According to Office for Foreigners data, in the Pomorskie voivodship, 23094 foreigners hold valid documents entitling them to reside in Poland, while many more await a ruling on their case. They experience exclusion due to not speaking the language, lack of ability to handle matters in government offices/institutions, and their residency status not being regulated, and sometimes also discrimination due to nationality. There are a number of organizations active in the Pomorskie voivodship that assist foreigners, but not on a sufficient scale.
This project addresses the problem of immigrants in the Pomorskie voivodship having insufficient access to support.
We will operate an Integration and Counselling Centre for Foreigners, run remotely, which we will promote in many towns, providing information and counselling, legal and career advice, and psychological counselling. We will organize a minimum of three support groups. The psychological counselling and support groups will be conducted by qualified psychologists whose native language is Ukrainian or Russian. We will have documents translated. We will organize competency training for self-advocates: There will be two workshops to improve community competencies, and one on legal issues. Self-advocates will gain experience working with specialists at information centres (one-month internships) and also assist with four grassroots initiatives for local communities.
The measures will be targeted towards immigrants in the Pomorskie voivodship, mainly from Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, and Russia.
As a result, information and counselling will be given to 150 immigrants, ten of whom will receive training on self-advocacy activities.