On June 19th, Kidsave International and One Hope met in the office of Kiev’s City Administration in Ukraine on to discuss partnerships and mentoring. This was the wrap-up event for the joint project “Momentum: Pathway to Success” supported by the Boeing Company.
Earlier this year, in Kiev and Lvov, Kidsave provided 2 training of trainers for over 60 people in Kiev and Lvov earlier this year. Later, these trainers trained more than 120 kids and 36 adults during 4 months, and significantly improving their skills.
In June, 31 representatives from the President’s Office for Children’s Affairs, government social services, non-profit organizations, the World Bank, Alliance Ukraine Without Orphans, private foundations and Christian organizations discussed outcomes of the training. Results show that over 56% of the training participants are actively using the knowledge they received on financial literacy, and 67% are using the corporate mentoring model.
Kidsave’s VP for Eastern Europe and CIS, Tatiana Stafford shared her experience, explaining to the group how the term ‘corporate mentoring’ was born when Kidsave developed the Family Visit and Individual Mentoring Program in Russia, and launched partnerships with multinational corporations and local businesses. She demonstrated, step-by-step, how local non-profits can approach businesses in Ukraine and engage them into mentoring. The group had many questions, shared their first successes, discussed concerns and barriers and, together, looked for solutions and opportunities.
Because of the great demand for helpful ideas about fundraising, Tatiana talked about how to approach potential business partners, and how to build relationships. She gave the NGOs a handy checklist to get started.
Immediately the feedback poured in and it was extremely positive. Tatiana Iordan, Manager of One Hope remarked, “the information you shared is priceless and very well-timed,” and “A hands-on approach is exactly what I was looking for.”
The discussion clearly exceeded expectations. Many participants expressed a strong desire to continue with Kidsave trainings in the future and shared their hopes for collaboration.
Tatiana also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ombudsmen for Children with the President of Ukraine, and Kidsave to move children out of residential care facilities and into families.
In October, Kidsave CEO Randi Thompson and Tatiana will return to Ukraine to train 60 trainers on Kidsave’s Family Visit (Weekend Miracles) Model.
