During four years, with the financial support of the Mott Foundation, our organization was able to work effectively in the following strategic program areas:
– Support for public initiatives. Information, methodological, organizational and resource support; organizing the cooperation and information support.
– Joint efforts of civil society organizations and improving the effectiveness of their interaction with authorities.
– Implementation of development programs in pilot local communities; demonstration of qualitative changes and organization of work on exchange of practical experience.
The Organization introduced new areas of activity, new topics of training, projects and tools, including: training of professional communicators, mini-grants competitions for anti-corruption activities, “civic platform for fair and transparent elections”, coaching tools in training programs and activities of the Organization, new online tools.
In its work at local communities, the Organization uses a human rights approach and promotes dialogue as a tool for development of local democracy.
With support of the Foundation, civic activists were trained in the Seventh and Eighth Schools of Positive Changes as well as the First and Second Schools of Project Management. The following online courses were conducted:
– “Fundamentals of Coaching for Managers of Civil Society Organizations” for members of the Network of Civil Society Hubs in Ukraine
– “Development of Social Projects” for civil society activists from Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Luhansk, Rivne, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and Chernivtsi oblasts.
In response to inquiries from Ukrainian civil society activists, numerous certain trainings were held for CSOs on various issues of CSO activities: project development and management, effective communications, fundamentals of facilitation, organizational development, strategic planning, etc.
Civic activists were particularly interested in the following training events and master classes: “Storytelling as a Tool for Community Development”, “CSO Presentation During Events: How to Involve People and Tell Interesting Stories”, “Culture of Trust: How to Create Reliable Foundation for Implementing Changes”, ” Sand Retreat”.
Another landmark event for civic activists was the training event for 35 participants “Selected Tools for Working with Communities in the ToP Approach” conducted by Bill Staples, the world’s best facilitator in 2014, a change management consultant, a master trainer of professional facilitators and consultants, the editor of a professional magazine.
The consultation center for support of public initiatives worked steadily, “Civil Society: Questions and Answers Handbook” was prepared and published.
The organization continued to work in the direction of organizational development: changes were made to the Strategy, internal policies were improved; training of consultants and trainers was conducted; technical audit and modernization of the website were performed to optimize interaction processes with users.
With support of the Mott Foundation, the Organization expanded its team with experts who worked directly in the pilot communities, as well as attracted external consultants.
Experts of the Center “Tamarisk” were trained and improved their competencies as coaches:
– within Bill Staples’ educational program (a series of facilitation trainings in local communities)
– at the training for trainers at NGO “MART” on the topic “Human Rights-Based Approach to the Activities of Civil Society Organizations”
– at training events for trainers based on Frank Pucelik method for providing assistance to people in crisis situations (overcoming post-traumatic syndrome), etc.
Taking into account the current challenges, guest specialists conducted the following training events for employees and volunteers: “Safety of Public Activists”, “New Challenges and Opportunities for CSO Activists in the Digital Age”.
Thus, the Center “Tamarisk” has strengthened its potential, its team has improved its competencies and become more professional.
The Organization is an active member of the Network of Civil Society Hubs in Ukraine, being a regional leader which unites dozens of local organizations.
The financial base and technical support of the Organization has been improved: the Organization moved to a new office in the central part of the city, renovated the premises, updated office equipment.
The Organization successfully underwent financial audit in 2018 and 2020.