Non-Profit Management Institute in Lviv holds first conference for NGOs (06/27/04)

Non-Profit Management Institute in Lviv holds first conference for NGOs

by Tom O'Keeffe

LVIV - Eighty representatives of various governmental, for-profit and non-profit organizations gathered in Lviv on May 28 to take part in the first conference organized by the Institute of Non-Profit Management of the Ukrainian Catholic University, "Non-Profit Management: Issues and Perspectives."

"The conference gives us a chance to bring together key people from the non-profit environment and to plant the seed that strong management practices are not only essential in the for-profit sphere," said Andriy Borovets, director of the institute.

Among the government organizations represented were Lviv City Hall, Ivan Franko Lviv National University and the U.S. Peace Corps. Among the for-profit organizations represented were Pavlenko, Statsenko & Osinchuk, Attorneys at Law. And among the many non-profits represented were the International Renaissance Foundation, Caritas and the Dzherelo cerebral palsy center of Lviv.

The organization directors discussed current topics and had a rare chance to network and share their best practices. Also on hand were government administrators, educators, students and donor organizations that fund most of the NGOs in Ukraine.

The Institute of Non-Profit Management was established at the Ukrainian Catholic University in the summer of 2003. According to Nick Stankovich, the institute's assistant director, as the institute was wrapping up its first successful year of studies, there was a realization that it should offer more than just an educational program to serve the NGO community. "As evidenced by a recent report published by USAID, 'Of the approximately 30,000 registered NGOs, local experts indicate that about 4,000 are active,' " said Mr. Stankovich.

"This is due to a variety of reasons," continued Mr. Stankovich. "Organizational and management problems, lack of strategic planning, inability to become sustainable over time, and the challenging legal environment with which to operate in Ukraine. These reasons strongly suggest that there is an inadequate amount of education and training for the non-profit community in Ukraine in order to meet these challenges."

"This is one of the primary reasons for the establishment of our Institute of Non-Profit Management - in order to better train and prepare leaders for the non-profit community and succeed in Ukraine's difficult operating environment. Our institute is striving to improve the management capabilities of non-profit directors to assist donors who look for competent NGOs which can sustain their organization when the funding ends."

The first speaker of the conference was Lyubov Maksymovych, the director of Women's Perspectives, a Lviv NGO fighting against the trafficking of women. Her speech concerned sustainability of NGOs and focused on the lack of cooperation among NGOs themselves and with the government. She was followed by Zinovij Siryk, the Lviv city secretary, who spoke about "Cooperation between NGOS and the Local Government." He acknowledged that there is a lack of government help for NGOs, but said that there is also a lack of involvement by NGOs. He concluded that the government needs to see more pressure from NGOs - particularly in the form of lobbying.

The last of the morning speakers was Orysya Lutsevych from the Poland America Ukraine Cooperation Initiative (PAUCI), funded by USAID. Representing a donor organization that sponsors joint projects between Poland and Ukraine, Ms. Lutsevych focused on "Cross-Border Collaboration and the Challenges of International Cooperation."

The 80 participants were then organized into smaller discussion groups focusing on legal issues of NGOs, effetive management in a non-profit environment, sustainability of NGOs, lobbying the government, fund-raising and supervision in social services. The groups afterwards presented the results of their talks to the conference. This was followed by lunch and then a presentation of the Institute of Non-Profit Management by Mr. Stankovich, who reviewed the institute's first year and discussed how the next year would look. He then fielded questions from a very interested audience.

Next, the keynote speaker, Ruslan Kraplych from NGO Development Ukraine, which is sponsored by the European Union, presented his views on education in the non-profit sector. He confirmed the need for more institutes that can teach basic business skills to the large number of NGO employees. He stayed on after his speech for a question and answer panel along with Michael Haines and Scott Lasher, both Peace Corps volunteers working with Ukrainian NGOs.

The conference ended with a networking reception, during which Ms. Maksymovych remarked, "While preparing my report, I had a difficult time finding real data on NGOs, since there have been so few studies done in this area. I see the Institute of Non-Profit Management as a place where studies like this can be done. It will train the future leaders of NGOs, but it can also do so much more."

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Further information about the Institute of Non-Profit Management and the Ukrainian Catholic University is available in English and Ukrainian on the university's website at www.ucu.edu.ua. Readers may also contact the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation, 2247 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60622; phone, (773) 235-8462; e-mail, [email protected]; website, www.ucef.org. The phone number of the UCEF in Canada is (905) 465-3388.

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