Counterpart center celebrates first year (03/01/98)

Counterpart center celebrates first year

Eastern Economist

KYIV - The number of NGOs in Ukraine has mushroomed from 700 registered in 1996 to over 7,000 today. Charlotte Watson, a coordinator of Counterpart Foundation programs for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova from 1993 to 1996, said on January 23 that Ukrainian non-governmental organizations all share a tremendous enthusiasm and a "huge appetite for information."

According to Ms. Watson, Ukrainian NGOs are gradually reaching the level of those in the West, thanks largely to the Counterpart Creative Center (CCC), which celebrated one year of activity with a presentation on January 23 called A Year of Independence: A Fresh Look."

As an independent Ukrainian NGO, CCC was set up to help other Ukrainian NGOs grow and resolve their problems. Its main tasks are researching growth and creating a database of NGOs and training NGO leaders in Ukraine.

During its first year of operation, CCC launched seven projects, held 128 training sessions on 14 topics and published an NGO directory.