The carefully designed mentoring support provided to civil society organizations by the Institute for Youth Development KULT, in collaboration with the USAID Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, contributes significantly to building internal organizational capacities. The mentoring support provided by the Institute includes several components, such as offering recommendations based on the assessment of organizational capacities, creating capacity-building plans with annual action plans, and offering various thematic training sessions tailored to the specific needs of civil society organizations.
All the training sessions contribute to creating conditions for organizational sustainability and capacity building. These efforts, combined with other systematic and carefully planned processes, help organizations reach an optimal level of sustainability. Developing human resources and personal competencies of employees and representatives of civil society organizations and other sectors through training and other educational programs organized by the Institute has proven to be a highly effective model.
The Institute held eight three-day training sessions, which were attended by representatives from various NGOs across Bosnia and Herzegovina. 118 different organizations participated in the training courses. Three more training sessions are planned in the next three months, which will offer training in more specialized areas.
The trainings cover a range of topics that are aligned with both the program and the specific needs of NGOs receiving mentoring support for capacity building through the Localworks program. Participants who attended all the trainings learned about various areas, including legal and organizational structures, advocacy and lobbying, public policy development, team management, financial management, organizational sustainability, resource mobilization, and monitoring and evaluation.
The training courses not only improved participants’ knowledge and skills but also fostered valuable collaborations, established partnerships, and even led to joint activities between multiple organizations in the field.
“The greatest benefit is the ability to share the knowledge from the training with others in the organization. As William Glasser says, we learn 95% of what we teach others,” said one of the participants.
The value of the training and participation in the organizational capacity-building program is best captured by the participants’ feedback: “All the training courses organized by the Institute for Youth Development KULT are very useful. I didn’t just attend one training; I’ve participated in several. I saw immediate progress after the first training; I was able to apply for project funds on behalf of my organization successfully. I always discover new and innovative approaches in the training courses, and I don’t think I could have learned these things elsewhere. Thanks to the training, our organization has formed valuable connections with others, using each new session as an opportunity for new partnerships and fresh ideas. I will continue to attend trainings for three reasons: meeting others, networking and learning”.
“After each training, I come away with many answers and reflect on whether I’m doing everything correctly in my organization. All the trainings I took part in improved my work and my organization. After the first training, I advanced four positions, and I wouldn’t have achieved that without everything I learned from your training,” said one of the participants.
“Listening to experienced trainers made me realize how much more there is to learn and how good you are at teaching different topics,” said one of the participants. Connecting with people from different organizations shows us how many are actively working to promote and defend human rights. Meeting people from different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina who are actively involved in their communities is an invaluable benefit I gain from every training session,” said another participant.
“Since we are a small organization, everything we learned was very useful for us. Initially, we were not very active in the non-governmental sector, so the contacts we made at your training course have been invaluable. The way the Institute for Youth Development KULT is organized and functions shows us how to act professionally and in a structured way, while also being approachable and friendly. Thanks to training courses like the one on financial management, we learned to operate correctly and efficiently in line with financial rules and regulations. “I’d often leave a training thinking it was the most useful one yet, but then I think the same the next one, and so on,” said a participant from the Center EKO EHO, which is participating in the organizational capacity building program.
On that note, the Institute for Youth Development KULT will host the first of several planned trainings on Marketing, focusing on promoting the work of non-governmental organizations. To register, click HERE. The Institute will share public calls and details about the upcoming training through its communication channels.
As part of the Localworks Capacity Development Activity, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supports strengthening local initiatives led by citizens to address specific issues, improve the quality of life in their communities and cities, and ultimately positively impact the overall situation in the country.
Leave a comment