Coordinators’ Seminar in Zakarpattia 2024
12–16 August, an off-site seminar “Volunteering as a Tool for Community Development” was held for Volunteer Community coordinators
Twenty-eight coordinators from volunteer centers across Ukraine took part in the seminar.
The seminar program was built around two essential components:
- Developing coordinators’ knowledge and understanding of strategies and tools for community development
- Strengthening the coordinators’ psychosocial resilience, enabling them to fully support and grow volunteer center activities locally under conditions of stress and crisis
During the workshop, coordinators became more familiar with the “Menorah” community development model, thanks to Ariel Zlatkin and Kira Pyvovarova, and worked on shaping and expanding ideas within this concept together with Alex Schmidt. In addition, the seminar program, through a series of trainings, helped unite the coordinators and remind everyone of our primary goal - supporting and developing communities.
Feedback from the coordinators highlights the high quality of the program, its engaging approaches to presenting information, and the speakers’ complete dedication, which ensured effective learning.інформації, абсолютну віддачу спікерів, що сприяє якісному засвоєнню знань.
During the retreat segment of the seminar, coordinators, guided by trainers and psychologists, were able not only to reset and release accumulated stress and fatigue but also to acquire tools and techniques for self-recovery within their daily work routine.
It was especially rewarding that almost immediately after the seminar, we began to see results - center coordinators started implementing ideas that emerged during brainstorming sessions, revisited and rewrote project goals based on the “Menorah” concept, and launched the planning process aligned with community development strategy.
We are truly grateful for this opportunity to support the growth and development of our staff, to strengthen their professional capacity, motivation and inspiration, because in any volunteer program the most valuable resource is the people who are able and willing to nurture and develop communities - together with their communities.