Mentorship Program 2.0 to strengthen CSOs’ advocacy capacity has been officially launched! 

February 25th marks the beginning of change for young CSOs and their mentors (sustainable NGOs). Over the next 6 months, they will learn how to develop and advocate for solutions to overcome problems at the local level, take the first steps to implement change, and increase their organizational capacity. And most importantly, they have already got reliable partners who will always help them, share their experience and support them in the role of mentors. 

Volodymyr Sheihus, Executive Director of Initiative Center to Support Social Action “Ednannia”, and Olesia Kholopik, CEDEM’s Executive Director, expressed their congratulations and best wishes to the program participants. Valeriia Didyk, CEDEM’s Project Manager, spoke about the stages of the program and noted its importance.

During the event, all mentee-mentor pairs were introduced.

1. Social Interaction Platform NGO –CF “Patients of Ukraine” (Oksana Musiienko)
2. Urban City Development Agency NGO  – Centre of Policy and Legal Reform (Ihor Koliushko, Kseniia Ditchuk)
3. VULYK Union of Active Women NGO –Right to Defense CF (Anastasiia Odintsova)
4. Green Palms NGO– ICO “Environment – People – Law” (Olena Kravchenko)
5. Research and Consultation Center NGO– EcoClub (Dmytro Sakaliuk, Illia Yeremenko)
6. Inclusive Studies NGO– NGO Center “Women’s Perspectives” (Liubov Maksymovych)
7. NGO Center for the Development of Public Initiatives “Podilskyi Krai”–U-Cycle (Kyiv Cyclists’ Association NGO), Bohdan Lepiavko
8. BCD NGO –Light of Hope CF (Kateryna Ryzhkova-Siebielieva)
9. Ochevydno NGO– Western Ukrainian Resource Center (Zoriana Stotsko)
10. WE ARE EQUAL NGO – Human Rights Center (Liudmyla Yankina)
11. Center of Changes NGO– Public Control Platform NGO (Denys Baranets)
12. Rozumne Upravlinnya Mistom NGO– Institute of Analytics and Advocacy (Olena Dmytrenko)
13. Resource Center for the Support of Housing Cooperatives NGO – Life NGO (Liliia Olefir)
14. Academy of Socio-Economic Initiatives NGO– Legal Hundred NGO (Viktoriia Ivasyk)
15. DESTIGMA Support Center for Persons with Mental Disorders NGO –”100% Life Network” Charity Organization, Lviv (Dmytro Tyhach)

Olena Matviichuk, coordinator of the Mentorship Program, emphasized that out of 15 mentor organizations, 10 mentors are those that were there during the first program – and that is extremely nice! At the same time there was also an update, 5 new mentor organizations joined the team of mentors. So welcome to the team!

There have also been changes regarding the mentee selection process: it lasted more than a month and included 2 webinars attended by 28 CSOs, filling in the appropriate form on the problem the organization wants to work on with the mentor and the selection process itself. 

So once again, congratulations to the lucky 15 CSOs that got into the program.

The Mentorship Program is implemented by the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law as part of the Project Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity implemented by the Initiative Center to Support Social Action “Ednannia” in partnership with the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research (UCIPR) and Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law (CEDEM) with the support of the American people through United States Agency for International Development.