Upcoming Events
Ukrainian Civil Society Week
From 26 June to 3 July, the Organization for Nonviolent Movements (ONM) and the Paris Centre for Democracy (PADEM) are bringing together researchers, artists, media, government officials, and civil society professionals for a week of events in Paris and online at the intersection of Ukraine, democratic resilience, and solidarity — across a dinner, a cultural evening, a networking reception, and an online deep-dive.
Ukraine’s citizens and civil society are among the most vibrant, resilient forces in the world—and a great source of strength for the country. Yet these grassroots actors remain largely invisible, underrecognized, and underresourced. As Ukraine advances through EU accession (negotiations opened formally in June 2024), civil society alignment beyond government-to-government channels has grown in practical significance. In France, engagement has remained more limited than in comparable EU member states, partly reflecting France’s historically distinct diplomatic posture toward Russia and the sensitivities of its foreign policy in the early stages of the conflict.
Ukraine remains at the centre of the most pressing questions facing European democracies: what does democratic resilience look like under sustained attack? What role does civil society play when institutions are under fire? And how do people wearing different hats—photographers, NGO leaders, engaged journalists, and others—in France, and Europe more broadly, stand in solidarity with a society that is simultaneously fighting a war and defending its democratic foundations?
This month, ONM and PADEM — Paris Centre for Democracy are co-organising Ukrainian Civil Society Week — four events across one week that approach these questions from different angles: the intimate, the artistic, the analytical, and the relational.
Democracy Dinners #2: Ukrainian Kitchen
An intimate evening of shared food and conversation built around Ukrainian cuisine. The week opens on the evening of 26 June at KOLO Community Space in Paris 20e with the second edition of Democracy Dinners — a small group of practitioners, researchers, artists, journalists, and engaged citizens gathering around a Ukrainian table curated by Kateryna Prunchak.
Featuring video remarks from 2022 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk and award-winning photographer Émeric Lhuisset, with Amber French-Griette, Co-founder and Executive Director of ONM.
KOLO Community Space · Paris 20e · Places are strictly limited
Register →Paris–Kyiv: Art, Resistance, and Solidarity
Soirée culturelle en présence d’Eméric Lhuisset, photographe et artiste
A cultural evening at the intersection of art, solidarity, and resistance, co-hosted by ONM and PADEM at Place Network, Paris 11e.
Émeric Lhuisset will be in conversation with Amber French-Griette and Nadiia Bernard-Kovalchuk, tracing his photographic journey through Ukraine: from the Maidan Revolution to his book Ukraine – Hundred Hidden Faces, to his now-iconic photograph From Far Away, I Hear the Cossack Reply. The evening opens with a screening of ARTE’s Ukraine: A War of Symbols and an introductory presentation on Ukrainian cultural heritage during the war by Kateryna Prunchak..
Place Network · Paris 11e · Admission free
Co-organised by ONM, PADEM, and Institut pour la Paix
Deep-Dive — Democratic and Civic Resilience against Hybrid War
The week closes online with a focused workshop on democratic and civic resilience against hybrid war, co-organised by ONM and PADEM. Dr. Oleksandra Keudel, Founding Director of the Center for Democratic Resilience at the Kyiv School of Economics, and Col. (Ret.) Andrii Ordynovych of the Ukrainian Air Force bring together research, frontline military experience, and civil society practice to address the central questions of the week.
Moderated by Amber French-Griette. How did Ukrainian civil society respond to Russian aggression — and what can this teach Europe about civic preparedness, nonmilitary mobilisation, and democratic resilience from the bottom up?
16:30–18:00 CET · Online · Free
Register
Ukraine–France: A Civil Society Networking Evening
Sociétés civiles en dialogue : soirée de rencontres franco-ukrainiennes
A networking reception at the Ukrainian Cultural Center of Paris, open to Ukrainian diaspora and diaspora organisation representatives, Paris-based NGOs and associations, funders, social investors, media actors, and cultural professionals.
The evening opens with short video portraits of Ukrainian civil society organisations introducing their work to a French audience, followed by a presentation of the ONM–Center for Civil Liberties Twin NGOs initiative — a project pairing French and Ukrainian organisations working in comparable fields, combining symbolic solidarity with concrete collaboration. Attendees will meet representatives of Ukrainian civil society directly and contribute to the design of the Twin NGOs framework before its formal launch.
19:00–21:00 · Ukrainian Cultural Center of Paris · Co-organised by ONM, Center for Civil Liberties (Kyiv, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate), PADEM, and the Ukrainian Institute of Paris · Under the patronage of the Ukrainian Embassy of France
Taken together, the four events of Ukrainian Civil Society Week offer four different entry points into the same set of questions — through food and conversation, through art and memory, through solidarity and networking, and through research and strategy. We won’t resolve any of it in a week. But we will think about it better together than apart.
Ukrainian Civil Society Week is co-organised by ONM, PADEM, KOLO Community Space, and Place Network.