Capacity building of civil society organisations in the Republic of Moldova through strengthening of communication and fundraising skills

A new EU-funded project “Civil Society Organisations Capacity Development”, implemented by Equal Rights and Independent Media – ERIM (formerly IREX Europe) has been launched recently aiming at strengthening civil society organisations in the Republic of Moldova and improving both their operational and organisational capabilities. The six organisations part of the capacity development programme, Autism Hope, the Association of Librarians of the Republic of Moldova, the Law Center of Lawyers, Spring that Unites Us, Neemia and Life without Leukemia, went through an initial organisational evaluation process with the support of an external expert contracted by ERIM. Subsequently, based on the evaluation, with the support of ERIM, each organisation established a tailored action plan that will be implemented within the project by the end of 2022.

In the age of technology and information abundance, effective communication and connection with the community play an extremely important role in promoting and supporting a social cause. Moreover, the sustainability of civil society organisations’ activities can further be ensured through direct cooperation with local communities and fundraising. As a result, communication and fundraising are found in the action plan of each of the 6 above-mentioned organisations. In addition to the mentoring support in communication and fundraising, the organisations had the opportunity to meet and participate offline in 2 workshops led by the communication expert, Natalia Șeremet.

In the opinion of the participants, the two workshops provided them with both practical and theoretical knowledge that they can use to increase their visibility in order to promote the social causes they support through their daily activities. Moreover, in addition to the knowledge gained, the organisations were enthusiastic and inspired by the exchange of experience they had with the other organisations part of the programme, active both locally and regionally.

In order to ensure the sustainability of the support, as a result of the training sessions, together with the communication mentor, the six organisations are now at the stage of consolidating the acquired knowledge by developing a communication or fundraising campaign plan that they will be implementing in the period between 2021 – 2022 with the financial support of the EU and ERIM mentoring.

Between 8 and 9 July 2021, together with the expert, the 6 organisations gained new knowledge on the importance of both internal and external communication of NGOs. Through practical exercises, the participants became acquainted with the tools and good practices that can be used to communicate effectively and sustainably.

One week later, 15 July 2021, the same organisations continued their discussion in a new workshop about methods and instruments for raising funds and involving communities in promoting a social cause and supporting human rights.