The Recovery and Development Consultants program is a training initiative of ISAR Ednannia, implemented with the support of the European Union. It trains specialists who help communities recover and develop, establish partnerships between authorities and citizens, launch local change projects and attract funding. Participants are people from NGOs, local governments and business initiatives who are already working at the local level and want to do it more systematically.
Olha Vinnichenko has been working at the municipal institution “Center for Youth Initiatives” of the Kamyanske City Council for 5 years. Until recently, this was the only youth center in the Kamyanske district.
Kamyanske is a city in Dnipropetrovsk oblast. Its broader district consists of 12 communities and they still have only two youth centers. In August of 2022 together with her colleagues Olha established a civil society organization “Space for Initiatives”. The main priorities of this NGO are: work with youth, conducting informal educational events and integration of the IDP youth to the community.
“Back in 2022 we did a lot of things, but now we are returning to our main focus – youth, informal education, integration of IDPs. However, the sphere of our activities is much broader than it seems”, says Olha.
Youth center and NGO cooperate closely as partners. Over three years they have opened two veteran spaces, Center of resilience and also implemented the project Youth Media Lab.
She was not accepted into the program on the first attempt
Olha applied to the Recovery and Development Consultants program together with a colleague. Initially, only the colleague was selected to participate, but later she was unable to join the training. Then Olha wrote to the organizers on her own and was given the opportunity to join the program.
“Before participating in the program, me and my colleagues already implemented different projects related to the issue of recovery. We also participated in the program "VidNOVA:UA" not only in Kamyanske but also in the Zhytomyr region. Over the years I worked there as an educational manager, and also a manager of youth exchange. We also implemented this program in Kamyanske. Last year we implemented another project that we authored, related to the involvement of youth to the processes of recovery and decision making. Within this project we conducted training for trainers and ideathon. So this topic was not new for us”.
Olha also adds that recovery is a broad notion.
“Recovery is not only about material reconstruction of the buildings. The notion is much broader and relates to the social, cultural recovery, restoration of the social ties. It was important for me to understand how ISAR Ednannia together with European partners see this process in a broader sense”.
“Now I approach organization of different events in a new light”
Olha participated in the educational program twice: first she finished a basic course for consultants, and then - a training for trainers.
“First I was bewildered by how modules and sessions were organized, but then I adapted. Discussions were so active that sometimes it was difficult to stop them when time was up. The team that conducted the training is just incredible. It was also a very friendly and open group, with whom we cooperated. Everyone was really involved and interested”.
Olha found training for trainers to be most enlightening, since it helped her to change her understanding of how the educational processes should be organized.
“I really learned a lot of things about organization and conduct of educational processes. We were provided with the feedback even concerning the minor details. For instance, what colour of markers is preferable to use over the others. Or the colour of the paper. Some thought: why do we need to go into such detail? But then you understand that this really influences perception and learning. Now I approach the organization of different events in a new light.”
Life after the training
After training Olha and her team prepared 2 ideathons for teenagers – events, where youth worked on creating their own ideas about the development of the community,
“After the training my understanding and approach towards organizing everything has changed. Now I analyze more using the perspective we were told about: how the logic of the process should be developed, how we move from one stage to the next one. Logical beginning, a bit of theory, practice and obligatory reflection. So that the participants understand why they are doing all of this. ”
Olha recounts how she consulted several educational institutions that applied for the specialized competition. Among other things she helped to prepare an application for refurbishment of the school dining halls and worked on the project budget.
”Here I needed the knowledge of project management that I gained during the training”, notes Olha.
Also, according to Olha, a meeting with the head of the Kamyanske regional council was held, where the development of the youth policy in the community was discussed.
“We discussed the strategic issues and ways of scaling our ideas,” adds Olha.
“Just apply”
To all those organizations that are afraid to apply for the Recovery and Development Consultants program, Olha suggest:
“You have to try despite your fear. Sometimes it may seem that your experience or knowledge is not sufficient but some of the participants were from very different communities, of different ages, with different experiences. Unless you try you will not know if you meet the criteria”.
The programme is implemented within the framework of the EU Unity4Community project, funded by the European Union.
This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of ISAR Ednannia and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
