A new report, Beyond Survival: Regenerative Organisational Development Support in Wartime Ukraine, was launched online on 23 April by Foundations4Ukraine. It introduces “Regenerative Organisational Development” (Regenerative OD), an approach designed to help Ukrainian civil society organisations (CSOs) cope, adapt, and keep going under the extreme pressures of war.
Ukrainian CSOs are operating in what the report calls “radical simultaneity”: responding to urgent needs, supporting recovery, and planning for the future all at once. Many organisations have stepped far beyond their original roles, becoming essential pillars of continuity for communities across the country. At the same time, teams are working under intense strain, facing ongoing instability, trauma, and exhaustion.
In this context, the report argues that organisational development is not a luxury but a necessity. Regenerative OD builds on traditional approaches but adapts them to crisis conditions, combining organisational strengthening with a strong focus on people.
The findings draw on extensive research, including interviews, case studies, and collaboration with Ukrainian and international practitioners. Several key patterns emerge. Organisations that engaged in adapted development processes gained clearer strategic direction and were better able to align immediate actions with longer-term goals. Teams clarified roles and responsibilities through structured dialogue, reducing friction and strengthening shared ownership.
A particularly important insight is the value of deliberately structuring time within organisational processes for reflection and renewal. These moments enable teams to process ongoing pressure, regain focus, and sustain their capacity to act over time. When embedded as part of organisational strengthening – rather than treated as individual resilience support – they proved to be transformational.
The report was developed with the support of the Robert Bosch Foundation and PeaceNexus Foundation and represents a unique collaboration. Bringing together their respective resources and experience, they partnered with the author Olga Bentz to explore the question: can organisational development support – often seen as unsuitable in situations of day-to-day survival – be accelerated to help local organisations become direct recipients of international aid and take their rightful place as leaders in their own context?
The findings suggest that it can. The report shows that organisational development support can deliver strong results as a funding approach even in wartime conditions. When shaped by deep attention to human dynamics, it enables locally led organisations to become more strategic, effective, and sustainable.
The report sets out recommendations for the wider ecosystem supporting Ukrainian civil society. The report’s author and contributors emphasize however that this is just the beginning of a broader learning process. They call for a continued collaboration among funders, practitioners, and civil society actors in rethinking how organisational support is designed, not only in Ukraine, but in other contexts facing protracted instability and conflict.
The launch marks also the founding of ODeSA – Organisational Development Support Agency, a think-and-act tank designed to take forward the learning and momentum generated by the report.
read the full report here.
