Humanitarian workers receive first 30 certificates in leadership, advocacy program
The first pilot run of the certificate program "Leadership and Advocacy in Humanitarian Response" resulted in free training for 30 humanitarian workers, communications manager at the Alliance of Ukrainian Civil Society Organizations Olha Shylkina said at a press cadvocacy programonference at Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.
During the event, participants said that Ukraine, and the humanitarian sector in particular, is now operating in a state of constant uncertainty, and that the training of humanitarian workers requires special attention. The new program, "Leadership and Advocacy in Humanitarian Response," is therefore one of the tools that allows Ukrainian organizations to build their own expertise, influence decision-making and act as full-fledged partners in the international system.
The program is based on real cases from 26 member organizations of the alliance, which shared their cases and experience.
"Over the past few years, Ukraine's humanitarian sector has had access to a large number of training opportunities. But at the same time, we see a problem in the fragmentation of that training. We have many trainings and courses, but there is a certain lack of system and a limited connection to practice," Head of advocacy at the Alliance of Ukrainian Civil Society Organizations Olha Shevchuk-Kliuzheva said at the start of the press conference.
"This program is not for beginners, but for practitioners, for people who work in the humanitarian sector, make daily decisions, and already have advocacy experience. Today, advocacy is not an additional competence, but one of the key functions of humanitarian organizations. That is because decisions on aid, resources and priorities are not made in the field. They are shaped on the basis of policies, donor strategies and international processes. And if Ukrainian organizations are not represented in these processes, they remain implementers rather than actors," she said.
According to the program partner, Humanitarian Leadership Academy representative Huseyin Arslan, the training focused on several key areas.
"The first was leadership development. We supported both emerging and established leaders, strengthening their decision-making so that they could act with greater confidence in such an environment. Secondly, we worked on leadership and advocacy, and analyzed how to better balance the direction of power. Third, we strengthened organizations to improve their internal systems and strategic planning," he said.
The need to introduce new training programs on leadership and advocacy was also emphasized during the event by Director of the Institute of Leadership and Management at Ukrainian Catholic University Solomia Maksymovych. According to her, "for several years now, we have seen a strong demand for advocacy and for how to become more of a subject in the international arena. That is why it was so valuable to combine the experience of our experts and practitioners with broader global experience in connection with the Ukrainian context."
According to one participant in the certificate program who attended the press conference, Valeria Sereda of the National Agency Zdorovi, advocacy "is an integral and very important part of the agency's work."
"That is because we focus on protecting patients' rights and influencing decisions that determine access to quality medical care," she said.