Working together for a green, competitive and inclusive Europe
Key Project Info
Title
Sustainability Accelerator for NGOs
Organisers
Young Initiative Association in partnership with World Vision Romania
Duration and Location
26 months (September 2021 - October 2023), Romania (national project)
Funding
Project implemented with the financial support of the Active Citizens Fund Romania, through the EEA Grants 2014-2021.
How did this project appear?
Once upon a time... 😀
Back in 2014 a team of passionate people set out to start supporting the development of Romanian NGOs and obtained EEA Grants funding which gave them the opportunity to put their plans and ideas into practice and embark on the beautiful and ambitious adventure meant to empower and increase the sustainability of the non-profit sector in Romania.
This happened through the Nonprofit Organizations Management Center, set up by the Young Initiative Association, which has and is supporting Romanian NGOs with a wide range of educational instruments and modern resources in order to help them accelerate the shift toward a sustainable future.
However, as the pandemic accentuated the obstacles met by the non-profit organizations in Romania, the need for education and direct support for NGO leaders and their teams has become vital.
Thus a new initiative was launched by the Young Initiative Association in partnership with World Vision Romania and with the financial support of the Active Citizens Fund programme in Romania: the Sustainability Accelerator for NGOs. Let's discover what the project has to offer!
But first, let's see some of the most relevant data related to the Romanian NGOs that we collected when preparing the project:
-
10%
of NGOs disband annually
This stark statistic was one of the first that surprised and moved us to act.
-
40%
have budgets of less than 1000 Euros
Very small budgets, but also few sources of funding (maximum 2), with almost half of the sector affected.
-
90%
rural NGOs have no employees
NGOs in rural areas are facing considerable sustainability issues.
-
60%
urban NGOs have no employees
NGOs from urban areas are not faring much better from this point of view.
What are we working on?
We are accelerating 24 NGOs
A NGOs Accelerator programme that offers direct intervention through mentoring sessions and coaching for 24 Romanian NGOs. 12 are active in rural and small urban areas, while the other 12 are working in the fields of youth, civic education, human rights and environment. The package offered includes 16 month support from a coach, an organisational evaluation, an Organisational Change Plan and support for its implementation, 2 networking meetings with the other beneficiaries, 1 site visit, and finally an exit strategy from the programme.
3 MOOC courses
We are creating three MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) courses on topics such as Organisational Resilience, Nonprofit Communication and Good Governance, open for the entire Romanian NGO sector. The courses will be piloted among the NGO Accelerator beneficiaries and will be publicly launched in 2023.
Instrument Self-Accelerator
The development of a tool Self-Accelerator-type that integrates methods and techniques for organizational development that can be accessed and put into practice, not assisted, by any Romanian NGO. This will gather methods used in the NGO Accelerator programme, which will then be adapted for individual use.
Project Timeline
Preparations, recruiting the experts, acquisitions, website, procedures.
Preparing the call for applications for the NGOs and all associated procedures, launching officially the Accelerator programme and finalising the selection process of the NGOs.
In parallel, starting the development of the 3 MOOC courses.
The NGO Accelerator programme is implemented according to the package offered to the beneficiaries (organisational evaluation, Organisational Change Plan, meetings with the mentors, implementing the plans, exit strategy etc.).
In parallel, the MOOC course continue to be developed. Filming, improving, piloting the content with the beneficiary NGOs from the Accelerator. We're also starting to work on the Self-Accelerator tool.
Additionally, we're organising 2 networking meetings in Bucharest with the beneficiary NGOs from the Accelerator programme.
We're finalising the Accelerator programme and starting to promote the success stories of the beneficiaries.
Organising an NGO Sustainability Forum in Bucharest, where we'll be launching the 3 MOOC courses and the Self-Accelerator tool.
We enter the dissemination phase, we promote the created tools and the success stories. Additionally, we are looking for the next steps and develop a strategy to continue supporting Romanian NGOs after the project finishes.
We pack our bags and prepare for the next adventure in supporting the development of Romanian nonprofits!
The project is implemented by the Young Initiative Association in partnership with World Vision Romania and benefits from a 237,337 euro grant from Active Citizens Fund Romania, programme funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through EEA Grants 2014-2021. The content of this website does not necessarily reflect the official position of the EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021; for more information visit www.eeagrants.org. More details about Active Citizens Fund Romania are available at www.activecitizensfund.ro.
