Description
So far, the Polish third sector has not developed a vision of its own future and of its own role in the life of the country. The question is hardly discussed, especially on the regional or the local levels, and the direction of the third sector activities is set by national or European programs and a small group of Warsaw leaders. The project's objective is to develop and start to implement a strategy for civil sector in Poland, based on a nationwide debate. We plan to create 16 Regional Expert Panels (approx. 240 persons), the National Panel (30), and to organize 21 debates on issues important for the sector. Their results will form a base for the strategy. The results will be consulted during VII OFIP in September 2014, and the strategy will be approved a year later. The partnership between SPLOT and OFOP creates a combination of national and regional/local levels, enabling to implement the project in effective, participative way.
Summary of project results
Non-governmental organisations in Poland, numbering almost 70 000, become more professional, have funding for their activities and offer high quality social services. But at the same time, during 25 years of activities, the developmental directions of the whole sector have been set mainly by government programmes and documents related to EU funds. The non-governmental sector has participated in preparing the documents, but to a great extent it was the public administration that stimulated their activities. In addition, the surveys led by Klon/Jawor (2016) showed poor ability for intrasectoral cooperation, for only 28% of organisations cooperate with other ones. The aim of the project was to open a broad discussion in the non-governmental sector on its needs, abilities and role in the society, and to develop a common developmental strategy. The project resulted in developing and starting implementation of the Strategic Roadmap for Development of Civil Society in Poland (SMD), being the first document prepared by the sector on its strategic developmental objectives. The participatory model for developing common stances and documents within the sector was tested. 23 partnerships of organisations from all over Poland were created to implement selected SMD issues. The map became a reference point for strategic documents developed by other entities. The process of developing the strategy was led on regional and national levels. 17 expert groups worked on it - 16 regional ones (250 representatives of organisations) and one national one (over 100 representatives of organisations). Several meetings were also organised to discuss the strategy - regional forums, conferences, consultations that gathered over 2000 persons, and national events such as VII OFIP, a conference "a year after OFIP", that gathered over 1500 persons. The works were popularised and coordinated through the web pages: owastrategiasektora.ngo.pl and mapa3sektora.org that had several dozens of thousands of page views during the project. In different stages of works on the strategy over 3000 representatives of NGOs took part from all over Poland, and the number of recipients of the project reached 50 000 persons. The partner organised VII OFIP, the conference "a year after OFIP" and some national meetings, and was the leader of the editorial team for SMD and consulted SMD principles. The partner was also co-responsible for the works of the National Expert Panel and creating thematic partnerships.
Summary of bilateral results