During July-October 2020, several online meetings will be organised in order to support the strategic planning of the Coalition against Discrimination in Ukraine. This support comes from the regional projects “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes in the Eastern Partnership”, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe as part of the Partnership for Good Governance Phase II.

A vibrant coalition of civil society organisations and experts on non-discrimination can be very relevant at national level, in terms of promotion of non-discrimination, advocacy for policy and legislative changes, etc. In Ukraine, the Anti-Discrimination Coalition is an all-Ukrainian non-governmental public human rights initiative of civil society institutions and individual experts whose purpose is to comprehensively and systematically advocate for the rights, interests and needs of representatives of all social groups in need of care and protection. The Coalition was founded in 2011 by the signatories of the Memorandum of the Coalition on Discrimination in Ukraine. At the beginning of 2017, there were more than 50 organisations and more than ten experts on discrimination.

Among the achievements of the Coalition are the introduction of special anti-discrimination legislation in Ukraine, education campaigns and measures aimed at promoting and improving anti-discrimination legislation, protection of the equality of women, people with disabilities, refugees, migrants, LGBT people and other vulnerable groups. The Coalition had a separate Fund for Strategic Affairs, provided legal support to cases of strategic importance to counteract discrimination and annually awarded human rights violators with the "Discriminator of the Year" anti-award.

However, since 2017, the Coalition has gradually decreased its activity due to various institutional and individual circumstances, in particular because of intensifying the work of individual organizations and reducing the demand for coalition activity. Currently, the Coalition assessed its activity and a need for strategic planning and reinforcing the Coalition appeared. There is also a request for cooperation from the Ombudsman's office - assisting them in developing their own anti-discrimination functions, enhancing expert and advisory capacity, developing cooperation with civil society and implementing joint projects.

Through the support of the joint EU – Council of Europe project, the members of the coalition will have several online meetings to discuss the following:

• The vision of the Coalition
• Development of the theory of change for the Coalition
• Mission and vision of the Coalition
• Tasks / directions of work of the Coalition
• Co-operation with the Ombudsman's Office
• Co-operation with the Council of Europe projects

If local public health conditions allow it, an in-person meeting of the Coalition is foreseen for autumn 2020.