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Description
The follow-up project to KOS ROSTE (KOS is growing). We will support lifelong learning and growth of KOS members and other potential initiators from NGOs in the region. We will increase their personal and staff capacity. We will empower 4 NGOs. We will support the growth of specific talents in a structurally affected region where there is no funding for growth or training in the NGO. 10 people with the growth potential will receive individual mentoring, coaching and training support according to their needs and based on a personal evaluative diagnosis. A professional coach will guide them through growth and goal definition. They will increase their potential for their work and for the implementation of new projects in the Karlovy Vary Region, before its transformation. We will assemble a diverse group of people who come from a common value base. Networking and sharing of experience does not happen systematically in the region and we consider it very useful and necessary for activating the local civic community not only in the field of volunteering. We want to achieve a qualitative change and support people who want to grow and know exactly in which area. We believe that they will be inspiration and initiators of positive changes for the place where they live. The offer of education here is very limited. In the project, we address this with the availability of the online portal for quality education and the possibility of individual choice of full-time courses or trainings, which are not affordable for our non-profit participants. Through an OSF grant from the ACF program, they can begin to realize their educational dream and increase their desire and motivation to enhance their education. The energy to activate the civic community is still sorely needed here.
Summary of project results
In the project, we addressed the accessibility of education and support for professional and personal growth in a region that is on the periphery. We supported 11 individuals who had both the need and willingness to educate themselves and be beneficial to their non-profit organizations where they operate. The main challenge for us was the availability of quality education and experts who are mostly based in Prague. The journey from Cheb to Prague takes three hours, making it unrealistic to travel in one day for an 8-hour course and return to the west. This project helped us solve this problem as well. We had resources for travel, accommodation, and the education itself.
The project demonstrated that supporting individuals with growth potential is the right path. People from our region typically leave, and we wanted to show that it is worthwhile to focus on those who have roots here, want to live here, and are willing to be the agents of positive change in their own communities and organizations. The project also highlighted the importance of continuous personal support from a coach in the process of change, learning, and personal growth. Through final reflections, participants describe their personal progress over the course of 18 months and consider how this experience could be utilized further.
All project participants describe the personal changes they have achieved. They talk about the new skills and competencies they began to use thanks to the project. These are described in terms of both personal and professional growth, making them even more qualified experts for their organizations. Three active participants (all statutory representatives of NGOs) embarked on a collaboration and succeeded in founding the registered association "Local Collaboration Actors Cheb." This association aims to become a local action group in the Cheb area and, at the beginning of 2025, launch a three-year project to support civic, social, and community projects.