A Window of Opportunity Towards a Challenging Context: CYINDEP Organisational Development Workshop

Following the request of the Cypriot NGO platfom CYINDEP, and taking advantage of the Presidency workshop, TRIALOG also supported the Organisational Development efforts of the island-wide platform through a seminar which aimed at reviewing, planning and setting in place key elements (documents, processes and structures) of the platform. Andra Tanase and Christine Bedoya planned and facilitated the workshop in May.

Having in mind the context of Cyprus, the different level of awareness on development cooperation among NGOs, and the low volume of real development cooperation activities (even development education activities in the North), the workshop reviewed at the beginning the context for development cooperation, summarizing then the functions, structure and benefits of having a development NGO Platform. With this in mind, the next step focused on the local context, where the capacities and gaps of CYINDEP were analyzed. The challenges are numerous, resulting from the divided reality of the island, yet CYINDEP insists in setting a good example of collaboration among NGOs and in finding creative solutions to transcend all the gaps. In our context it is fundamental not to loose sight of the focus on development cooperation that the platform committed to or to clearly mark the difference between the different foci of the platform, i.e. bridge towards the EU, reconciliation and development education/development cooperation.

The last part of the workshop aimed at looking into the future and in identifying strategies to fill in the gaps. Among the action points were mentioned the review of the main vision and mission, setting in place basic functional tools mainly for information, networking and capacity building, improving the communication flow where significant gaps exist and developing working procedures such as foundation charter reviewed, criteria for participation in meetings etc.

The tasks are many, the actors are dedicated but also very busy yet with the upcoming Presidency, and the presence of different financial resources in the island CYINDEP has an opportunity of a significant step ahead for consolidating the civil society development cooperation field in Cyprus.

Information provided by Andra Tanase, TRIALOG