The Network has prepared to monitor its regional offices

Publication date: October 1, 2018

In October 2018, the Legal Development Network (LDN) is starting to monitor its regional offices. The task of the monitoring is to obtain accurate objective information on the level of organizational development of the regional organizations. These data will be used to plan the further development of the Network.

In order to successfully organize the monitoring, the LDN has carried out a facilitation meeting “Monitoring the member organizations of the Legal Development Network 2018: preparing and conducting”. It was attended by members of the Board and the Executive Directorate of the LDN, regional coordinators and independent experts who will carry the monitoring out. The facilitator of the meeting was Oksana Kosenko, specialist in the organizational development of civil society organizations of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

At the beginning of the event, Liudmyla Savchenko, manager of the organizational development of the LDN, addressed the audience with a welcome message.

**Liudmyla Savchenko**, LDN manager in organizational development

Participants watched the video with the greetings of Yevgen Poltenko, the Executive Director of the Network. He personally did not participate in the meeting, since he was in New York, USA. There he visited the event devoted to the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, as well as an international seminar on strengthening access to justice.

“The Legal Development Network should become a responsible, open, accountable and transparent institution, – Yevgen Poltenko said in the video interview.– And this is exactly the vision we share, conducting an independent monitoring of the activities of our member organizations. I am convinced that this unprecedented process for Ukraine will become our common professional pride and achievement.”

After the event participants had got acquainted, the UNDP specialist on organizational development of civil society organizations Oksana Kosenko made a presentation. She explained the peculiarities and principles of organizational development.

**Oksana Kosenko**, UNDP specialist in organizational development of civil society organizations

The participants discussed in detail the various issues of using the LDN monitoring tool to be applied when assessing the activities of the union offices. They also reviewed the results of last year monitoring visits, which could be useful for identifying changes in the level of development of regional offices of the Network.

During the meeting organizational issues of monitoring were raised. The participants got acquainted with the composition of the monitoring groups, they found out the division of tasks of their members.

In the framework of the event the schedule of visits, submission of reports and preparation of organizational development plans were agreed upon. Participants discussed logistics monitoring.

They also considered in detail the algorithm for monitoring visits. In particular, the attendees clarified how interviews with office staff will be conducted, how focus groups with partners and representatives of local self-government bodies will be organized. In addition, they reviewed various aspects of documentation preparation.

The event took place on September 27-28, 2018.

Oksana Kosenko, specialist in organizational development of civil society organizations of UNDP: “The peculiarity of this year monitoring of the LDN offices is that it will provide for elements of organizational development assessment. Independent organizational development specialists will join the monitoring teams this year, which will allow a more objective assessment of the situation on the ground. Experts will also provide their recommendations and will accompany organizations in creating individual development plans.”

Rostyslav Lukach, a member of the Ukrainian Evaluation Association, Rotary Club Kyiv-Center: “During the monitoring, a special tool developed specifically for this monitoring will be applied. As a member of the Ukrainian Evaluation Association, I used to apply several tools. I see that different projects or grant organizations use some of their own assessment means, so it’s interesting to me to see from a professional point of view how this issue is being solved here. The team of experts is highly skilled, it is interesting to work in such a team. And I hope that the assessment will help organizations reach a new level in their development.”

**Rostyslav Lukach**, independent expert, a member of the Ukrainian Evaluation Association

Vitaliy Babyka, a member of the Board of the LDN, the head of the Dvorichansky Office of the LDN: “The main monitoring message will come not from the participants of the Network itself, but from the external experts. And we, the members of the Network, should help them, answer their questions if they arise. It might be necessary to help independent experts understand one or another indicator used, explain why it is applied. That is why, to a large extent, monitoring will become an external assessment of us as members of the Network.”