The goal of the project is to strengthen parish communities in the implementation of social service, provision of social services and humanitarian assistance to the most needy people, including IDPs, through the development of organizational capacity and training for parish volunteers.
Main types of activities:
- Activation of social service, visits and support of parishes of the Stryi Diocese. Organization of Social Service Forums.
- School of social service for workers/volunteers of parish initiatives.
- Social and educational volunteer Academy “SOVA”.
In the autumn of 2023, the final module of the “SOVA” School of Volunteers took place. 9 training modules, 4 meetings in each of 12 parishes, 8 inspiring months and 47 motivated leaders from different parts of the Stryi Eparchy. The participants had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of spiritual foundations, fundraising and communications. Together with dozens of experts, they learned how to write project proposals, work effectively in a team, attract and manage resources, and also received many necessary tools to be able to do good professionally. And the most important thing is that they were able to create active communities in communities that will provide social service on an ongoing basis.
A charity kitchen, a leisure center for children, a psychological and educational support studio, a sewing workshop, a children’s playground, a youth space are just some of the projects written by our participants. The target groups that the participants’ projects are intended to help are large families, single elderly people, internally displaced persons, people with disabilities, large families, and people living with disabilities. The parish presented its ideas to the competition committee. Six parishes received mini-grants for the implementation of their projects.
“The most valuable thing that «SOVA» gave was the motivation to learn and develop. The ideas of social service in our parish and the desire to participate in the following programs in order to work even more effectively in our community immediately began to appear, says Mariana Horin, a member of the School of Volunteers. – The most memorable lecture was on fan raising. I heard there for the first time what it is and how it is possible to attract funds, the lecture was very inspiring and informative. After her, a stream of different ideas and thoughts appeared. We are very grateful to the School for a good push, knowledge and experience”.