During times of uncertainty, changes in habitual patterns of everyday life, work, communication, and team communication, the coaching approach can become handy for public activists. During almost two years of the pandemic, East Europe Foundation financially supported by the European Union was implementing the 3D Project (Development Despite Disruption: Resilient civil society in a time of COVID-19 and beyond), an EU-funded project implemented by East Europe Foundation, supporting the empowerment of Ukrainian civil society to confront the effects of COVID-19.

The Coaching Program for NGOs Leaders was one of the project components and it was aiming to increase the motivation and adaptability of the teams during the pandemic time, develop leadership skills, and further introduce a coaching approach in public organizations.

Two groups each consisting of 20 participants of the program completed 3 months of training, had nine group meetings and held around 100 individual coaching sessions for public activists from all over Ukraine. Five professional coaches worked with each group.

Within their participation in the program, NGOs leaders were working on the difficulties they faced carrying out their organizations’ activities during the pandemic using coaching instruments and, particularly, created an individual plan for the development of personal leadership skills of a public activist (NGO’s manager).

To outline the coaching approach and tell more about the coaching practices that can be useful for the public sector of Ukraine, we issued a free guide for all interested in the topic. The team of authors, who served as experts and accompanied program participants in the group and individual coaching sessions, are talking about the features of the coaching approach and covering the ways to employ coaching principles to reach the sustainable development of leaders and public organizations.

Please note that to provide coaching services on a professional level, you have to complete specialized training programs, which are certified by the International Coaching Federation (ICF).