As part of its Peer-2-Peer workshops which started in September 2018, VDSH brought together representatives of different Syrian Civil Society Organizations’ Networks to exchange knowledge in Stockholm – Sweden, last April. The participants have presented their successful projects within their NGOs’ networks and thoroughly discussed what make these projects special and what are the points of strength for their success. From a school for children and empowering education in North Syria, to an exhibition on “Syrian detainees” in Italy, to a welcoming package to help new Syrian arrivals in the UK, and many other great projects, participants have discussed how to implement such successful projects in the future.  

How can an emerging group of NGOs form an association or a network? What are the steps to develop your NGOs network internally? How to create your network’s bylaws? How to increase your fund opportunities and whom to target? These are just some of the questions which have been raised during the second part of the first day of the workshop. The participants have presented their mechanisms and rules within their CSOs’ networks and groups and shared experience how to fill gaps and improve their networks.

As part of improving their internal and external communication, an assessment of each network’s communication methods has been presented and discussed. For example, how many meetings should a network/association have with its NGO members per year? What are best tools of communication in small and large teams? How to present your network/association to interested stakeholder (e.g. donors, journalists, beneficiaries… etc). 

As a step of establishing a platform for information exchange and improve the networks’ visibility, the participants have discussed what would this platform need? If it is a website, what would this website contain? And how can each network contribute to it? At the end of the workshop participants agreed on the necessity to keep sharing and exchanging ideas how to proceed with the workshop and what are the topics to be discussed. It has been agreed as well on conducting Skype meetings every 45 days and to have another Peer-2-Peer workshop in June.