Updates from the Eastern Europe Regional Centre 

In September, our Eastern Europe Regional Centre team contributed to two large-scale international forums by moderating and speaking on multiple sessions. It was a great opportunity to meet with our partners, colleagues and various actors in the Ukraine response.   

We continued to provide exciting learning opportunities for fellow humanitarians in the region. This time, our regional team organised the Partnership Brokering Training in Poland. 

Economic Forum 

In the beginning of September, our Eastern Europe regional team participated in the 32nd Economic Forum in Karpacz, Poland. Kamila Wujec, our Eastern Europe Regional Lead, moderated the Solidarity with Ukraine: Social Engagement and Humanitarian Aid session, where our Response Director from Save the Children Poland Bujar Hoxha, took the floor to discuss the multifaceted impacts that the war in Ukraine is having on children and their families, and how to best address them.

Kamila reflects:  
“The panel discussion highlighted the many perspectives on the solidarity shown with Ukrainian people from the point of view of local, international, governmental, private and social sector organisations, and the need for complementary action and partnership between them in providing ongoing effective crisis response.”  

Katarzyna Bryczkowska, the HLA’s Learning Solutions Specialist in Poland, led the session How Do Women Shape the History of the World? What is Female Leadership Today? In the format of a workshop, participants reflected on the challenges of women leaders in the response and shared their inspiring stories.  
 
“It is important to speak about the role of female leaders in the Ukraine response. The crisis is not over yet, and we can and should reflect the full picture of leaders supporting Ukraine nowadays. We know examples in the course of history when female leaders fell out of the official post-crisis narratives. We must speak on behalf of all the brave women who support Ukrainians daily, show their names and faces, showcase and stress their remarkable work, and not let their achievements and impact be forgotten. These female leaders are the role models for the girls and boys of today.”  
 
On the final day of the Forum, Katarzyna also moderated and spoke at the panel discussion The V word. Can violence be prevented? Katarzyna’s input to the discussion is invaluable as she has provided safeguarding training to more than 500 humanitarians working in Ukraine response.

Partnership Brokering Training 

Our team successfully conducted the Partnership Brokering Training for 18 participants from Ukraine and Poland. Amongst other participants who mostly represented local NGOs, our colleagues from SCI Ukraine and SCI Poland also took part in the training.  

This 4-day training was provided together with the Partnership Brokers Association (PBA) and offered strategies to overcome common and complex partnership challenges, unique tools and techniques for brokering partnerships, and professional insights that build competencies to support successful partnerships. 

• The [Partnership Brokering] training gave me tools that I can use in a challenging situation and made me confident that I can manage it. It structured my vision of the process of partnership brokering. 
• I will analyse my partnership processes more thoroughly based on the knowledge I received. 
• There are many people who believe that soft skills are not as soft as they are called and that they are core for a successful partnership. I’m happy I met them during this training. 

World for Ukraine Summit (W4UA)

During 28-29^th September we participated in the W4UA – World for Ukraine Summit in Poland.  

Kamila Wujec, spoke at the panel ‘Empowering Civil Society Through Media and Online Communication’. This panel was focused on strengthening media and internet communication to empower an informed and engaged civil society.  
 
Dominic Courage, the HLA Deputy Director, together with Katarzyna Bryczkowska and Jessica Anderson, our regional MEAL Officer, attended the summit to network with colleagues, partners, and leaders of the humanitarian response in Eastern Europe. Dominic says: 

“The W4UA summit brought together a diverse group of both humanitarian and non-humanitarian actors to discuss not just the response efforts but how they sit within the wider context of the invasion of Ukraine, recovery and their road to freedom. It is vital that local humanitarian actors can situate themselves and operate within this wider context, connect and play an eco-systemic leadership role that crosses traditional boundaries of humanitarian response whilst remaining true to our core principles. This ethos is core to the Humanitarian Leadership Academy’s vision for a more locally-led humanitarian system.” 

The W4UA Summit is organised by the World for Ukraine Foundation (W4UAF), an entity established in September 2022 as a focused initiative to bolster ongoing relief and support efforts for Ukraine and its citizenry and proclaiming their mission to encompass a range of objectives, including the facilitation and empowerment of non-governmental organisations, local governmental institutions, entrepreneurs, and individual citizens, to advocating for the safeguarding of civil and human rights, particularly in the context of being active in a wartime environment. 

HLA Connect – Easter Europe 

We have issued the first edition of our regional newsletter: HLA Connect – Eastern Europe! 

With this newsletter, we aim to provide information about events, in-person and online learning opportunities, as well as research items relevant to those involved in humanitarian response in Eastern Europe. 
Let’s connect to increase our positive impact in the region!