Projects Archives - Page 10 of 16 - Fellows eapcivilsociety.eu

Increasing the Digital Capacity of Civil Society

The action aimed to increase the digital capacity and work efficiency of CSO managers through online education, such as webinars and workshops. To achieve the above objective, Maksym engaged a professional mentor and designed a training module. Following this, he organized webinars covering the areas of Cybersecurity, Cloud services, Office 365, Data Visualization and IT tools, Social Media Management, etc. Apart from online interactive training, the professional speakers suggested a list of recommendations for the CSO managers on digital literacy. At the final stage, Maksym organized two workshops on the topic of Digital Transformation. To increase the project visibility and awareness of the ICT solutions for the CSO managers, the project disseminated information through the different channels of the GURT Resource Center (web-portal gurt.org.ua, Facebook and YouTube)

The project engaged more than 1,800 CSO managers and delivered 8 interactive webinars offering innovative approaches to increase their work efficiency and service quality. Also, the CSO managers built their competencies in cybersecurity, team collaboration, and project management tools, data visualization, cloud services, etc. To showcase the project impact, 88% of the attendees confirmed that they actively apply the acquired knowledge to their everyday life. Besides, the offline workshops on Digital Transformation raised the awareness of 20 CSO managers and taught them how to identify organizations’ ICT needs and software solutions. As a part of the media outreach, Maksym published 8 announcements and 9 publications about the webinars and workshop deliverables. The project materials disseminated via different communication channels saw a huge interest from the target audience; more precisely, 6 318 unique views on the GURT Web-portal, almost 2 000 on YouTube (disseminated via six newsletters on digital transformation reaching up to 60 000 subscribers) and 164, 909 on Facebook.

A series of webinars developed and delivered within the action (in Ukrainian):

Webinar «How CSOs can mitigate the cyber-security risks»
During the webinar, participants learned how to create reliable passwords; how to reduce cyber-security risks, how to install basic settings for computer and smartphone accounts.

Webinar «How not to lose important data. Do back ups properly»
Do you not know how to do a backup? Watch and learn why and how to do backups

Webinar «Office 365 for NGOs: Who needs it and which problems it solves»
Watch and learn how NGOs can use Office 365 for project management needs.

Webinar «Working together in Office 365: how to collaborate effectively»
Watch a webinar session that covers Office 365 collaboration tools. Learn how to work effectively in a team.

Webinar «Tools for data visualization: how NGOs can present project results qualitatively»
The webinar covered the following issues: what software is used to create infographics, the most common mistakes, and tricks for avoiding them.

Webinar «IT tools for project management»
The webinar covers using a variety of IT-tools for successful project management

Webinar «Facebook as a tool for effective communication for CSOs»
Learn how CSOs can use Facebook for promoting their activity and engaging more supporters.

Country	Ukraine
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Team

Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine in Times of COVID-19 Crisis through Gender Lenses

The action aimed to deliver recommendations for policy-makers on social entrepreneurship in Ukraine taking into account challenges accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis and assess the process from the gender perspective. To achieve the above objective, Liliia conducted research, awareness-raising and community outreach activities.

First and foremost, she researched the factors hindering the development of social entrepreneurship in Ukraine in general, analyzed the impact of COVID-19 on the industry, and applied a gender perspective on the results achieved. Then, Liliia conducted online awareness-raising and information campaigns on social entrepreneurship covering large audiences throughout Ukraine. Following this, she organized an online public discussion on social entrepreneurship engaging the activists and the stakeholders from the governmental and non-governmental sectors. As a result of the research and interactive discussions, the fellow developed a list of recommendations for the policy-makers and presented the policy paper to the public officials and the Members of the Parliament of Ukraine.

The project delivered the bilingual research paper ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine in Times of COVID-19 Crisis through Gender Lenses’ presenting the most up-to-date information regarding the challenges of social entrepreneurship in Ukraine; the document was published on the official website of the NGO ‘Women’s League’ and reached more than 10,000 readers online. The online discussion carried out as a part of the project brought experts in social entrepreneurship and gender studies, including the social entrepreneurs themselves, to analyze the issue in-depth; the event involved more than 100 stakeholders. The recommendations based on the research and the online discussion raised the visibility and sensitivity of the social entrepreneurship and its gender specifics.

The policy document has been presented to the high-profile MPs and decision-makers of Ukraine; the research document, recommendations and infographics were sent to all 422 members of the Parliament and the Advisor of the Mayor of Kyiv City Hall in Gender Policy Development. On top of that, the national information campaigns reached 327,553 people and raised awareness about the challenges that social entrepreneurs face in Ukraine of the larger audience.

Online discussion ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine in Times of COVID-19 Crisis through Gender Lenses’ (in Ukrainian):

Research paper ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine in Times of COVID-19 Crisis through Gender Lenses’ (in Ukrainian):

Research paper ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine in Times of COVID-19 Crisis through Gender Lenses’ (in English):

Infographics ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Ukraine in Times of COVID-19 Crisis through Gender Lenses’ (in Ukrainian):

Country	Ukraine
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Type of solution
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Team

Strengthening Position of the Ukrainian Academy of Pediatrics Specialties (UAPS) in Overcoming Vaccination Crisis

The action: Strengthening Position of the Ukrainian Academy of Pediatrics Specialties (UAPS) in Overcoming Vaccination Crisis aimed to research the current status of the public immunization control and raise awareness of healthcare workers/general public about the vaccination. To achieve the above objectives, Yevgenii assessed the country’s strategy and action plan on the national (Involving 10 state institutions, including the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Public Health Center of Ukraine, Ministry of Internal Affair, National Health Service, State Expert Center, etc.) and regional (researching 25 Regional Departments of Healthcare and Public Health Centers of Ukraine) levels; the study also included the survey of 1,000 healthcare professionals who delivers immunization services in Ukraine. The research findings were presented at the National Roundtable: Results of the First Year of Implementation of the Immunoprophylaxis Strategy. The event engaged the leading governmental and health authorities, including Dr. Victor Lyashko – Chief Sanitary Doctor and the Deputy Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine, Mr. Mykhailo Radutsky – Chairman of the Committee of Healthcare in Ukraine, Dr. Fedir Lapii – Chairman of NITAG, Dr. Yevgenii Grechukha – EaP Fellow and the representative of UAPS. In addition, the project team designed the online course (9 lectures), practical recommendations and distributed textbooks for the pediatricians and general practitioners to enhance their professional qualifications.

The project delivered a research document on the national Immunoprophylaxis strategy studied from the local, regional and national levels. Accordingly, the roundtable served as a platform for the local medical and state authorities to discuss the study results and assess the annual activities of the strategy. Therefore, the online course raised awareness of the professional community on various topics, such as Vaccination during COVID-19 Outbreak, Vaccine Hesitation: General and Critical Aspects, Successful Interventions of Civil Society in Ukraine: How to Look for Reliable Information about Vaccines, etc. The course is available on the YouTube and courses.phc.org.ua platforms. As of today, approximately 2,000 healthcare workers successfully passed the final test and received certificates. Finally, as a part of the project, nearly 25,000 brochures were prepared for printing and will be distributed to the medical servants for free.

Country	Ukraine
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Team

Using Data in Politics: Awareness-raising Campaign among the Voters and CSOs prior to the Georgian Parliamentary Election 2020

The action: Using Data in Politics: Awareness-raising Campaign among the Voters and CSOs prior to the Georgian Parliamentary Election 2020 aimed to research the use of data in Georgian politics, identify the main trends of political manipulations while targeting the voters and educate the large audience about the importance of data protection/privacy. To identify the local trends, Nino observed the pre and post-election period in Georgia and followed Tactical Tech’s methodologies and close guidance by the Fellowship Supervisor – Varoon Bashyakarla. As a part of the research, Nino interviewed the field experts from the CSOs, media, think tanks, digital marketing agencies and personal data protection company representatives. Following this, she disseminated the research findings among the large professional networks at the DataFest Tbilisi 2020 and Open Data public events. On top of that, Nino launched the media/social media campaign and applied creative materials (animated videos, posters, publications, quizzes) to reach a wide audience and engage the general public in discourse.

The project delivered an analytical document – Data in the Georgian Politics researching the data-driven methodologies to influence the voters’ decisions in the country. As the study reveals, out of 12 globally-acknowledged methodologies, including advanced TV targeting, only the Robocalls and Mobile Texting methods have been used by almost all politicians in Georgia. Hence, the project developed educational animated videos and a quiz tailored to data use in Georgian Politics. As a result of the community outreach campaigns, approximately 100,000 Georgians were reached and became more aware of the possibilities of their personal information being used in political processes; it’s expected that some of them will change their behavior and become more cautious with their data in digital space. Finally, the project created a network of 150 activists trained about the use of personal data in political processes and expected to further contribute to research and advocating the issue.

Video ‘The business of using your data in elections’ (in English):

Video ‘The business of using your data in elections’ (in Georgian):

Video ‘How data is being used in politics?’ (in English):

Video ‘How data is being used in politics?’ (in Georgian):

Infographics ‘Methods of influencing voters using data’ (in English):

Infographics ‘Methods of influencing voters using data’ (in Georgian):

Data in the Georgian Politics Research Paper

Country	Georgia
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Team

Promoting Civic Capacity for Democratic Oversight

The action was a communication campaign aimed at disseminating COVID-19 related information to the ethnic Azeri and Armenian communities of Georgia. To achieve the above objective, Tamar targeted two specific regions – Samtskhe-Javakheti (Armenian minority settlements) and Kvemo Kartli (Azeri minority settlements) and contracted two local media outlets – TV9 to reach the Armenian-speaking audience and Kvemo Kartli TV to reach the Azerbaijani speaking communities. For the duration of June-October 2020, both media outlets disseminated the fact-checked information (creative posters, Q&A section, quiz, short educational video) about COVID-19; and worked to increase awareness about then upcoming Parliamentary Election of Georgia in October 2020 and increase skills in curbing the political misinformation and propaganda related to the elections.

The project raised awareness of the local Azerbaijani and Armenian-speaking communities of Georgia and reached hundreds of local people through online portals. Also, the action delivered 6 creative infographics about the COVID-19, disinformation in media and the Parliamentary elections in the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani languages. Through a wide range of informative materials, including the articles, Q&A sections, quiz and educational videos on the TV9 and Kvemo Kartli TV platforms, the project raised the epidemic and political awareness of the local communities. On top of that, the local organizations built capacity in establishing a direct and engaging conversation with their audiences, since they reached hundreds of unique visitors. Also, the training held for the TV9 journalists increased the knowledge of the 12 local media representatives in the Parliamentary Governmental System and the related implications.

Educational Video with the Armenian subtitles:

Educational Video with the Azerbaijani subtitles:

Infographics:

Quiz about COVID-19 (in Georgian)

Project in media:

COVID-19-თან დაკავშირებული რეკომენდაციები

Հաճախ տրվող հարցեր Covid-19-ի վերաբերյալ

COVID-19 და დეზინფორმაცია/COVID-19 və yanlış məlumat

ხშირად დასმული კითხვები კორონავირუსის შესახებ

Country	Georgia
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Team

Transparent Budget Is Not A Lux

The action: Transparent Budget is not a Lux aimed to engage the citizens of Nikopol (a city in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast of Ukraine) in monitoring the municipal budget and increase their participation on the local level. The action was implemented in three phases. First, Maria researched the municipal budget from the perspectives of education, healthcare, public expenditures and infrastructure (construction of roads and bridges). Following this, the project team organized awareness-raising campaigns and discussions; through the social media posts, publications and creative infographics, young people actively engaged in the discourse. At the last stage of the project, Maria organized awareness-raising training for the young leaders to advocate transparent budgeting tools and held a roundtable discussion engaging the project participants, local authorities, and representatives from the business & non-governmental sectors. The latter event served as a platform to collaborate with the decision-makers and share recommendations.

The project delivered the budget monitoring research document with a creative infographic on the municipal budget priorities of Nikopol City. Also, the action engaged 40 active young leaders and raised their awareness in participatory budgeting. As an outcome of the training, the participants developed 7 seed project initiatives on the topics of sports and rehabilitation centers, shelter for victims of domestic violence, workshops and education, etc. Also, through the visibility campaign, action reached nearly 161,452 people via social media channels; 60,000 local citizens via the outdoor advertisements, and 8,020 readers via the newspaper publications and informed them about the Nikopol budget expenditures. On top of that, the roundtable meeting facilitated dialogue among the stakeholders from the public, private and non-governmental sectors. All in all, the action contributed to increasing the transparency of the local government and the budget of Nikopol City due to the high public control.

Project leaflet:

Project infographics:

Country	Ukraine
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Team

Semi-automated System for Gathering Deficiencies in Police Investigations of Attacks on Civil Society

Maksym’s action aimed at defining the most problematic stages of police actions during the investigation of crimes against civil society in Ukraine, creating a tool gathering deficiencies in police investigations, and teaching activists how to deal with/respond to police inaction. To achieve the above objectives, Maksym established cooperation with the leading national human rights organization – Center for Civil Liberties and started data collection from the Ukrainian civil society activists, human rights defenders, and journalist persecuted for their professional activities between 2017-2019 and whose cases were either not investigated or not adequately investigated by the police. In the second stage of the project, Maksym engaged the legal experts and IT engineers to create a Telegram chatbot FightBack combining the function of a legal self-help instrument and a practical guide for those who face an attack or police inaction. Finally, the project team organized the online presentation of the bot at the premises of the Ukraine Crisis Media Center attended by the civil society representatives, lawyers, journalists, and other stakeholders.

The project raised the issue of police inaction and the necessity of reforming the law enforcement system in Ukraine. Applying the data from the first-hand sources, it delivered a bilingual publication on the deficiencies and malpractices of police investigations; the research document has been distributed among the authorities and will be used for future advocacy campaigns in Ukraine. Most importantly, the project team created a FightBack chatbot to raise awareness of the potential victims, i.e teaching them how to preserve evidence, or fill the complaints. Last but not least, the action has facilitated contacts between activists, lawyers, human rights defenders, and journalists from different regions of Ukraine that will accelerate the implementation of future nationwide human rights projects.

Telegram chatbot FightBack is accessible here.

Report “Shortcomings in the law enforcement system of Ukraine exemplified by the investigation of attacks on civil activists”

Report in Ukrainian: “Недоліки правоохоронної системи України на прикладі розслідування нападів на громадських активістів”

Project in media:

Presentation of the Chatbot in English

Presentation of the Chatbot in Ukrainian

Country	Ukraine
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Team

Enhanced Engagement of Civil Society in Monitoring of Implementation of the UN CEDAW in Ukraine

Leila’s action aimed to enhance the engagement of civil society in monitoring the implementation of the United Nations Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (UN CEDAW) and recommendations of the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). To ensure the holistic approach to the CSO involvement in CEDAW implementation, the project covered the following aspects: Alternative reporting and individual complaints procedures (elaboration on the joint alternative report to CEDAW in collaboration with the UN Women and the NGO Monitoring Group) & educational and community outreach activities. To deliver high-quality online training on gender and human rights, Leila engaged international experts and field-professionals. Also, to inform the larger audience about the application procedure and criteria of the individual complaints to the UN Women’s Rights Committee, she developed a short educational video in Ukrainian and disseminated it throughout the country.

The project delivered 6 webinars and raised awareness and advocacy capacity of more than 130 non-governmental representatives from Ukraine, Eastern Partnership and other Eastern European and Central Asian Countries on Women’s Rights and UN CEDAW. Also, the action engaged civil society activists and international experts from Denmark, Romania, Moldova, Russia and Kyrgyzstan contributing to the development of the recommendations. In the long term, the project beneficiaries are equipped with the necessary skills to strengthen their advocacy for women’s rights by applying the UN human rights instruments, more precisely the UN CEDAW Optional Protocol. The project delivered the Joint Alternative Report to CEDAW, educational video and informational package that serves as the instrument and direction for better protection of women who are victims of gender-based discrimination.

Video on how to apply with individual complaints to UN CEDAW (in Ukrainian – “Як звернутися в Комітет CEDAW”):

Country	Ukraine
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Team

Gender Mainstreaming in Public Security Service in Ivano-Frankivsk

Uliana’s action aimed to encourage gender mainstreaming in public security services in Ivano-Frankivsk city through monitoring and evaluation of public spaces in the city. To achieve the above objective, Uliana conducted a wide range of activities, including research, awareness-raising training, development of the online platform and community outreach. First, she developed the monitoring methodology to evaluate the safety of the public spaces. Then, Uliana researched the public places of Ivano-Frankivsk and prepared recommendations for the local authorities. Following this, she launched the development of a new web-section for the online map – Safe City to detect dangerous spaces/zones in Ivano-Frankivsk. To reach a larger audience of the city and educate them, the project team organized two online trainings on public safety. Finally, to disseminate the research findings broadly and creatively, they created a short animated video attracting the attention of hundreds of viewers on social media.

The project delivered the monitoring methodology and evaluation report on safety of Ivano-Frankivsk public spaces from a gender perspective; the research applied a participatory approach and informed the decision-makers about the issue through the list of recommendations. Also, the online map – Safe City developed within the action increased visibility of dangerous/safe public places, since any visitor is able to mark any place of the city. Therefore, two training reached 102 applicants and engaged 39 participants; the trainers – Natalia Tarasenko and Olena Ostapchuk discussed gender-sensitive urban planning and shared the case studies of the successful and unsuccessful solutions for public spaces, schools, kindergartens, youth clubs, parking lots, etc; they also covered the topic of safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of that, the public presentation and animated video summarizing the research deliverables raised awareness of the 8k stakeholders through Facebook, YouTube and other social media channels.

Monitoring Methodology to Evaluate the Safety of the Public Spaces (in Ukrainian):

Report of the Evaluation Results (in Ukrainian):

Project in media:

Як і навіщо робити громадські простори ґендерно безпечними?, Interview with Uliana Sydor in Hmarochos Media.

Country	Ukraine
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Team

Foster to Create new possibilities for better E-participation in Georgia

Enjoying the variety of e-participation tools in Georgia, the project aimed to research the popularity of those instruments among the general public. To achieve the above objective, Tea studied citizen’s experience during their e-participation interactions. The research covered almost all electronic websites, including ichange.gov.ge (Governmental portal on e-petitions), myparliament.ge (“Give an Idea to the Parliament” project allowing the citizens to suggest proposals), declaration.gov.ge (Online system of the Civil Service Bureau of Georgia), manifest.ge (National e-petition portal funded by the Open Society Georgia Foundation), idea.tbilisi.gov.ge (Website of the Tbilisi City Hall enabling the residents to submit their ideas to the local authorities), mkhileba.gov.ge (national platform to disclose the violation of the Georgian Legislation or the Code of Ethics) and budgetmonitoring.ge (Budget monitoring website developed by Georgia’s State Audit Office. The research was followed by interactive discussions, in-debt interviews and awareness-raising campaigns in Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi.

The action delivered a research document analyzing the barriers and challenges faced by the citizens during the e-participation process. Also, the project developed and disseminated a list of recommendations/digital solutions to the governmental and non-governmental stakeholders; the guidelines serve as a framework to develop the technical and contextual sides of the web-portals, improve the multimedia interface and make them more user-friendly. Besides, the interactive workshops, in-depth interviews and campaigns in the biggest Georgian cities of Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi raised awareness of the young people in digital tools that can be applied to enhance the e-democracy level in Georgia.

Country	Georgia
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