| The Small Grants Program funds civil society organizations in order to promote dialogue and disseminate information on development, social partnership, and citizen’s engagements. One such project funded under this program, for example, seeks to improve social and legal protection at the community level and create new ways of interacting with municipal authorities. The civil society activists and applicants to the Small Grants Program view the program as successful and necessary for Ukraine. The increase in the number of grant applicants over the years indicates a strong and growing interest in the program. This year the Small Grants Program is quite special since International Finance Corporation has joined the initiative and provided additional funds for the Program. It is the very first experience of WB and IFC collaboration in strengthening of Civil Society Organizations not only in Ukraine, but in the worldwide context. As civil society organizations perform a valuable role in engaging their fellow citizens in the fight against poverty and exclusion thus, the intended beneficiaries of the Small Grants Program are civil society organizations engaged in initiatives aiming at empowering groups and individuals that have been marginalized and excluded from the public realm.
"Side-by-Side" - Bulletin for NGOs
The idea to periodically publish and distribute the NGO Bulletin began in December 2001 as an effort to facilitate dialogue between the World Bank and civil society. It provides information on the Bank’s activities, projects and events, and also other current and coming civil society events. The Bulletin has been well received: the NGO community considers it an important information source, and so the Bank now produces and distributes 1,200 copies of the Bulletin (1,000 in Ukrainian, and 200 in English) on a quarterly basis.
The NGO contact group, when it was created in the fall of 2000, found itself occupying a unique niche in Ukraine. Participants have found in it an open forum in which to consider a broad range of issues, including strategies useful for strengthening civil society, tax treatment of NGOs, the role of the Bank in civil society issues in Ukraine, and more. The Ministry of Economy is also considering the establishment of a Civil Society Advisory Group patterned on the NGO contact group, and at the same time a Public Collegium has been established with the State Tax Administration in order to ensure transparency and accountability in how this body functions.
Innovation Days and Knowledge Forums were organized in 2001, 2002, and 2003 to follow the Global Development Marketplace. Their purpose: to award grants to projects designed by citizens and local groups that build local development capacity, expertise, networking, and citizens’ empowerment.
The projects chosen to receive grants were determined on a competitive basis, and the event itself was combined with the Knowledge Forum whereby knowledge, experiences, and best practices were exchanged between participants from Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. The first Innovation Day (ID) event in June 2001 attracted more than 460 brief proposals out of which 15 were awarded grants. The 2002 Knowledge Forum centered on the Distant Learning Course “Social Partnership – A Paradigm for Success”. It was a three-country event (Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus), which attracted 45 NGO activists and 15 government officials as participants, and a total of 65 people took part in the Knowledge Forum, in which the participants presented their case studies. These events have provided NGOs in the region with important opportunities to develop their networks and learn from others. Furthermore, the Decentralized Development Marketplace (DDM)–2003 forum allowed participants from Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova to compete for start-up funding for new and creative development ideas. A key objective of the DDM-2003 was the use of a decentralized approach to promoting innovation within the World Bank Group. Emphasis was placed on encouraging innovation that was consistent with the respective development priorities of the three countries and the DDM-03 received more than 620 submissions for the single nomination and 35 proposals for the special “Three Countries – One Team” nomination.
The People's Voice project (PVP) uses an innovative and comprehensive approach to provide short-term technical support and longer-term institutional building assistance to develop Ukraine’s civil society and make municipalities accountable to their citizens. The goal of the project is ...more The Dialogue for Reform Project (February 2002-February 2004) was financed by a two-year, $288,000 grant provided by the Bank to the Ministry of Economy and European Integration - the agency responsible for implementation. The overarching goal ...more |
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