Prepared by Tetiana Konovalova
Delivery Period: November, 1st – December, 18th, 2024
Language: Ukrainian
Target Audience: Women's rights organizations (WROs) and/or women-led organizations (WLOs), including women's advocacy organizations and civil society organizations (CSOs) promoting women's rights, minorities groups' rights, gender equality and concerns (such as LGBTQIA+ led and Roma-led organizations)
Delivery Format: 8 online webinars/2 hrs each. Theme-tailored interactive webinars – 16 hrs. 2 days off-line advanced training – (15 hrs) for Community of Practice (CoP)
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Background
Women’s rights organizations (WROs) and Women’s led organizations (WLOs) have been at the forefront of the humanitarian response amid the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine. They have been steadfastly providing essential support to the most affected communities. Many have utilized and built on their existing resources to adapt their work to respond to the changing needs in their communities, often with little or no support from international organizations. For a third consecutive year since the full-scale invasion, WROs & WLOs demonstrate a solid capacity to provide multi-faceted services in places and areas out of reach from the state services, all of which is done with proven resilience, flexibility, and depth understanding of their community concerns and priorities. This vital work continues, even in challenging, complex environments and with limited access to resources.
Despite the relentless endeavors of WROs & WLOs in wartime, many are left in a critical condition in the face of overwhelming needs and severe under-resourcing. The humanitarian community has a responsibility to ensure that WROs and the services they offer are not left in a worse position than before the crisis response. The effects of this can be seen across a range of sectors, including health, shelter, protection and WASH. With limited resources, WROs had to expand and/or reshape their services, and facilities illustrated by the example of shelters for survivors of GBV accommodating those displaced by the war. The impacts of underfunding could also be observed in Ukraine’s rural areas, where safe shelter, legal assistance, and livelihood opportunities are critically insufficient (Voice & HIAS, 2024).
The type of funding that WROs & WLOs have been able to access in the last two years has presented real challenges. It has been exclusively short-term and tied to donor expectations, including compliance and bureaucratic standards. While donors consulted with national and local organizations and with those in need, these efforts did not significantly influence the funding processes. Findings from a survey conducted by Action Aid (2023) with WROs & WLOs and young-people organizations found that 65% of the responders have stressed that donors do not fund their organization’s core mission and activities. Instead, funding is side-lined and only allocated for activities pertaining to immediate humanitarian action.
Given the above, the Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) working group (WG) conducted the WROs/WLOs’ needs assessment, aiming to build their capacity and improve their access to funding. Following Needs Assessment outcomes, relevant Task Force groups (Output 1, 2 and 3) were initiated in order to address the revealed challenges and to “invest in capacity support resources for WROs across sectors to build their institutional capacities, develop policies required by donors and the UN, and navigate complex resource mobilization processes” (https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/accessible-funding-womens-rights-organizations-ukraine-enuk). GiHA WG Task Force Output 2 was the one to shape the capacity building program content.
In this context, Gender Bureau as main Service Provider (contractor) took leading and conducting a comprehensive training package to WROs & WLOs to enhance resource mobilization skills in the context of the Ukraine Refugee Response.
General Aim of the Program
The program aimed to build the capacity of Women's Rights Organizations (WROs) and Women-Led Organizations (WLOs) by providing comprehensive support tailored to their key areas of action. It seeks to equip these organizations with essential tools and skills to enhance their operational effectiveness, sustainability, and impact. This capacity-building effort is designed to position the organizations to attract and secure flexible and multi-year funding, ensuring long-term success and resilience.
Specific Objective
The specific objective of the program was to address the top priorities of WROs and WLOs as identified through the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group (GiHA WG) Women’s Rights (WR) needs assessment. These priorities, further refined during discussions in the Task Force (Output 2), shaped the focus of each webinar.
Program aimed to:
- Equip participants with practical tools and actionable knowledge to improve internal systems and policies.
- Enhance organizational readiness to meet donor requirements, including due diligence and compliance standards.
- Foster a deeper understanding of feminist approaches to policy integration, ensuring gender-sensitive and inclusive practices across organizational operations.
These areas were identified as critical for enhancing organizational resilience, fostering transparency, and meeting due diligence requirements, which are indispensable for securing sustainable funding and establishing credible partnerships.