Impact Academy is a 5 month program that will guide civic society leaders through theoretical approaches, practical strategy development and tailor-made tools and indicators. The program includes mentorship and assistance to help you apply the newly set up into day to day practice and strategic direction of your organization. Moreover, the program will encourage and embrace a culture based on mutual trust, empowerment and support, learning and accountability. An integral part of the program is individual and group coaching, as well as the development of a peer-to-peer network of support for them, as citizen sector leaders.
5-month journey, 5 session (1.5 days each) and an ongoing transversal learning journey for their own well-being guided by a group couch.
Alina Kasprovschi has founded and is the executive director of the Bucharest Community Foundation since 2011. Previous to setting up the foundation, she had been working in marketing and communication for multinational brands, for ten years. Alina leads according to the vision of the foundation – no matter how under-developed or poorly run a city is, if it can be saved, it will be saved by the stubbornness of people with initiative getting involved in the community out of belief. On the condition that they have access to resources and are encouraged not to give up.
Starting with April 2019 Mihaela Mohorea took over the management of PACT Foundation that works under the umbrella of community development in Southern Romania. Her drive is to help vulnerable people and that is why she started her activity in mental health field in 2000, mental disorders being a cause that no one wanted to be associated with. From the position of Public Relations Manager, together with the Estuar Foundation's excelent team they succeeded to bring the mental health on the public agenda.
Diana Certan has 18 years experience in working in non-governmental organizations (NGO`s). Her expertise is in NGO management, experiential (learn by doing) education model and programs, social work programs, fundraising, training delivery, program evaluation; Diana is jury member in national and international jury NGO`s and social business`s competitions. Starting with May 2015 Diana is Executive Director – Communication and Fundraising for CONCORDIA Humanitarian Organization.
Radu Motoc has been working for 20 years in the Romanian nongovernmental sector. Since 2012 he has taken over the executive role at Asociatia Techsoup, after having previously served for 6 years as Director of Programs for the Open Society Foundation Romania. A graduate of the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Bucharest, Radu also sits on the board of the Center for Legal Resources, a Bucharest-based nonprofit that defends human rights and rule of law.
Balogh Márton is working at Civitas Foundation for Civil Society since 2000. Between 2000-2004 he held the position of Program Director of Civitas Foundation. Starting with 2004, he is the Director of the Cluj-Napoca Regional office. From this position, he participated in the elaboration and program implementation for over 75 projects in rural development, social economy, and public administration reform.
Anna Burtea is the founding member and now the CEO of Inimă de CopilFoundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the rights and increasing the quality of life of vulnerable children in Romania. She started working in the organization in 1995 as a volunteer, trained as a general practitioner, having attended numerous trainings in the social field and management. She is a person who appreciates simplicity and human connections, who resonates with at-risk children and their families, and who believes in each of their dreams and potential.
Cristina Lupu is the Executive Director of Center for Independent Journalism after working there for over 14 years. She started as an internand then became Communications and Program Manager. She has been Coordinating and implementing projects within the Center for Independent Journalism (national and international programs). She has a deep knowledge of the Romanian media landscape, mainstream and local (institutions, legislation, self-regulation procedures) and she works with a wide range of journalists and media managers.
Suzana Dobre is the director of the Education Programs at Romanian-American Foundation, a grant-making organization. She has an extensive knowledge of the non-profit sector as she has been involved in the field since 1994. Before joining RAF team in 2011 in 2011, for more than eight years she held executive positions in Romanian think-tanks and organizations working in social area
New leadership allows changemakers to drive big positive change on a system level in a world that is complex, interconnected and fast-changing. They need to create a space where everyone can participate in co-creating change. Therefore, to successfully lead systemic change, the core role of a leader shifts to that of creating spaces and roles that enable others to contribute to and lead change. This means questioning and innovating on how we lead and how we organize for system impact.
To make a longer-lasting difference and maximise the impact of available resources, social change ultimately must address the root causes and systemic drivers that are producing a problem. By taking an indirect impact approach such as changing policies or industry norms and creating new or access to existing markets, social entrepreneurs can address these underlying dynamics and achieve a significantly greater change than a purely direct impact on their beneficiaries could.
Purpose-driven organisations across our region are facing challenges to their sustainability and legitimacy as they continue to give voice to marginalised groups and to tackle pressing social issues. While impact assessment should be one of the key topics, this entire area is still under-developed and often ignored. It is essential to develop a core group of ecosystem players that can act as ’ambassadors’ or good practices for effective impact measurement and communications.
To scale up their impact, change leaders require access to affordable finance. They must learn how to navigate hybrid financing approaches in order to unlock untapped sources of funding.
Shifting from isolated impact to collective impact is not merely a matter of encouraging more collaboration or public-private partnerships. It requires a systemic approach to social impact that focuses on the relationships between organizations and the progress toward shared objectives. And it requires the creation of a new set of nonprofit management organizations that have the skills and resources to assemble and coordinate the specific elements necessary for collective action to succeed (Source here).
I found in this program not just a methodology, but a leadership community. We are not just counting things, but pondering on questions and looking at ways to develop our work. Particularly in game-changing times like this, it is critical.
Alina KasprovschiFounder and Executive Director Bucharest Community Foundation
The program is an excellent opportunity for me to be forced to dedicate time and mental power for thinking about the future as well; the future of the organisation, the future of the civil society and the future of us as a community.
Cristina LupuExecutive Director of Center for Independent Journalism
Alexandra joined Ashoka Romania in 2018 as an intern and then she started being in charge of communication.
She has a background in Psychology, graduating The Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Bucharest. Driven by a desire to have more learning experiences she joined Psychology and Educational Sciences Students Association. There she implemented a project that for the first time in faculty’s history created a context to discuss outside the classrooms about risk groups and minorities in Romania.
Her academic experiences continued in The Netherlands where she graduated a MSc called Youth Studies at Utrecht University.
