Zustricz Foundation, Warszawa, Poland
Association of Ukrainians in Poland, Przemysl Branch, Przemyśl, Poland
Over the past years, Poland has transformed from a country with a negative net migration rate to a country attracting foreigners. Out of 725 thousand people with a citizenship other that Polish, over 500 thousand come from Ukraine (source: Polish Social Insurance Institution). The development of active citizenship among new residents is a natural consequence of such trends, however, leaders do not always have sufficient resources and knowledge about how to function in a foreign legal environment. On the other hand, organizations of national and ethnic minorities experience an organizational crisis related to burnout among activists and have both local and institutional potential at the same time (see The Ukrainian minority and migrants from Ukraine in Poland, Association of Ukrainians in Poland, 2019).
The project was established in order to combine the potential of both environments. Its aim is to support active citizenship of leaders and minority and migrant organizations in 4 provinces of Poland. Our activities are directed to both registered entities and informal activists. As a result of the diagnosis of the current situation of the environment, a report along with recommendations for local governments will be prepared. We plan to animate partnership for the benefit of minorities and migrants (networking meetings), increase qualifications of NGO staff (training course for minority and migrant animators, individual mentoring for 12 organizations/leaders of informal groups, incubator of initiatives for NGO activists) as well as promote activities and organizations from regions. In order to top out the project, we will organize the Forum of Partnership and Integration of the Coalition of Minority and Migrant Organizations.
Cooperation with partners (Our Choice Foundation, Zustricz Foundation, and a branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Poland in Przemyśł) allows us to reach a large group of organizations and groups interested in the project and cooperation.
