Projects Archives - Page 8 of 16 - Fellows eapcivilsociety.eu

Restoration of Environment Affected by Military Actions

Fellowship Summary: Raising awareness among civil society representatives, professional and future ecologists, environmental law specialists, public activists, representatives of city and state authorities working in the environmental field about the impact of military aggression on the environment, with a focus on the Holosiivskyi National Park.

Country	Ukraine
The scope of
Type of solution
The technology used
The budget development decisions	0

Team

Effective Fundraising – through an Individual Approach

Fellowship Summary: Developing and rolling-out a fund-raising capacity building programme for community organisations in the Vinnytsia region.

Country	Ukraine
The scope of
Type of solution
The technology used
The budget development decisions	0

Team

Interim monitoring of the three-year reform of the Youth Agency

Fellowship Summary: Evidence-based research to implement an interim monitoring of the 3-year reform of the Youth Agency, and advocacy for more inclusive access to public services.

The Interim Monitoring of the Three-Year Reform of the Youth Agency stands as the first research report that evaluates the performance of Georgia’s Youth Agency from the perspective of its beneficiaries. Established in 2019, the Youth Agency had not undergone any external assessment, making Davit’s research a landmark contribution to the youth policy field in Georgia.

Through a rigorous and inclusive methodology, the research engaged almost 50 participants in six focus group discussions, including youth organisation representatives, youth workers, and college representatives from diverse regions, age groups, and gender identities. All participants had direct experience with the Agency’s programmes and welcomed the opportunity to be heard, noting that this was the only space available for them to share their concerns about the development of the youth sector in Georgia.

The findings, compiled in both Georgian and English, were published and made available online and received strong interest from the youth sector and academia further demonstrating the report’s practical relevance. (Download the report in English here and in Georgian here).

An online presentation of the report took place on January 9, 2023, where a representative of the Youth Agency expressed appreciation for the effort and emphasized its potential to contribute meaningfully to youth development in Georgia.

Davit’s work provides an important independent lens into the challenges and opportunities within Georgia’s youth policy framework. He sees the report as a valuable resource for international donor organisations, civil society actors, and researchers working to strengthen non-formal education and advocacy in the youth field.

By giving voice to beneficiaries and producing a structured, evidence-based report, this fellowship project has laid the groundwork for more accountable and responsive youth policy development in Georgia.

Country	Georgia
The scope of
Type of solution
The technology used
The budget development decisions	0

Team

Promoting Employability of Youth with Disabilities

Fellowship Summary: Contributing to the social-economic inclusion of young people with disabilities through advocacy of a policy paper and supporting dialogue among stakeholders on the issues of employability of youth with disabilities.

Tamar Zviadadze’s Fellowship project aimed to illuminate and address the challenges and opportunities surrounding the employment of youth with disabilities in the modern labour market.

A pivotal component of this initiative was the Needs Assessment Study on Employability of Youth with Disabilities (Download the study in English here and in Georgian here). This study not only revealed the current status of youth with disabilities in the labour market, but also identified their needs and challenges. It delved into the labour market’s demands on the one hand, and on the other, it examined the attitudes and perceptions of employers regarding the employment of individuals with disabilities.

Recognizing the importance of increasing awareness about existing employment support services among both youth and employers, the project included a service mapping exercise. This effort led to the creation of a public document that serves as a guideline for those seeking information on available employment support services.

The impact of this project has been substantial. Its beneficiaries encompass youth with disabilities, employers, civil society organizations involved in employment support, and the State Employment Support Agency. A final event on the presentation of research findings brought together stakeholders from the State Employment Agency, the Public Defender’s Office, and local and international NGOs. Through this event, a collaborative spirit was kindled, with the parties agreeing to work more closely on the issues surrounding the employment support of individuals with disabilities.

Significantly, Tamar’s work has bridged a knowledge gap in this vital field. It is one of the few quantitative pieces of research on the employment of people with disabilities in Georgia. The guideline on existing employment support services has also significantly increased awareness among employers and individuals with disabilities. This project has set the stage for greater inclusivity and support for people with disabilities in the workforce, paving the way for a more equitable future.

Country	Georgia
The scope of
Type of solution
The technology used
The budget development decisions	0

Team

Evidence-based Youth Policy Development in Armenia

Fellowship Summary: Preparing and promoting a participatory policy analysis as evidence for reforming youth policies in Armenia, with support from a youth CSO social media campaign.

Grigor’s project was focused on exploring and enhancing youth participation in policy development and decision-making in Armenia. Its cornerstone is the publication of a bilingual Armenian-English Research Report “Youth Participation in Policy Development and Decision-Making”. (Download the Research Report in English here and in Armenian here). This comprehensive report sheds light on the political and civic involvement of young people at both the community and state levels. It identifies key issues and provides 22 recommendations for addressing gaps and needs, targeting national and local authorities, international organizations, and political parties.

The project engaged a wide range of stakeholders, including youth workers, youth policymakers, and national authorities responsible for youth, who were interviewed to gather valuable insights. Additionally, Grigor and his colleagues reached out to approximately 200 young people through an online survey and conducted five focus groups involving 50 participants in total, including young people and policymakers. This collaborative effort ensured that diverse perspectives were incorporated into the research. Furthermore, Grigor took a study trip to Brussels to learn about evidence-based youth policy development and implementation best practices.

The impact of the work is already evident, as its recommendations have been considered during the drafting of the Law on Youth and the Youth Policy Strategy and Action Plan of Armenia. Furthermore, the Armenian Progressive Youth NGO will utilize the methodology developed within the project to conduct the same study annually, monitoring changing patterns and emerging trends.

Country	Armenia
The scope of
Type of solution
The technology used
The budget development decisions	0

Team

ASKGOV.GE: On the Road to Opening up Public Data

Fellowship Summary: Strengthening the ‘AskGov.ge’ platform, with adaptations from international good practice, to increase access to information held by public bodies.

Teona’s Fellowship project transformed the AskGov.ge platform into a dynamic civic tech tool that empowers Georgian citizens to hold public authorities accountable through freedom of information requests. The platform allows users to send official information requests to government institutions and makes both the requests and their responses publicly available, enabling greater transparency and building a growing public database for citizens, journalists, and activists alike.

Teona’s project also strengthened the broader transparency ecosystem in Georgia. She successfully mobilized and expanded the AskGov community, launched strategic partnerships with six leading European civic tech and transparency organizations, and facilitated the formation of a coalition of three Georgian CSOs advocating for access to information.

The platform’s visibility and impact gained international recognition: in May 2023, AskGov.ge was awarded the Tech Award at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit, marking a major milestone for civic tech innovation in Georgia.

Through interviews with users and an in-depth analysis of their needs, Teona oversaw both backend and user interface upgrades to improve accessibility and engagement. Her field visit to London in May 2022 provided key insights into how civic tech tools can be used to improve access to public data through innovative, citizen-focused solutions. She captured these learnings in a blog post “Unlocking the Power of Civic Tech: Reflections from My Journey to London”.

Today, AskGov.ge is more than a platform, it’s a movement. It offers a critical pathway for Georgia’s citizens to exercise their right to access public information. With an ever-growing community, improved functionality, and increasing responsiveness from public institutions, AskGov.ge is paving the way for more transparent, accountable governance in Georgia.

Country	Georgia
The scope of
Type of solution
The technology used
The budget development decisions	0

Team

Stronger Network of CSOs Responding to Needs of IDPs in Western Regions of Ukraine

Fellowship Summary: Establish a pool of activists in the Lviv region, through a ToT (Training-of-Trainers) and coaching, who will support local campaigns and advocacy of grassroots CSOs to address local level corruption.

“Civic activism is an opportunity to give back to society, something you often cannot fully do in your professional work”, says Vitalii Razik, 2021 EaP Civil Society Fellow from Lviv, Ukraine, who has been combining a successful legal practice with civic work for the past 23 years.

Civic activism for Vitalii started when he and his fellows at Ivan Franko National University established the Association of Law Students in 1995. Shortly after his graduation, Vitalii started working with Lviv-based Law and Democracy Foundation, first as a pro bono lawyer and since 2010 as director of the Foundation. Soon Vitalii realized that providing legal consultations to citizens was not enough, as most problems stemmed from more systematic faults of the Ukrainian legislation and practice. Thus, the Foundation expanded its activities, adding to its mandate human rights protection, access to justice, legal and court reforms, monitoring of the penitentiary system and its reform, preventing and counteracting corruption.

Had it not been for an event in 2010 that changed everything, the Foundation would have been working today the same way as hundreds of other smaller-scale CSOs in Ukraine. But in 2010 the Foundation’s lawyers helped Ivan Samardak from Lviv to win his case against Ukraine at the European Court of Human Rights. It was a successful story with plenty of lessons learnt, and Vitalii wanted to share their experience with lawyers in other regions, who dealt with similar cases and problems.

“Working with civil society organisations was the most efficient way of sharing this important information”, recollects Vitalii. For the Foundation, it was the first action focused on experience sharing. “We established good communication with the organisations, and realised that acting as a network benefits every organisation, as we can mutually share our best practices, and then apply and further distribute them in our regions, thus acting as catalysts.”

In 2012 the first twelve human rights CSOs – partners of the Foundation – signed a memorandum of cooperation and established a network to coordinate human rights activities and disseminate experience to strengthen Ukrainian civil society and CSOs. Today, the Network of Human Rights NGOs has about 20 active member CSOs from 8 Ukrainian oblasts, “Cooperation between CSOs creates a more effective civil society, opportunities to share experience, helps to solve problems and engage communities to address systematic problems.”

In 2018 the Foundation co-founded another network, Toloka Coalition of Regional Initiatives. Three years later, in 2021 Vitalii received the EaP Civil Society Fellowship award, with a project idea to assist and inspire local CSOs, first of all members of the two Foundation’s networks, in preventing corruption at the grassroots level. He was about to start his fellowship when Russia commenced the full-scale war in Ukraine. Corruption did not disappear, but priorities changed.

Among other numerous challenges, Ukraine had to deal with the refugee crises unprecedented in recent history. People were coming to western Ukraine in the thousands, and needed all kinds of assistance: humanitarian, informational, legal, psychological. “Before the government managed to stabilise the system to make it functional, there was no one except civil society to provide support to internally displaced Ukrainians,” says Vitalii. Many of those CSOs had little or no experience of working with IDPs, and Vitalii saw an immediate need to help these organisations adapt their activities and practices to the realities and needs of war.

Vitalii’s project included several components: training civil society activists in providing legal and psychological support to IDPs, media outreach and advocating for IDPs’ issues at local level, consulting CSOs on legal issues, e.g., related with martial law, and on psychological aspects of CSOs’ work in crisis, running awareness and information campaigns, etc. “Before providing much needed help to others, the organisations needed to be trained in how to do that properly,” says Vitalii. It was inspiring to see that activists who had come to the trainings feeling lost found the focus and started supporting IDPs successfully and tackling other urgent problems.

His approach proved its effectiveness: by the end of the Fellowship project in October 2022, 17 participating CSOs reported they had provided support to over 8,000 IDPs, and the number of beneficiaries was increasing. Vitalii explains, “If I had decided to help IDPs directly, I would have been able to help only very few. This approach allowed me to help thousands.”

The network of CSOs supporting IDPs in Western Ukraine established within the Fellowship project continues working today, with members and individual activists keeping in touch and helping each other when needed.

“In my opinion, civic and charity organisations are the basis of civil society, and we must keep working on enabling them to mature as after our victory [in the war] civil society will become the driver of Ukraine’s reconstruction and development processes on its road to further European integration.”

Country	Ukraine
The scope of
Type of solution
The technology used
The budget development decisions	0

Team

Women Bike Camp in Vanadzor

Fellowship Summary: Design and deliver a campaign and a ‘bike camp’ which uses the promotion of healthy lifestyles as a tool for the empowerment of women.

Implemented by Emma Petrosyan, the Women Bike Camp in Vanadzor was an initiative aimed at empowering women and girls through cycling and fostering confidence in sports participation. This unique project marked the first event of its kind in the region, combining practical cycling lessons with skill-building workshops, all while providing participants with the opportunity to connect with nature and embrace a healthy lifestyle.

The bike camp welcomed 1o women from three different cities in Armenia, who participated in three cycling classes. These sessions not only helped participants learn to ride bicycles but also offered a hands-on workshop about bike mechanics, covering basic repairs and maintenance skills. For many participants, this was a first-time experience, boosting their self-confidence and expanding their perspectives on outdoor sports and recreational activities.

The impact of the bike camp extended far beyond the immediate participants. A significant partnership was established with Women Fund Armenia, which expressed strong interest in supporting the camp as an annual event. Additionally, the Municipality of Vanadzor recognized the potential of cycling as a recreational and transport activity.

With continued support from Women Fund Armenia and other donors, the bike camp plans to host future cycling classes for women and youth in Vanadzor, fostering inclusivity and empowerment through sports.

Country	Armenia
The scope of
Type of solution
The technology used
The budget development decisions	0

Team

Mentoring for Teachers in Rural Communities

Fellowship Summary: Develop and pilot a methodology and mechanism for mentoring school teachers in Boratyn (Volyn region of Ukraine) and then support association to adopt and promote, with adaptations for the war context.

Country	Ukraine
The scope of
Type of solution
The technology used
The budget development decisions	0

Team

Open Dialogues: How to Build Peace during Wartime

Fellowship Summary: Identifying good practices in open dialogue for peace-building and social cohesion, piloting a training, then scaling up with good practices from Finland/Sweden and youth in Ukraine.

Yuliya’s Fellowship project was aimed at peacebuilding and integration, both in Ukraine and EU countries. The project encompassed field research, the development of youth-friendly methods for involving young IDPs (internally displaced persons) and refugees, and the creation of a Facilitation kit for conducting dialogue in peaceful communities.

The Fellowship project allowed Yulia to study institutions working on peacebuilding and youth involvement in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. She analyzed practices from 20 institutions and was involved in stakeholder talks with 28 youth workers and local stakeholders from Ukraine and Finland, sharing their experiences and ideas on youth involvement in peacebuilding and integration. Methodologies for inclusive youth participation were designed based on user experiences and good practices and piloted through dialogue events with over 115 young people in Ukraine and Finland.

As a final product, Yulia and her colleagues from the Youth Organization STAN network published a Facilitation Kit for Peace Dialogue with Youth. This publication, available in paper and PDF format in English and Ukrainian, serves as a practical tool for youth workers (facilitation kit free to print and use is available on STAN website here in English and here in Ukrainian). It has already been presented in four countries, with participants from 11 different CSOs representing at least seven countries.

Direct beneficiaries of the project include young people of Ukrainian origin, young refugees, and IDPs, as well as youth workers in Ukraine who organized various activities for over 2,000 young IDPs in Volyn, Zakarpatia, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.

Country	Ukraine
The scope of
Type of solution
The technology used
The budget development decisions	0