{"id":26824,"date":"2025-07-11T13:39:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T10:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/?post_type=event&p=26824"},"modified":"2025-07-11T13:39:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T10:39:40","slug":"how-stan-ngo-s-mentoring-support-strengthened-sila-zhyttia-ngo-from-kolomyia","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/event\/how-stan-ngo-s-mentoring-support-strengthened-sila-zhyttia-ngo-from-kolomyia\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u00abSTAN\u00bb NGO\u2019s mentoring support strengthened \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb NGO from Kolomyia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author: Yulia Bilyk, Communications Manager of the Legal Development Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of 2024, the Legal Development Network (LDN), in cooperation with the humanitarian organization \u00abPeople in Need\u00bb and with the financial support of the Czech Development Agency, held public decision-making hackathons within the framework of the Vidnova project. As a result, the participating teams of community leaders \u2014 representatives of business, IT, the public sector, and local government \u2014 developed 10 projects aimed at solving urgent problems in the communities of Mykolaiv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the hackathons, each team received support from experienced experts to implement their projects. However, not every team took advantage of this opportunity to the fullest. An example of effective interaction between a newly created organization as a mentee and an experienced organization as a mentor is the interaction between the Kolomyia-based the \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb NGO and the \u00abSTAN\u00bb NGO. This article describes this cooperation and its positive impact on both organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
In the photo: Iryna Bordun, head of the \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb NGO<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Iryna Bordun<\/strong> is a resident of Kolomyia and a public figure. Since March 2024, Iryna has created a circle for communication and mutual support for the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters of defenders, as she lost her husband and brother during Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine. Every month, the circle organizes at least four events: workshops, concerts, support groups, etc., attended by up to 30 women. In total, the initiative has reached about 90 women from Kolomyia and the Kolomyia district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this experience behind them, but without registering their initiative as an NGO, in December 2024, a team of three Iryna\u2019s \u2014 Iryna Kalyn<\/strong>, who also lost her husband during the full-scale war, and Iryna Magnich<\/strong>, the wife of an active duty soldier, joined Iryna Bordun<\/strong> \u2014 were selected to participate in the public solutions hackathon held by the Legal Development Network as part of the Vidnova project. At this accelerator, the team worked on a formal description of their project, which was already actively working. At the same time, the team received a nomination from the \u00abSTAN\u00bb NGO, which has been strengthening grassroots initiatives and active citizens, including those from vulnerable and marginalized groups, through non-formal education for about 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
In the photo from right to left: representatives of the \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb NGO \u2014 Iryna Magnich, Iryna Kalyn, Iryna Bordun \u2014 at the public solutions hackathon, December 2024, Ivano-Frankivsk City<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab<\/em>If you have a position, you understand that you can do something useful, but you don’t have people with whom you can do it, then the hackathon is really an opportunity. By the time of the hackathon, our work was already well established. What we weren’t good at was paperwork,<\/em>\u00bb<\/em> says Iryna Bordun<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
In the photo on the left: Natalia Petryshyn, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at \u00abSTAN\u00bb NGO<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The \u00abSTAN\u00bb NGO has been in constant contact with the Circle of Life initiative (the initiative\u2019s working title) and continues to do so, even outside the Vidnova project, with its Monitoring and Evaluation Manager Natalia Petryshyn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abAfter participating in the hackathon and joining the jury, we selected one team from among the two teams that had a veteran focus and offered it a nomination – it was the Circle of Life initiative from Kolomyia at the time, which was able to grow from an initiative into the \u201cSila Zhyttia\u201d NGO in early 2025,\u00bb Natalia Petryshyn<\/strong> notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the hackathon, \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb NGOs representatives were trained in one of the programs of \u00abSTAN\u00bb NGO, which previously worked on the implementation of several national pilot projects in partnership with the International Organization for Migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
In the photo: Natalia Petryshyn (left) and Iryna Bordun (right) during the presentation of the project at the Social Solutions Hackathon<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab\u201dSTAN\u201d has significantly strengthened various aspects of our organization. Their curriculum is a gold mine from which a million useful things can be learned. We talked a lot about development prospects: from creating Google forms and fundraising jars to finding and writing grants, preparing financial and annual reports,\u00bb<\/em> says Iryna Bordun<\/strong>, \u00abWhile during the hackathon, writing our project caused us a lot of stress \u2014 we clearly understood what we were doing, what funds we needed for implementation, and how much we needed, but we just didn’t know how to describe it.  Now we are not stressed anymore because the STAN organization taught us how to do it properly.\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was important and useful for other participants of the training program, particularly those from the youth environment, that \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb NGO\u2019s representatives shared their life experiences with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abThey talked about what exactly led them to civic activism, what values they want to instill in our society, and these are not only the values of preserving memory, honoring heroes and heroines, but also the patriotic education of our youth, social cohesion in the community, not just in words, but in concrete actions, deeds, and deeds to support the families of fallen heroes and families of active military personnel,\u00bb<\/em> Natalia Petryshyn<\/strong> recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
In the photo: Natalia Petryshyn, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at \u00abSTAN\u00bb NGO, with representatives of the \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb NGO at the Social Solutions Hackathon<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb team also completed an internship at \u00abSTAN\u00bb. According to Iryna Bordun, during the internship, she and her colleagues first noticed how much they were doing and had already done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab<\/em>Natalia Petryshyn said, \u201cShow me what you have done.\u201d And when we started writing about what we had done in the almost 14 months of work that had passed since we started our training, we were amazed: we had held more than 200 meetings, not including trips to the movies, theater, and concerts. And when we calculated all the expenses: our own funds, pro bono events, renting premises, etc., we came up with one and a half million hryvnias,<\/em>\u00bb<\/em> says Iryna Bordun<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab<\/em>During the internship, we were able to hone our understanding of the target audience and strategy together. Our experts\u2019 advice on grantwriting, logistics, external communications, acquaintance and further cooperation with those NGOs that also share similar values and a common vision were useful for the <\/em>\u201cSila Zhyttia\u201d <\/em>team,<\/em>\u00bb<\/em> says Natalia Petryshyn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb cooperation with \u00abSTAN\u00bb continues beyond the Vidnova project. In particular, Natalia Petryshyn advises the \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb team on writing and testing the organization\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab<\/em>The <\/em>\u201cSila Zhyttia\u201d<\/em> team continues to develop consistently, from institutional strengthening to strategic expansion. Their approach seemed mature from the very beginning, and their attitude to partnerships was balanced and serious. The internship turned out to be more of a reinforcement of the existing team dynamics, and this is a sign of sustainability in reality. That is, even though they are a young organization as a non-governmental organization, the foundation they have, the values they profess, the team they have united, their approach to choosing partnerships, development areas, understanding the needs of their target audience and how to meet those needs are very powerful,<\/em>\u00bb<\/em> notes Natalia Petryshyn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
In the photo: Head of the \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb NGO Iryna Bordun and Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at \u00abSTAN\u00bb Natalia Petryshyn<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

According to Natalia Petryshyn, she and her colleagues have been watching the \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb NGO change and grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abWe are glad that the team is considering certain collaborations and partnerships, has a noticeable social impact and is already quite recognizable. They were able to deepen their own expertise, independence, and expand partnerships. The professional approach to the work of the members of the \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb NGO demonstrates the team’s focus on quality and the relevance of the cases implemented to the needs of the target audience. They have good prospects for growth in the social environment of both the Kolomyia community and Ukraine as a whole,\u00bb<\/em> emphasizes Natalia Petryshyn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience of cooperation between the \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb NGO and \u00abSTAN\u00bb NGO\u2019s experts has become a powerful catalyst for its growth on many levels. In particular, it helped to strengthen the internal structure of the young organization, develop strategic thinking and improve the professional skills of the team members, and expand the network of partners. An internship with an organization with many years of experience allowed the \u00abSila Zhyttia\u00bb not only to learn new tools but also to confidently apply them in practice. Now they prepare and submit grant applications on their own, develop cooperation with other NGOs, and are ready to scale up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: Yulia Bilyk, Communications Manager of the Legal Development Network At the end of 2024, the Legal Development Network (LDN), in cooperation with the humanitarian organization \u00abPeople in Need\u00bb and with the financial support of the Czech Development Agency, held…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":26822,"template":"","project":[649,650],"section":[],"event-type":[],"region":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/26824"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/event"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/26824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26825,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/26824\/revisions\/26825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project?post=26824"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=26824"},{"taxonomy":"event-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event-type?post=26824"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=26824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}