The Śmigiel commune (Wielkopolskie province) is made of as many as 46 towns and villages, while organisations functioning there usually have a very local scope, which hinders integration and cooperation between inhabitants of the entire commune and does not allow for addressing common social problems together. Many active people and organisations point to the problem of obtaining funds for their activities and engaging local communities. According to our 2020 study, the main problem lies in poor preparation among commune leaders to run volunteering initiatives.
We will address these problems by organising a cycle of 15 training sessions for local leaders on communal cooperation, implementation of social projects and ways to engage local communities in joint activities. Leaders will pay a study visit to most socially active communes in the Małopolskie province to meet with organisations successfully engaging local communities. Participants will learn about activities taken up by these organisations and ways in which they activate commune inhabitants. We will organise workshops on team building strategies and planning joint ventures there. When leaders come back, they will utilise acquired knowledge to engage residents in the local social diagnosis and in planning and implementing several social initiatives in the commune. Finally, we will organise an open integrational meeting to sum up all activities taken up, will organise a field game for all participants, and will discuss plans for future initiatives in our commune together.