Civil society organisations from different regions of Ukraine will receive enhanced mentoring support to strengthen their organisational capacity and implement their ideas under the “Initiative. Participation. Impact” programme, implemented by the Council of Europe project “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine’s recovery”.
Based on the participants’ requests and needs, seven participants and their civil society organisations and initiatives have been selected to receive further enhanced mentoring support. They represent:
- Fastiv community (Kyiv Region) — two organisations;
- Zdolbuniv community (Rivne Region);
- Sakhnovshchyna community (Kharkiv Region);
- Slobozhanske community (Kharkiv Region);
- Balta community (Odesa Region);
- Kryve Ozero community (Mykolaiv Region).
The project ideas developed by the seven participants throughout the programme cover a wide range of issues relevant to community development — from support for veterans and the development of community spaces to healthcare, strengthening civic participation and creating new opportunities for community residents.
Mentors and experts will support the participants and members of their civil society initiatives in strengthening organisational capacity, refining project concepts, planning activities and expected results, exploring opportunities to mobilise resources, and building effective cooperation with local authorities and community residents.
The support therefore goes beyond the development of individual projects. Its aim is to strengthen the capacity of local civil society organisations to work systematically, develop partnerships and create initiatives that respond to the needs of their communities and can have a long-term impact.
The “Initiative. Participation. Impact” programme ran from May to July 2026 and brought together 24 representatives of civil society organisations, civic leaders and civic leadership groups, and initiative groups from different regions of Ukraine, primarily from small and medium-sized communities.
The participants took part in online training sessions on civic participation and project management, received individual consultations from experts of the Council of Europe project, and attended the final two-day training in Lviv, where they presented their refined project proposals and received individual expert feedback.
Starting next week, the seven selected participants and their civil society initiatives will begin receiving individual mentoring support aimed at further strengthening their organisational capacity and enhancing their potential contribution to community development.
The support is provided within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” for 2023-2026 and the project “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine’s recovery”, implemented by the Council of Europe Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
