Empowering Civil Society Through a Learning Environment

Empowering Civil Society Through a Learning Environment

Background
More and more Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and alongside social enterprises, with different goals, motivations, structure and geographical coverage are aiming at filling state gaps and addressing various, at times pressing and imminent, societal challenges. The financial and the refugee crisis have urged CSOs to develop innovative ways in order to survive and to seek alternative sources of funding (e.g. Foundations, Companies, etc.) while they have forced them to improve their services in order to meet the increasing needs (provide humanitarian aid, psycho-social and legal support, etc.) of the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Therefore, non-profits had to adapt to the new challenges, improve their operations and at the same time turn their focus on issues such as their funding and sustainability. Recognizing these needs, some new actors have emerged and aimed at assisting CSOs to overcome their difficulties. These actors can be non-profit organizations, Foundations, Universities and other entities which offer services (such as capacity building, consulting, educational programs, surveys, premises etc.) to CSOs in order to help them strengthen their skills and increase their impact. These practices could have a positive impact on other non-profits from other countries by addressing common gaps. However, other non-profits do not have access to this knowledge and these practices, as there is no framework that would stimulate contacts and interactions between organizations involved in education and training of civil society. In effect, such actors work much in isolation with other relevant initiatives across Europe, leading to limited, if any, ideas and experience sharing. Without a doubt, sharing and implementing best practices have many benefits for relevant organizations. Among these benefits are better quality and increased quantity of services, improved use of resources as well as cost and time-saving. The urgency and importance of such development is reinforced by the fact that these types of initiatives can operate as impact multipliers when their operations are enhanced: through their operations more and more CSOs can be reached and supported thus creating significant added value by any exposure to best practices, not confined in the initial beneficiaries per se.
This project brought together seven (7) organizations from 6 different program countries (Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Bulgaria, Estonia, Serbia) and 1 partner country (Israel) who support civil society and are experts in a particular field (e.g. fundraising, networking, advocacy, volunteer management, social entrepreneurship, etc.) to identify best practices and share their experience. Furthermore, an open learning environment was created for all stakeholders where each partner will share best practices and strategies. By having access to this environment, organizations will be able to interact and understand how other actors have dealt with similar situations and challenges and will be able to make better and informed decisions more promptly. Therefore, this project has improved their efficiency and quality of implemention of their practices. Finally, all partners, as well as their beneficiaries (civil society organizations), had the chance to elevate their work, advance their performance and enhance their social impact.

Objectives
Throught the implementation of this projects, partners managed
- to exchange good practices, experience and successful strategies,
- to provide training and enhance the skills of organizations which empower civil society organizations in order to improve their services,
- to disseminate the results at transnational level (to partners' staff, members, beneficiaries and networks),
- to enhance the collaboration of partners that operate in different countries.
More specifically, the project activities led to the achievement of the project objectives are the following:
- Mapping of good practices: this activity was implemented by all partners through questionnaires in order to collect good practices and successful strategies from 7 different
countries. By collecting the practices we were able to create the educational material which was presented during the LTT activities.
- two (2) Transnational Project Meetings: Project meetings was implemented in 2 different countries in order to discuss the project's progress, risks and next activities, as well as to invest time in understanding how to better support the community of CSOs
- Furthermore, there were three (3) virtual meetings (through zoom) in order to ensure the smooth operation of the project.
- Three (3) Learning Teaching Training Activities: During these training activities, participants were trained in various fields (Fundraising Sources, Proposal planning & writing –
Project budgeting – Project timeline, Project Management, Building financial sustainability, Starting business projects with social impact, Creating a Business Plan, Networking,
Developing an advocacy strategy, etc.) and share their experience in programs and methods (educational programs, workshops, events, surveys, etc.) they implement for empowering
and supporting civil society organizations. By receiving training Participants gained significant knowledge and skills that helped them improve their services to CSOs in their countries.
- Dissemination of the project: Network of Estonian Non-profit Organizations (NENO) was responsible for the dissemination of the project. Information about the project were published in the project's social media. All partners contributed to the dissemination of the project through their own social media and newsletters, as well as forwarding the Study of best practices to their respective network of organisations.

Implementation
Through this strategic partnership, the project created an active Learning Environment for 7 organizations which are hubs, resource/research centres as well as networks for CSOs from different countries with significant experience in their field in order to collaborate and share good practices and methods in main thematic areas (advocacy, networking, fundraising, project management, legitimacy). By sharing their experience and attending the 3 Learning Teaching Training Activities, participants (staff members in these organizations) were able to acquire new skills and knowledge in the aforementioned thematic areas and therefore enhance the capacity-building support and services they are offering to civil society organizations. The educational material and the knowledge obtained are available by the partnering organizations to their beneficiaries and networks during capacity-building services, meetings, events, etc. Indicatively, HIGGS will apply these methods and good practices in the capacity-building programs (Incubator 2022-2023, Accelerator 2022-2023) and advisory meetings it offers to non-profit organizations in Greece while BSNN has share it with its beneficiaries as well as its network in Black Sea Countries.

Results
ECSTALE project created a Learning Environment for CSOs, and gave the opportunity to seven (7) partners with significant experience in their field to meet and share good practices and acquire new skills in order to enhance their work and increase their social impact.
More specifically, during the project, 21 staff members of the partnering organizations participated in three Learning Teaching Training activities (LTTAs) and obtained skills and
knowledge on the following thematic areas: 1) Social Entrepreneurship, 2) Social Impact Measurement, 3) Networking and Advocacy, 4) Building Resilience and Legitimacy, 5)
Nonprofit Funding Sources (EU programs, Private Foundations, Crowdfunding, Corporate Social Responsibility) - Proposal Writing, 6) Project Management.
The 6 aforementioned thematic areas have been selected for the following reasons:
- EU has helped thousands of CSOs offer a higher quality of work and increase their social impact through capacity-building programs in a holistic manner, with five main components:
1) Legitimacy, and credibility, 2) Capacity to learn and change, 3) Programme and project management, 4) Research and evidence-based advocacy, 5) Organisation, coordination, and
collaboration (Report on EU engagement with civil society, 2017). In accordance with the holistic approach in capacity building of CSOs our project will be focusing on these main
components during the LTTAs (e.g. Legitimacy, Advocacy, Project Management).
- We consider important sharing good practices in the field of Social Entrepreneurship as there is a significant rise of the Social Entreprise and of entrepreneurial activities with a social impact which has also been a priority of the European Commission.
- Social Impact Measurement is also a priority, as CSOs need to prove the social good they create with their services to their donors who wish to know whether their grants bring any positive changes or if they should channel them to other organizations because they will use them more efficiently.
- Skills on establishing networks and developing advocacy strategies are important for CSOs who wish to achieve awareness-raising and influence decisions of public authorities for the needs of society.
- The shrinking civic space has been a global phenomenon and has also concerned the European Economic and Social Committee—the EU’s consultative institution for the Third Sector. Therefore, our project will offer good practices for building resilience and legitimacy.
- A training on Funding Sources will be also provided as CSOs are able to implement their projects only if they have access to funding, therefore it is important to see which sources and approaches are more suitable to their needs as well as how to prepare successful proposals.
- Exchange of good practices on effective project management is also useful for CSOs in order to be able to achieve their project goals, better results and eliminate problems and risks.
The tangible results expected during the project are the following:
• Mapping and exchange of good practices, successful strategies, and methods from 7 different countries in the 6 aforementioned thematic areas
• 21 people (working in the partnering organizations) participated in the three LTTAs and enhanced their skills and knowledge
• 7 partnering organizations operating in different countries (program and partner countries) had the chance to share experiences and collaborate
• A “Study of best practices” was produced with material from the three trainings and useful tools for CSOs
In particular through the project we achieved the following:
• The knowledge obtained was applied by the partners and helped enhance their services and programs provided to their beneficiaries, i.e. CSOs. Participants transfred to their colleagues the new and effective methods learned in order to help them increase their productivity
• The “Study of best practices” has been disseminated to the members and networks of the partnering organizations (e.g. Black Sea countries, Barcelona and Brussels)
The direct outcome of the project is that:
•More than 4.000 members of CSOs supported by the partners received improved quality of services
•More than 9.500 newsletter subscribers has received the “Study of Best practices” with useful tools and knowledge
•More than 33.100 followers on Social Media (FB, Twitter, Instagram) Have access to the “Study of best-practices”

The Partners:

HIGHER INCUBATOR GIVING GROWTH AND SUSTAINABILITY, Greece - Coordinator

BLACK SEA NGO NETWORK, Bulgaria
Civic Initiatives-Citizens Association for Democracy and Civic Education, Serbia
Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini S.r.l. SB, Italy
MIDOT – Reflecting and Rating NPOs Ltd. (CC), Israel
SYNTHESIS CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION LIMITED, Cyprus
Vabaühenduste Liit, Estonia