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Study on the progress of civil society activists who participated in BCNP training (February 1, 2023 – August 31, 2024)

In early 2023 Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law launched a three-year training program to support Bulgarian civil society organizations in developing their capacity to become truly sustainable, mission-driven, financially independent, and resilient to smear campaigns as drivers of change. We set this goal in the BIRDS in BG project, which is a partnership initiative of the Bulgarian Women’s Fund (BWF), the Bulgarian Center for Non-Profit Law (BCNPL), and the Impact Drive Foundation (IDF) to support the development of a sustainable civil society, including by helping to build the capacity of small and local non-governmental organizations in Bulgaria that work for social change, protect, promote, and raise awareness of human rights, democracy, the rule of law, and European values.

Between February 1, 2023, and August 31, 2024, we examined the organizational and professional progress of representatives of civil society organizations, informal groups, and activists who participated in seven of the BCNL’s capacity-building program trainings:

Co-Creating Labs: Laboratory for Creative Campaigns | Training “Exercising the Right to Peaceful Protest” | Civil Academies for NGOs 2023| Training “Working with EU Institutions – Role and Powers” | “HUMAN CAPITAL: The most important resource for any organization”

The training courses were designed in such a way that the content, format, and training methods would help develop the skills of people working in the civil sector. A special focus of each training event was the development of competences regarding EU values and know-how for communicating them and leading public debate on topics related to democracy, solidarity, equality, and respect for human rights. We emphasized a comprehensive approach to capacity building on interrelated topics to accelerate the advocacy potential and sustainability of citizen organizations’ missions. Through some of the training sessions, we placed a special focus on improving knowledge and skills on specific topics that are important for positioning organizations as key players in public processes.

The results of the analysis, together with key conclusions on the usefulness of the training sessions in terms of their content and format, are summarized in this REPORT.

The study also contains valuable conclusions on the state of the civil society sector in Bulgaria as of 2024:

  • It is extremely important not only to provide support through training, but also to create an environment for exchange, coalition-building, and opportunities and ideas for future collaboration.
  • The most popular training courses are those that are more holistic and allow for the inclusion of different support components, including on different topics.
  • The smaller the population, the more dependent they are on funding or the political will of local authorities.
  • Organizations with sustainable funding are not forced to “run away” from their mission.
  • Human capital remains a key problem – recruitment, attracting young people, retention, and motivation. The explanations are few and varied: limited and inconsistent resources, complex and project-based funding, thematic programs, low funding, a complex context, demographic problems, etc.
  • The EU and European institutions remain unknown and “distant,” even difficult to access.
  • The tools for interaction need to be simplified and made easier to use. Additional efforts are needed to ensure that European values are recognized and identified in the local context and through the local context.
  • The difficulties in the context, burnout, the aging of the sector, and funding difficulties lead organizations to reduce the intensity of the most important thing they do—advocacy and the potential to change the environment, including being the voice of the people for this. To an even greater extent, the capacity for innovation and offering solutions for modernizing public relations has been reduced.
  • There is a growing awareness of the need to invest time in developing the capacity of individual team members. Although they recognize how important it is to invest in knowledge for the successful functioning and management of their organizations, lack of time remains a major obstacle to this.
  • The Civil Academies program covers everything that is most important in one place over a short period of time, which helps newcomers to the sector in particular to organize their knowledge about the essential processes and legislative framework for the management and functioning of NGOs.

How did we measure progress?

In analyzing the five trainings, BCNL was guided by a logical framework, part of our joint Capacity Development Plan with Impact Drive Foundation, containing detailed information on the quantitative indicators used to measure the expected short-term, medium-term, and long-term effects resulting from the implementation of the training programs and documented in the relevant source of information.

As of the date of the report (August 31, 2024), we reported significant results on most of the quantitative indicators provided in the matrix. The most popular trainings are those that are more holistic:

  • We trained 155 representatives of 97 civil society organizations, informal groups, and activists who participated in 8 trainings;
  • We invested 119 training hours;
  • We provided support through 26 lecturers and role models, 25 training resources, and 16 mentoring sessions;
  • We created an environment for 195 collaborations between participants and their lecturers through 160 mentoring meetings, 16 consultations, and 15 NGO case studies with relevant feedback;
  • 55% of the 60 participants in the three Civic Academies achieved 65–100% correct answers on the NGO leader test, which included questions on the legal and tax framework for NGOs, their economic activities, public consultations, and the regulatory process;
  • We encouraged reaching 489,450 people through communication efforts to promote the activities of the trained organizations;
  • 3 organizations managed to secure additional funding for their communication campaigns;
  • 94 partnerships were established between national and local institutions, media, and informal groups;
  • 10 joint initiatives were launched by the trained organizations with representatives of the business community;
  • 76 actions and meetings were initiated to express public opinion and bring about changes and improvements to laws, regulations, and policies;
  • 17 institutions at the national and local levels were monitored by the trained participants;
  • 12 organizations took advocacy actions to solve local problems;
  • 285 volunteers were recruited and engaged in the activities of the trained participants;

14 organizations hired new staff members.

Along with measuring quantitative indicators of success, BCNL also analyzed the participants’ increased ability to cope more successfully with the work and management of their organizations as a result of the training.

We measured the increased capacity through a comprehensive 4-step assessment that covered issues related to current needs and expectations, current capacity, benefits, and training outcomes.

Specifically, we measured the level of increased capacity through 5 qualitative indicators:

1) Newly acquired knowledge and increased self-confidence – improves the ability to deal with specific situations;

2) Availability of appropriate training tools – facilitates the ability to acquire new knowledge and skills;

3) Access to diverse topics and multi-layered content – recognizes the importance and usefulness of sector-specific topics that develop specific competencies;

4) Increase in the size of teams and the number of organizations in the training – indicates the ability to develop the activity;

5) Access to a pool of professionals with different expertise – develops skills in different areas and gives trainees peace of mind and confidence that they have someone to turn to with their questions and case studies.

The full text of the report can be found HERE.