Participants of U-LEAD’s training programme “Steps for Specialists. Interaction of Local Self-Government Bodies and Volunteer Associations” reaffirmed that local self-government bodies understand the value of the volunteer movement and are ready to support it in their own municipalities.

The training programme “Steps for Specialists. Interaction of Local Self-Government Bodies and Volunteer Associations”, which lasted from May 31 to July 11, included various alternating online events such as seminars, trainings, workshops and info sessions.

The main experts of the training programme were Anna Bondarenko and Olena Vuzka, representing Ukrainian Volunteer Service NGO. They used their expertise and experience of working with volunteers to train local council officials, assisted by the advisers of the regional offices of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme.

“Words are not enough to describe my admiration and gratitude to the participants of this programme. We saw good practices and challenges. Everything does not always run smoothly, and that is where you can clearly see the effort and dedication that municipalities invest in volunteering. I believe that each participant took something that will help build bridges and establish cooperation and partnerships in the future! Every step in this cooperation has a far-reaching effect on municipalities and brings us closer to our Victory,” expert Olena Vuzka commented on the results.

The format of the training programme also included guest speakers at each seminar, who shared their own experience and knowledge with the participants.

Mykola Panchuk, Mayor of Hoshcha, Rivne oblast, Stanislav Kozlov, Head of the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council Secretariat, Oleh Malets, Adviser to the Mayor of Lviv, Head of the municipal institution “Lviv City Youth Centre”, Anzhelika Tymchenko, Director of the Nizhyn City Youth Centre, Chernihiv oblast.

NGOs were represented by Yuliia Soloviova, Head of YurStab, Kyiv, Viktoriia Kostiuk, Chair of the Board of the Intonatsia ZMIN Community Development Agency, Rivne oblast, Anastasiia Drachuk, Programme Manager at Building Ukraine Together, Yuliia Kuryliuk, foreign literature teacher, participant of the Teaching for Ukraine programme, Lviv oblast.

The efforts of the Council of Europe project “Strengthening Public Participation in the Democratic Decision-Making Process in Ukraine” were presented by expert Olha Gvozdik.

Guest speaker Anzhelika Tymchenko shared her own thoughts.

“I believe that training programmes aimed at the development and improvement of cooperation between local self-government and volunteer communities are now vital. In the conditions of a full-scale invasion, our municipality was one of the examples where concerned citizens were the first to unite into volunteer centres that met the needs of various target groups in need. At that moment, the city authorities could either see these initiatives as competitors or could provide support and help with issues within the competence of the public bodies. Indeed, united, everyone shows better results. In addition, our municipality adopted the city’s targeted programme for the support and development of volunteering in the Nizhyn municipality that provided for phased support for volunteer initiatives according to their needs, as well as financing volunteer projects from the city budget. It’s great that we were able to share successful cases and learn from each other’s best practices.”

Teams from 40 municipalities representing 19 regions of Ukraine were selected to participate in the training programme. Each of the teams consisted of three people representing different categories of municipal residents, such as officials of local self-government bodies, employees of municipal facilities and institutions, volunteers and representatives of local public associations.

One of the participants, Viktoriia Nikolaychuk, Deputy Mayor of Zarichne, Rivne oblast, talked about the training results.

“Our team left the training programme with a number of practical skills. The tools shared by the lecturers are practical and tailored to the municipality. A very interesting presentation, clear and down-to-earth. We did not have to google any additional information. It was also interesting to observe municipalities that actively cooperate with volunteers. The course is well-thought and lively. It was exciting and exceeded expectations. I don’t know why we had such a positive experience; maybe this is exactly what our municipality needed; what we would not have been able to understand so deeply by ourselves, were afraid to implement and did not know where to start. Personally, I would like to add that I am an active user of many courses, but this one was on the next level. Thank you for this opportunity!”

After the completion of all training activities, the participants had a chance to check their level of knowledge of the programme material by completing the final test. Those who passed it successfully received certificates.

The final event in this initiative will be another online meeting of Steps participants, which will take place in the autumn, where representatives of the municipalities will be able to share their own experiences of applying the knowledge gained.