The Capacity Building Programme provides a wide range of opportunities for organisational and professional development to Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Greece and Cyprus that have been selected to participate in the ‘Building a Robust and Democratic Civic Space’ (BUILD) programme. The majority of these opportunities are also available to other CSOs, in order to maximise the impact of the project beyond the selected beneficiaries.
The Capacity Building Programme is led by Social Dynamo, the NGO hub of the Bodossaki Foundation, which offers opportunities for learning and professional development to Greek CSOs. Likewise, targeted Capacity Building activities, adapted to local conditions, are provided by the NGO Support Centre to CSOs in Cyprus. The programme is being implemented with the support of a network of over 200 trainers, mentors, and coaches.
The launch event for BUILD in Greece took place on May 4th 2023 and you can watch it here.
The Capacity Building Programme programme began by planning and running the following ‘How to apply’ workshops, which took place online and on-site in Greece and Cyprus:
- 05/5/2023: ‘How to apply’ workshop – Nicosia
- 10/5/2023: ‘Ηow to apply’ Workshop – Thessaloniki
- 15/5/2023: ‘Ηow to apply’ Workshop – Athens
- 23/5/2023: ‘Ηow to apply’ Workshop – Patras
- 25/5/2023: ‘How to apply’ Workshop – Paphos
- 31/5/2023: ‘How to apply’ Online Workshop (Cyprus)
- 07/6/2023: ‘Ηow to apply’ Online Workshop (Greece)
- 13/6/2023: ‘Ηow to apply’ Workshop – Heraklion, Crete
- 26/6/2023: ‘Ηow to apply’ Online Workshop
The next stage of the Capacity Building Programme will focus on providing training workshops in organisational development, together with targeted training in EU values, which will improve participants’ knowledge and awareness of the EU’s laws, values and protection of fundamental rights.
More specifically, the following workshops have been conducted:
- 13-14/6/2024: Guide to Success in Fundraising
- 20/6/2024: Corporate Social Responsibility & NGOs – A Powerful Force for Change
- 27/6/2024: NGO Funding from Corporate Social Responsibility Programmes – Cyprus
- 19/6/2024 & 22/6/2024: Human Resource Management and Development Topics
- 23/7/2024: Conflict Management & Burnout
- 10/9/2024: EU Laws and Policies on Rights and Values
- 12/9/2024: EU Laws and Policies on Rights and Values: The Greek Implementation Framework
- 12/9/2024: EU Laws and Policies on Rights and Values: The Cypriot Implementation Framework
- 19/9/2024: The Rule of Law, the Culture of Fundamental Rights of the EU, and the National Framework of Greece
- 20/9/2024: The Rule of Law, the Culture of Fundamental Rights of the EU, and the National Framework of Cyprus
- 30/9/2024: Techniques for Raising Public Awareness on the Rule of Law and the Culture of Fundamental Rights in the EU
- 23/10/2024 & 24/10/2024: Basic Principles of Strategic Management of NGOs
- 30/10/2024: Policies and Procedures for an Effective Governance System
- 14/11/2024: Integrating Gender Mainstreaming into Programme Design
All participating CSOs will also be offered workshops on storytelling, a valuable tool when making presentations to potential donors . A wide range of professional support services will also be provided at the same time, including team mentoring, individualised executive coaching, and counselling on legal and taxation issues. These services will be tailored to the needs of the selected CSOs, after an assessment of their capacity and organisational development priorities, using well-established tools available to Social Dynamo.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
