February 14, 2023

The BEARR Trust  will soon be inviting civil society organisations (CSOs) in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the South Caucasus to take part in our survey to analyse the impact of war in Ukraine on CSOs in the region.

The survey will be launched in February-March 2023. All answers will be kept anonymous. Only aggregated data will be shared on BEARR’s website. 

Following from the results of our surveys in 2020, 2021 and 2022, this year we will be seeking to understand how the war in Ukraine has affected organisations working in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the South Caucasus, specifically with regards to the impact on staff and volunteers and access to funding. We would also like to know whether the services provided by CSOs have changed, whether the demographics of those in need have changed, and, more generally, how the operation of civil society has been affected by the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 2022. 

Our previous surveys, which focussed on the impact of COVID-19 on CSOs and social isolation caused by the pandemic, demonstrated that organisations in the region were already struggling with internal difficulties such as loss of staff, emotional burnout and a lack of funds. Yet in spite of the circumstances, many organisations had shown great strength and resilience during the pandemic, adapting their working methods to remote working and operating in closer conjunction with local authorities and other NGOs to deliver much-needed services to vulnerable groups. 

Through the work of our Emergency Appeal for Ukraine and Moldova, and during our Annual Conference in 2022, we have seen an incredible response from our partners and the voluntary sector, who have been working tirelessly to alleviate the needs of those impacted by the war. We now want to know more about the wider impact of the war across the region. 

This year’s survey will be more more detailed than previous years and we expect it will take 15 minutes to complete. We appreciate the time constraints on CSOs in the region at present, however the data collected from this survey will be invaluable in helping us design better we can shape our future grants schemes in alignment with the needs on the ground. 

BEARR works with CSOs in the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. 

Questions in the survey will be presented in three languages – English, Russian and Ukrainian. Respondents are welcome to respond to narrative questions or leave comments under questions in any of these three languages.