50 participants from about 30 NGOs working in different regions of Ukraine underwent a three-day training at the Mentoring Program Summer Camp.

During July 15-17, mentors and mentees held thematic workshops (on burnout prevention), workshops (on the participation of NGOs in public procurement and external communication), lectures (on the development of organizational capabilities) and much more. In addition, there was a film screening and many informal activities, thanks to which everyone received different insights.

The CEDEM, together with the Initiative Center to Support Social Action “Ednannia” and the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research, has already had two enrollments of the Mentoring Program for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). In this program, established CSOs act as mentors for selected civil society organizations (mentee) and help develop and strengthen their advocacy capacity.

So the Summer Camp was the next step in bringing together the mentors and mentees of the two Mentoring Programs. They had the opportunity to develop joint plans, share experiences and increase knowledge about organizational development and inclusion.

“Cool, sincere, motivated, unbreakable and full of faith. This is how I would describe all the participants. We decided to bring together the 2020 alumni and the 2021 participants so that they could get to know each other, share the results of their advocacy campaigns and, of course, increase the level of knowledge about organizational development. I am sincerelygrat eful to everyone who joined the organization and participation in this event – you are incredible”, said Olesia Kholopik, CEDEM Director.

Alona Matviichuk, coordinator of both Mentoring Programs, shared her impressions of the Camp: “One of the values of the Mentoring Program is to help participants build healthy relationships in the public sector and be successful. We tried to create a Camp program with the “know/love” balance and our mentors helped us here: Kseniia Ditchuk, Bohdan Lepiavko, Liudmyla Yankina, Denys Baranets and Dmytro Sakaliuk. And also invited speakers: Marianna Onufryk and organizational coaches Viktoriia Mryshuk, Iryna Morzhova and Olha London”.

Participants of the Summer Camp note the experience gained and the opportunity to communicate live with like-minded people.

Natalia Pastushenko, an alumna of the Mentoring Program 1.0, shared her emotions from participating in the event: “The camp inspired me to move on. It’s an invaluable experience that has provided interesting acquaintances and the opportunity to reboot”.

Oksana Musiienko, mentor of the Mentoring Program 2.0 noted: “We are all happy to have the opportunity to communicate live, hug each other and brag about achievements in the advocacy campaign under the Mentoring Program 2.0”.

Therefore, the participants were inspired and motivated to make big changes.

The event was organized 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 sincere support of the American people through United States Agency for International Development.