Our “Refugee Skilling and Support” project, powered by Accenture Foundation, and in partnership with YMCAs in Moldova, Slovakia, Romania, and 5 local YMCs in Ukraine has been addressing an immediate need for digital competencies, employability-skills building, legal advice, mental health support and youth work, serving beneficiaries from the communities affected by the war.
For 6 months, the local implementation teams in Lutsk, Zdolbuniv, Boyarka, Kremenchuk and Zaporijia, as well as YMCAs from the bordering countries worked together in developing unique concepts to empower the local communities, support the families affected by war by providing upskilling, counselling, and career development opportunities serving over 10,000 beneficiaries at the Educational (eDU Hubs) and Mobile Centres. Check out some of the success stories here.
From the 7th-10th April 2023, representatives of the implementation teams of the program from Ukraine and surrounding countries came together for the Evaluation Workshop – designed to bring forth the exchange of good practices, lessons learnt, opportunities and challenges faced over the past 6 months of delivering the project.
The meeting had the main purpose, other than the practical evaluation and conclusions, the re-connection and getting to know the realities within different countries and contexts.
The session has been carefully moderated by the joint implementation teams and our professional youth worker, trainer and mobile youth centre expert – Cosmin Catana, who carefully set the stage for the importance of building a toolkit for best practices, technical project management facilitation, and individual and core facilitation of the evaluation session.
Each partner organisation had the floor to present its challenges and opportunities while delivering the programs in their communities. It has been a great training on gathering data, breaking down and documenting activities, and implementing changes according to the needs arising as the project went on.
For many organisations, the “Refugee Skilling and Support” project has been an induction in good governance while utilising agreed quality standards and key performance indicators while delivering their professional services.
Having expertise in designing and implementing eDU Hubs and Mobile Youth Centres, the partnering organisations are now collecting resources to create a Toolkit – the very output of the project – offering a stencil that includes quality standards, implementation and delivery practices, and an impressive collection of guidelines covering all aspects of delivering eDU Hubs and mobile centre services during incredible circumstances.
The evaluation workshop brought the teams closer and established a foundation for future partnerships and development of the YMCA hubs, intending to strengthen the organisational reach and develop a sustainable partnership with the potential to increase and expand the programs offered at eDU Hubs and Mobile Centres, as the need for upskilling and community support continues in Ukraine and surrounding countries.
Photo album available here
