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Description
The objective of the project is to provide an easy access to learning opportunities for CSOs managers, staff and volunteers and thereby enhance their competences necessary to build the stability of their organizations. The project aims at strengthening the capacity and sustainability of CSOs operating outside larger cities, helping them to overcome barriers of geographic distance and limited resources by delivering ‘mobile’ learning opportunities, based on identified needs.
The project shall be implemented by way of the following main components:
an online tool for organizational self-assessment, which would be developed under the PDP.
up to 50 one-day trainings delivered in different locations outside the largest cities, on topics such as fundraising, human resources management, strategy development, communication, evaluation and customer survey, law for NGOs, etc.
18-20 webinars on various topics related to management and organizational development.
two open meetings of a conference/seminar type for CSO managers and specialists aimed at experience sharing and peer-learning;
various subject learning tracks on the e-learning platform Kursodrom for self-paced studies, built from existing educational materials.
If due to health security reasons some of trainings or meetings (components 2 and 5 above) will be not organized in stationary forms they will be replaced with online equivalent activities.
Summary of project results
The project Mobile Academy for NGOs (MANGO) was implemented in response to the problems of insufficient competencies of CSOs’ leaders, specialists and activists who do not have access to training and development offer that takes into account their preferences and constraints. These access barriers affected mainly people from organizations operating outside big cities who must combine their voluntary involvement with paid jobs and have no time, money and motivation to invest in professional development and attend trainings in the nearest support center (usually located in a big city).
Despite a well-developed network of support 55% of CSOs do not offer their employees and volunteers any opportunities to upgrade their qualifications. Most support service providers to CSOs are located in the biggest cities and their offer is often shaped by the priorities of funding institutions rather than identified clients’ needs. A serious barrier to use of available services is both lack of funds and lack of time for human resource development. The majority of people engaged in CSOs work on a voluntary basis or on short-term part-time project contracts (see assessment of CSOs’ challenges) which means they have to combine work in the organizations with other paid jobs. This particularly affects CSO activists from smaller municipalities for whom travelling to the nearest center where capacity building services are offered is a problem. In order to overcome the barrier of access to educational services the offer has to be brought closer to the user, or made available online.
The second major issue was the lack of educational offer relevant to the needs of the CSO’s managers. According to a survey of NGO managers’ needs and opinions conducted in January 2018 by FAOO on a sample of 130 people, such areas of organizational functioning like: fundraising, human resources management, strategy development and maintaining relations with stakeholders are of a key importance for building CSOs’ stability in Poland in the up-coming years. At the same time these are areas of self-assessed individual weaknesses of respondents. It is congruent with the results of surveys of CSOs representatives conducted by KLON/JAWOR and Statistics Poland which have identified lack of funds and human recourses as main barriers of CSOs functioning. The source of these problems is not lack of people and funds available but insufficient competencies of leaders and managers of CSOs in fundraising and human resources management.
Project Mango was a response to both of these problems.
Within the framework of the Mobile NGO Academy, implemented in the period from August 1, 2020 to April 30, 2024, activities were carried out mainly to strengthen the capacity of NGOs operating outside large urban centers, located in outlying provinces and having difficult access to educational support offer. Organizations were provided with easy access to specialized education in key areas of NGO management. This was served by the following forms of education and development support.
1. Onsite trainings
During the course of the project, a total of 69 full-day trainings were held in 23 localities in 14 voivodeships (out of 16), attended by 895 participants from 307 CSOs. The trainings were full-day educational events, intended for activists from CSOs primarily from the immediate area (municipality, county). Training topics included fundraising, strategy, legal issues, legalities of raising funds for activities, project management, team management, change management, proposal writing, cooperation with business.
Trainings were organized in cooperation with local partners, whose task was to help promote workshops, recruit participants, book a suitable training space and organize catering.
2. Learning tracks
4 e-learning tracks were launched on the Kursodrom.pl platform, every of them consisting of 5 educational elements (online course, webinar recording, knowledge pill), a learning summary test and a functionality that allows for self-printing a certificate confirming to having passed the test.
The following educational tracks were created:
- „Fundraising in Five Scenes”
- „Human Resources Management in Five Scenes”
- „Law for CSO in Five Scenes”
- „External Communication in Five Scenes”
The e-learning tracks were used by 424 users.
3. Mobile-learning
During the project, 4 mobile-learning programs were developed. Three of them were thematically linked to educational tracks provided on the Kursdrom.pl platform, dedicated to fundraising, legal issues and human resources management. Each program was designed as a five-week educational series, consisting of 10 substantive “ knowledge pills”: short educational materials (in the form of a text to read or a task/test to solve) sent to registered persons on their phone. The program was launched in August 2022, and its inauguration was tied to a campaign promoting educational tracks on the Kursodrom.pl platform.
Despite ongoing promotional activities, only 17 people used mobile learning at the time. Therefore, after obtaining the Operator''s approval, this part of the project was suspended.
4. Webinars
21 webinars were organized, most of them as part of cycles consisting of 3 online events. The series covered: fundraising, legal issues, human resources management in CSO and communications. The webinars were moderated by members of the project team, and the expert guests were recognized representatives of the CSO secto, specialists in selected areas, as well as academics and employees of respected law firms.
The live webinars were attended by 788 people from 685 CSOs, and nearly 1,000 viewed the recordings, made available on Youtube and the Kursodrom.pl platform.
5. Self-assessment online tool
As planned, an online self-assessment tool for institutional development of CSOs has been designed, produced and launched. The tool examines the level of organizational management in five areas: strategic management, financial management, human resources management, marketing, and workflow’s organizing.
The tool is constructed in the form of 5 independent questionnaires, examining single areas of the CSO’s management system. For each area, the user receives feedback that presents both the key strong points of the organization and elements that need to be changed or improved. The information is made available in the form of a print-ready report (pdf file). The report also includes a full transcript of the responses given earlier.
There is also additional tool for those who used the primary tool together with their teammates. This is a special Excel spreadsheet that generates a network diagram that allows comparison of an individual''s score with those obtained by others.
The tool was used 570 times, but as the tool was often used by several people from one CSO, a total of 95 CSO were examined.
Organizational development of CSOs was also studied while selected onsite trainings were conducted. During workshops on strategy, financial management and team management, diagnostic tools were made available: a team dysfunctions test, a test assessing the quality of financial management, and a test focused on strategy. In this way, representatives of 105 organizations looked at their potential.
6. Open meetings for CSOs’ managers and specialists aimed at experience sharing and peer-learning
The first meeting was held on October 19, 2023, and was attended by 53 persons from 48 CSOs. It consisted of three parts: a review of various practices recommended by well-known institutions specializing in management topics, such as McKinsey, Deloitte, Harvard Business Review, a presentation of case studies of small and large organizations, and group work on future scenarios.
The second meeting was held in a similar - proven and praised - formula on March 1, 2024, and was attended by 74 representatives of 68 CSOs. It consisted of three parts: a discussion around the question “How will the CSO sector change?”, a presentation on different approaches to building and implementing CSO strategies, and a moderated debate on “whether the future of the organization can be predicted and i sit possible to prepare for it.”
The project was successfully implemented and contributed to increasing the competence of CSOs managers and professionals involved in the activities of such entities. Every effort was made to provide access to quality education to all interested parties, regardless of where they live and their ability to take advantage of existing educational offerings. The assumption that the main target group is people involved in the activities of entities operating outside large cities, often in rural areas or smaller towns, was taken into account.
To achieve this effect, onsite trainings (69 trainings) were organized only in smaller cities and towns, in order to reach those who, for various reasons, do not use the educational offer proposed in larger cities, Online education, implemented through webinars and e-learning tracks on the Kursodrom.pl platform, was also an option for everyone, regardless of the level of mobility. And in the case of onsite meetings for managers, travel reimbursement was offered.
Thanks to the implementation of the project, it was possible to increase the knowledge and improve the skills of hundreds of CSO representatives. Nearly 900 persons benefited from onsite trainings conducted in smaller cities and towns. Nearly 1,800 benefited from webinars (800 people live, 1,000 watched recordings). More than 400 users used e-learning paths, and representatives of 200 CSOs conducted a self-assessment of their organization''s and team''s performance. Nearly 130 managers participated in two meetings on the future of CSOs in Poland.
The effects of the project and the scale of interest have surpassed the initial assumptions. This was particularly evident in the context of classroom training and webinars. Therefore, these activities are already being continued thanks to funds obtained from another source.