Training and support for Ukrainian volunteers

REPORT

activities of the Incubator project

The incubator is an educational project of the Rescue Now charitable foundation for public sector organizations. Newly created organizations come to us for training and mentoring support. We expertly help them develop projects from idea to implementation.

Our mission is to promote the development of the public sector of Ukraine by helping these organizations turn their project ideas into reality. In the process, they also acquire essential knowledge and skills in working with social projects.

This was the third iteration of the Incubator project and the second for public sector organizations. This time, we focused on the direction of children and youth - we looked for organizations working in this direction and adapted the program to their needs. The Incubator program lasts eight weeks; this time, it was August- September 2023.

Our project provides the following key activities for participants: lectures on the most critical areas for organizations, such as fundraising, finance and reporting, project management, and organization management; mentoring sessions, in which teams work together with their mentor on the development of their projects; consultations from the fund's experts on point requests of the groups; general events - meeting-acquaintance, presentation of ideas, check-ins of projects, defense of projects. After passing the program, the best organizations are given grant funds for the implementation of the projects developed by them.

This time, we trained seven teams who completed the training and developed and defended their projects. According to the results of project protection, two organizations will receive grants to implement their projects.

Results for beneficiaries:

1. Participants of 7 teams listened to 19 lectures. They improved their knowledge and skills in key areas for public sector organizations, such as project management, fundraising, finance and reporting, organization management, volunteer management, design, visual communications, SMM, etc.
2. Each team, with the help of a mentor, developed and presented its social project.
3. Participants improved communication and teamwork, understood their strengths and weaknesses, and improved soft skills.
4. The participants found themselves among other organizations in the public sector and got new acquaintances and potential partnerships.
5. Two of the seven teams will receive grant funds for the start of implementation of the projects developed by them at the Incubator.
6. The participants gained new experience and feedback, became more confident in their activities, and will be able to work more efficiently and systematically with their target audience in the future.

Results for our team and the Rescue Now Foundation:

1. We were able to scale the Incubator project by taking seven organizations and expanding the project's geography to the whole of Ukraine - applications for the Incubator came from 15 regions, and the participants worked in 6 different areas.
2. We gained valuable experience working with teams and understood how to improve our program.
3. We received positive reviews and valuable feedback from the participants; we even better understood the advantages of the project and what could be improved.
4. For the first time, we chose the recipients of grant funds, and for the first time, we will issue grants to organizations to implement projects.
5. For the first time, we tested holding the Incubator in certain directions, such as supporting children and youth; this experiment was successful.
6. We are one step closer to forming a community of active and effective public sector organizations that will further improve our society.
7. We once again confirmed for ourselves the importance of this project for organizations and want to work more on educational projects to create new opportunities for organizations.

We successfully achieved the goals we set for ourselves for these three months. In the future, we want to improve further and scale the project to help more organizations.

In general, the project went according to plan. Among the difficulties, we can single out the high employment of our participants outside the Incubator, due to which some of the participants managed to devote less time to the Incubator than expected. It was sometimes difficult for our team because this time, we did many things for the first time and experimented, but we believe that as a result, we succeeded in the project at a high level. It was an exciting experience because, this time, all the organizations and projects were from different directions, so we learned even more than usual while working with them.

After completing the project, we thought about how we could improve the implementation of this project if we were to implement it again and came to the following conclusions. We would slightly reduce the intensity of the program and reduce the number of lectures, leaving only the key ones. This time, we held 19 lectures and got great feedback on the skin with them, but the participants mostly found it too difficult; they didn't have time. So, we would optimize the number of lectures to a maximum of 13-14 in 8 weeks.

It would also be helpful to add a separate direction on organizational development with each team; from this launch of the project, we saw that there is a significant demand for this from participants.

The primary need for our beneficiaries is funds for activities and projects. Participants also see a need for community, partnerships, and new opportunities. Regarding the program, there is a request for organizational development and analysis of each specific case.

We are sure that the results of training in the Incubator will be actively revealed in the activities and successes of our organizations in the coming months and even years.

Already during the training in the Incubator, the team of the NGO "Social Health" opened its small space and began to conduct activities for the psychosocial support of children actively. Most organizations have learned to effectively identify the needs of their target audience and conduct their activities to meet these needs. All of them improved the internal work of their teams, practiced writing grant applications and funding opportunities, and began to pay more attention to managing their social networks.

For clarity, here are some reviews of our participants:

• "It is important that we receive a "road map", we understand what to do next and the direction of movement. Changes and the real work are just beginning. It's great that we learned about all this at the beginning of our work."
• "I hope that participation in the Incubator will help us realize our ideas and our project. Gradually, step by step, we will be able to take advantage of the new knowledge we have received because the foundation has already been laid."
• "I am sure that with the knowledge gained and the work done with the mentor on improving our project, we will receive a grant and be able to realize the goal of our project."
• "The incubator team knows how to motivate even when things don't work out, and that's very nice."
• "Thank you for the opportunity not only to learn but also to see your weaknesses and strengths in practice with the participation of a cool mentor."
• "I was impressed by the attention of mentors, speakers, detailed answers, material, and the possibility of counseling. A lot of useful information and exactly what is needed."
• "Complex approach, structured presentation of material. Even the already-acquired experience is well laid out on the shelves. The speakers are professionals. Great mentoring support."
• "Very cool project, a lot of useful information, interesting meetings. It is an incubator, as other projects can inspire you; it motivates you to work independently."

The impressions of our team from the implementation of the project are very positive. It was an exciting experience. It wasn't easy, primarily to support the team in the framework of such sprint work, but we learned a lot, tried new formats, and made many conclusions and observations for improving the project in the future. We feel that we have grown as a project, and our team has significantly increased its skills in the relevant areas - mentoring and management. In the future, we want to develop the project qualitatively and quantitatively.

Quantitative indicators of the Incubator project

Duration of study: 8 weeks of study in August-September 2023

Received applications for participation: 31 applications for participation from organizations working with children and youth from 15 regions of Ukraine

Selected participants: 7 organizations participating in the project from 6 regions of Ukraine, 31 participants in total

Developed projects: 7 developed social projects

Funding of grants: grant support will be provided for the implementation of 2 developed social projects

Lectures were held: 19 lectures were held

Mentoring sessions were held: 48 mentoring sessions were held

Curriculum: 7 general meetings, including 1 introductory meeting, 1 presentation of ideas, 2 project check-ins, 2 project defenses, 1 graduation

Feedback from training participants: 97% - the level of satisfaction of participants with our project

Feedback from training participants: 100% ready to recommend our project to colleagues from the public sector

Links:

• Instagram of the Rescue Now Charitable Foundation