consisted of performing the following tasks:

1. Writing a Brief about the state of affairs in a specific direction of the social and humanitarian sphere, which includes the most important events of state policy in this direction after the Revolution of Dignity and the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, namely:

• Key issues and challenges for this area as of the beginning of 2022;

• Authorities’ plans and actions in this area as of the beginning of 2022 (a summary of the policy documents, the implementation of which continued);

• The impact of war and martial law on this sphere of state policy;

• EU requirements and standards in this area, as well as other international documents that are mandatory for Ukraine, including taking into account the status of the EU membership candidate;

• Current government plans as of fall 2022, including the National Recovery Plan of Ukraine.

2. Based on the analysis in the Brief, vision documents were created for specific directions of the social and humanitarian sphere in the perspective of 2030, including measurable indicators, namely: the structural vision of the necessary institutions in this sphere, their internal institutional organization, powers and freedom of organizational and financial self-determination and functioning of the institutions themselves, as well as their participants/employees, the framework of administrative and financial relations between such institutions and central and regional authorities; quantitative indicators of their condition and work results, values that should be inherent to the participants/institutions of this direction.

3. Based on the analysis, the issues that need to be solved to achieve the desired results were determined, such as the creation of a list of issues, namely, what is missing/lacking in the current state of affairs in this area, compared to the result that we want to achieve — what needs to be resolved.

4. What red lines cannot be crossed in this area: the main threats that can compromise the further development of Ukraine as a democratic liberal state and go against its norms, principles, and values are defined.

This document's second stage of development is building solutions. The goal of the 2nd stage is to determine the policy of solving issues formulated in the first stage of the research, namely: through what specific actions of the state and society in certain directions of the social and humanitarian spheres should move from the current state to the situation stated in the vision.

There cannot be only one solution. In principle, several alternative decision policies can be formed. We assumed that experts united in working groups could represent the interests of different population groups. Therefore, as a working model, we consider the proposed vision of reform and recovery policies in the social and humanitarian sphere as a particular agreement and consensus of alternative approaches.

For each key problem/group of problems, a solving strategy was defined according to the following parameters:

1. Regulatory and legal framework 

The need to adopt new ones or the direction of making changes to the current legal norms and administrative decisions (which are adopted at the level of the executive branch of state power) is necessary to implement the envisioned decision. It is also indicated which international agreements countries should join to continue reforming their field.

2. Institutional changes

Which institutions, branch ministries, departments, and other social and public players in the field should be changed, or which functions should be changed, and in what way?

3. Funding 

Determination of general principles of changes in funding and/or directions of funding - public, private, and charitable - in a specific field.

4. Communication of reforms to society

Defining specific communication mechanisms for successful reform and recovery. In particular, who and/or which institution or group of people – should implement the solution? What population groups, particularly in this field and/or the business concerned, could be the greatest opponents to implementing this decision (whose interest may be affected by the change and how can this be overcome)? What consequences, difficulties, or obstacles can be expected after the decision and its implementation?

5. Steps/stages of change

If applicable, it is defined in a separate unit.

6. Criteria for evaluating the reform’s success/failure 

These criteria indicate not just the fact of the change, in particular the adoption or amendment of the relevant regulatory legal acts. Still, they determine what should change in a specific area for certain groups of people and institutions’ activities (accessibility, etc.) in the context of the prospective changes indicated in the Vision).

The general structure of the document for each defined direction of the social and humanitarian sphere consists of the following parts:

1.1. State of [specific area] policy as of early 2023.

1.2. A vision of [a specific area] in the perspective of 2030, including relevant measurement indicators.

1.3. Key issues to be addressed to achieve desired outcomes in [specific area].

1.4. Policy for solving problems in [specific area] in the perspective of 2030.

1.5. Red lines which cannot be crossed in the process of solving the issue.

(Special thanks to Ihor Koliushko, Chairman of the Board of the Center for Political and Legal Reforms, for his help in developing the methodology of the 1st stage of the research).