The aim of the new Experts in Development project was to strengthen the expertise of the Humanitarian and Development Cooperation Centre DCHOO and its two new partner organisations in Moldova and Ukraine in the areas of autonomy, actionability and cooperation, and, furthermore, to deepen the existing cooperation between SHPaRS and its partner organisations and thus to contribute to the spreading of Foreign Development Cooperation and to the creation and implementation of other development and humanitarian projects, also thanks to the study visit of the Centre’s employees at the Caritas Ukraine organisation.

Project objectives:

• To strengthen the autonomy, expertise, cooperation and actionability of the new Ukrainian partner organisation, International Union of the Volunteers of Ukraine, and the Moldovan organisation Social Health Centre “St. Maria” Grigorauca
• To gain new experience and to strengthen the qualifications of the SHPaRS DCHOO employees

Project outputs:

• A theoretical-practical block for partnership development in Moldova and Ukraine
• Practical training of workers from partner organisations from Moldova and Ukraine in the Czech Republic
• Corresponding material and technical equipment of partner organisations in Ukraine and Moldova
• A study stay in Caritas Ukraine for the employees of SHPaRS
• Language skills of a SHPaRS employee
• A new database (db) of supported people in Ukraine and supporters in the Czech Republic

In general it applies that Moldova is the first and Ukraine the second poorest country in Europe. That is why we wanted to focus this project on strengthening the expertise with the partner organisations in these countries.

In recent years, Ukraine, where SHPaRS carries out its projects, has changed considerably, not only because of the war conflict in the east part of the country but also due to the political and price instability, poor social security, migration waves and overall uncertainty. The Ukrainian society is still heavily influenced by the era of socialism, corruption, non-functioning infrastructure, alcoholism and huge social differences. In general terms, the situation in Moldova is much the same.

The basis for effective foreign development cooperation is quality and sufficiently qualified partners. Several of our partners have experience in certain areas of development cooperation (such as helping children or the elderly), but the newly formed partner organisations had little experience in NGO management, cooperation and carrying out joint development projects. The project has contributed to increasing both our and our partners’ expertise in the necessary areas, and we have also passed on expertise to our partners so that together we can successfully create and carry out joint projects and contribute by at least one step to building a functioning civil society in Ukraine and Moldova.

Project implementation period: 1^st January 2019 – 31^st December 2019.

The “Capacities and Development” project was supported in the framework of the Czech Republic’s Foreign Development Cooperation.