Dijana Pejic, director of NGO Genesis Project participated at this year’s NGO Academy held in Vienna under the title “Social Innovation and Management Program”. This Academy, which is primarily intended for leaders of the non-governmental organizations from Central and Eastern Europe, and which provides education in quite a wide range of topics relevant to the work of NGOs , its students.

The Academy was organized by the ERSTE Foundation and the Vienna University of Business and Economics / non-profit sector. The speakers during the entire duration of the Academy were renowned professors from the Vienna University of Business and Economics / non-profit sector who have provided a large amount of useful knowledge applicable to everyday work to the participants.

The participants of the Academy in 2016 were representatives of (mainly directors) 25 NGOs which are active in about 10 countries of Central and Southeastern Europe (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Romania, Czech Republic, Austria, etc.).

The Academy was realized in 3 modules. The first module was organized from the 14th to the 18th of March, the second from the 18th to the 22nd of April, and the third from the 6th to the 11th of June. The Academy ended with the ceremonial awarding of the certificates to all participants. Between the modules, all students of the Academy had the tasks that we were supposed to work on independently and which were assessed by the professional and competent experts from the Austrian non-governmental sector.

The end result of the Academy significantly raised the level of knowledge in areas such as: “Fundraising”, “Innovation management “, “Business Planning”, “Project Management”, “Marketing Management”, “Impact Assessment “, “Leadership and Strategy”, etc.