Analytical material by Oksana Zhulenova, Candidate of Sociological Sciences: “The state and prospects of volunteering in Ukraine: data from the 2025 survey”

The volunteer movement is one of the significant phenomena of contemporary Ukrainian society. In 2003 it was officially recognised in Ukraine, when the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Regulation on volunteer activity in the provision of social services. That document is no longer in force. It defined volunteer activity as “the voluntary non-profit activity of natural persons — volunteers — aimed at providing assistance to people who find themselves in difficult life circumstances and need outside support”.

For roughly ten years after that official recognition, however, the volunteer movement developed rather slowly, especially in comparison with other countries. The situation changed in 2014, when key social and political events shaped the movement's development. The main triggers were the Revolution of Dignity, the annexation of Crimea and the war in the Donbas. Against the background of these events the volunteer movement faced an absence of effective managerial decisions, limited resources and the need to mobilise considerable resources because of the threat to the state's territorial integrity.

Read about this in the analytical material by Oksana Zhulenova, Candidate of Sociological Sciences.