For 28 years we have been supporting community animators in the Pomorskie province, by providing training, workshops, socialising events, consultations, and individual supervisions. Our observations show that these are individuals who are highly engaged in activating their local communities and organising grassroot social initiatives. Based on meetings and talks to them we know that they also face the problem of being left alone in their activism, professional burnout, poor integration around animation activities, as well as insufficient self-confidence and the lack of confidence in their own competencies. We can also see the need for gathering the existing knowledge and methods of work with animators to support them even better.
We will address these problems by preparing the diagnosis of the animator community in the Pomorskie province to identify and describe the needs of such individuals. We will organise a series of integration meetings allowing animators to exchange their experience, challenges at work, and best practices. We will invite volunteers to a workgroup that will jointly work on the Compass of the Pomorska Community Animation – a catalogue including the key animation tools and methods. The document will be consulted with social activists from the region, representatives of local authorities, NGO employees, and then will be promoted during informational meetings organised in the entire province.
We will be supported in our project by Forum Animatorów Społecznych, which has long-standing experience in local community animation, in educational and evaluative activities. Our partner will offer supervision to animators willing to undergo the training and will then evaluate our endeavours.