On Saturday, December 7, 2019, the first coordination meeting of the participants of the Mentoring Support Program “Capacity Building of Regional / Local Anti-Corruption NGOs in Ukraine” took place at the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”.
Within the framework of this Program, 20 most promising public organizations in the field of anti-corruption were selected from such cities as Lviv, Drohobych, Khmelnytsky, Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Poltava, Mariupol, Severodonetsk, Chernihiv, Kremenchuk, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kropy Ternopil, Nikopol, Sumy, Ukrainka, Khmilnyk, as well as Kyiv (city-level).
During the first coordination meeting, the ACREC team had the opportunity to meet once again with representatives of 20 regional NGOs participating in the project; present the results of the study “The impact of civil society on the implementation of anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine”; to dedicate participants to key areas and features of cooperation within the framework of the Mentoring Program; and outline the first steps for future cooperation.
The meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere and ended with the signing of Memoranda of Cooperation between ACREC and regional NGOs in the field of anti-corruption.
It will be recalled that in autumn 2019, the Anti-Corruption Research and Education Center of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy launched a unique project of Mentoring Support for NGOs Working in the Field of Anti-Corruption in Ukraine called Strengthening Capacities in Ukraine”.
The key goal of this program is to strengthen the development of institutional, organizational, analytical, and expert capacities of regional and local anti-corruption NGOs in Ukraine.
Within the framework of this program, cooperation and mentoring of regional NGOs is carried out in three key areas:
- Mentoring: development of instructions on the general work of the organization, weekly counseling (phone, Skype, meetings); assistance in preparing policy documents, project drafts, and procedures for working with local governments. We will also help address the specific needs of NGOs to increase your expertise and organize the necessary training.
- Training: passing the certificate program “Interdisciplinary Anti-Corruption Studies”, as well as the master’s program “Anti-Corruption Studies” to increase the professionalism and efficiency of your activities.
- Networking: Meetings with local, regional, national anti-corruption NGOs, and anti-corruption experts to increase influence and build new connections to advocate for change.
The main result of the project should be strengthening and achieving a higher level of organizational and professional capacity of the participating organizations, which will have a positive effect on anti-corruption reforms, strengthening the rule of law and good governance practices at the local level in Ukraine.
The project also plans to achieve more specific indicators. In particular, we will promote the following:
- Twenty representatives will take part and successfully pass the Certificate Program “Anti-Corruption Studies”;
- Five representatives of the participating NGOs will join the Master’s Program “Anti-Corruption Studies”;
- All 20 regional NGOs participating in the project will establish constant communication with 10 influential organizations in the field of anti-corruption at the national level.
The mentoring support program “Capacity Building of Regional / Local Anti-Corruption NGOs in Ukraine” is funded by the MATRA support program from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.