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Description
At a time when the liberal-democratic pillars of society are being questioned not only in Slovakia, an adaptable and vibrant civil society is crucial for balancing the negative side effects, including the weakening of confidence in democratic values or growing intolerance towards minorities. Civil society needs to respond adequately to changing conditions in society, and non-profit organizations and their leaders need adequate skills to orientate themselves and react to the deteriorating situation.
The generation of leaders of non-profit organizations, several of whom have founded organizations since the beginning of the development of civil society in Slovakia, has done a significant job in rooting, professionalizing and seeking sustainability of the sector. These leaders and their organizations are facing an important change in the ability to adapt their mission and structure to the requirements of a changing environment.
The project has educational and transformational character focused on building the leadership capacity and resilience of organizations. It focuses on supporting two types of leaders. The first group represents the incoming directors of NGOs, who have recently taken up a management position. The second group is composed of senior leaders, who are often overworked or burned out after years in a management position. The project aims to strengthen organizations, mainly, to build their resilience (resistance to unpredictable changes).
The partner organization will be responsible for the preparation and implementation of the study tour in Norway. The study tour aims to visit inspiring Norwegian organizations, the selection of which will be covered by the Norwegian partner organization, based on their many years of experience, but especially on the needs of study participants, which will be continuously mapped by Slovak experts and consulted with Norwegian partners.
The project will be beneficial for civil society organizations
Summary of project results
The Leaders for the Long Distance project was focused on building leadership capacities and organizational resilience. He focused on supporting two types of leaders. The first were incoming directors of MNO, who recently found themselves in management positions. The second group was senior leaders who are often overworked or burned out after years in a management position. The project also focused on strengthening organizations, specifically building their resilience (resistance to unpredictable changes).
The project consisted of seven activities:
Formation and work of the project advisory board, Educational kit for emerging leaders – Resilience and leadership building trainings, Educational kit for emerging leaders – Consulting support for involved organizations, Educational kit for emerging MNO leaders – Study trip to Norway, Support for senior leaders – peer- coaching program, Open educational seminars, Final workshop for emerging and senior leaders - in the form of a final workshop of the Resilience Building Program and an online conference on resilience.
As part of the Resilience Building Program and the Peer-Coaching Program, the capacities of 59 leaders of civil organizations were strengthened in the area of organizational resilience through the project. In total, members of more than 110 non-profit organizations and initiatives from all over Slovakia participated in the project''s activities.
Summary of project results:
Strengthened leadership capacities of incoming directors of civic organizations, professionalization in organization management, Provided support for senior leaders of civic organizations through a peer-coaching program and consultations, Strengthened non-profit organizations that articulated the need to strengthen their resilience in order to continue to fulfill their mission.
Representatives of civil organizations, which form the pillars of civil society in Slovakia, were involved in the Resilience Building Program as well as in the Peer Coaching Program.
Strengthening in the area of resilience was specifically observed in several organizations after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine - several of the involved organizations mobilized within a few days and intensively participated in various types of aid, some of them significantly increased in personnel in a very short time. Representatives of several involved organizations became members of joint initiatives aimed at helping people from Ukraine.
Summary of bilateral results
The main task of the partner organization was cooperation in the preparation and organization of the study trip for the participants of the Resilience Building Program, during which they were primarily responsible for the selection of inspiring Norwegian organizations, mediation of meetings and their facilitation, taking into account the needs, expectations and thematic orientation of the representatives of the Slovak organizations involved. Together with the project implementers, they focused on organizations with a long operating tradition, a functional and sustainable operating model and demonstrable organizational resilience. The meetings with the selected Norwegian organizations were extremely inspiring, the participants of the program returned to them in their feedback during the final evaluation of the resilience building program at the end of the project, more than half a year after completing the study trip, several articulated that these meetings strongly influenced their thinking about sustainability own organizations and brought many solutions, ideas and inspiration for the future. The collaboration is currently underway on a follow-up project called Civil society in the post-covid era: development scenarios and preparation for the new normal.