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Description
Experience gained in Gdańsk concerning LGBT emancipation shows that long-term friendly, and content-related cooperation between organisations promoting equality and city institutions helps to get local government involved in activities to help vulnerable groups such as LGBT. A diagnosis carried out by the Project Promoter has shown that there are no LGBT community representatives in small towns in the Pomorze region that have the know-how necessary to work with local government authorities, and undertake watchdog and self-advocacy activities.The aim of the project is to provide training for a team of approximately 10 leaders of change in small towns in Pomorze to work with local government partners, and conduct local watchdog and self-advocacy activities. The team will devise three standards for a municipal service that is friendly to LGBT in Gdańsk. This project will lead to increased knowledge on the part of employees of government authorities about LGBT needs, and how those needs can be met when providing municipal services. Under the project, leaders will attend training on project work and self-advocacy, and take part in a study trip to Oslo. In the course of ten working meetings of leaders and Gdansk government authority employees, it will prepare and implement, as a pilot programme, three LGBT-friendly municipal service standards. Approximately 20 municipal employees will be given training on providing municipal services. One nationwide and two local professional practitioner forums will be organised on the subject of how to promulgate the devised standards.The project will help ten LGBT leaders, 20 municipal authority employees, and 80 professional practitioners (such as teachers, doctors, lawyers, social workers, school education specialists, psychologists, etc.).The role played by the partner FRI in Oslo will ensure transfer of know-how on how CSOs and local authorities can work together to devise and implement municipal policies with respect to LGBT.
Summary of project results
The project responds to the problem of discriminating and excluding the LGBT+ community in small towns in Pomerania. In several small towns in the region, there have been attempts to adopt resolutions introducing LGBT+ free zones (e.g. Lębork, Sztum). Where the LGBT+ community has managed to co-operate with local authorities, homophobic ideas have been stopped. Unfortunately, there is still a shortage of LGBT+ people who are willing to cooperate with local authorities and to carry out monitoring and self-advocacy activities. At the same time, the equality activities of local authorities are met with coordinated homophobic attacks from conservative, right-wing organisations which, if left unanswered, have a chilling effect on authorities, schools or LGBT+ people and undermine the efforts of cities and organisations.The project prepared a group of 14 LGBT+ leaders to work with local governments to carry out local monitoring and self-advocacy activities. They took part in training, online meetings and a study visit to Oslo on how equality organisations and local government can work together to develop city service standards. The project produced LGBT+ friendly city service standards in the areas of social welfare, mental health care and customer service. The standards include, among other things, guidance on how to create a safe space in the office, provisions on the use of equality language or the need for anti-discrimination training. People working in different departments of the Gdańsk City Hall took part in training sessions to prepare for the implementation of the standards. Finally, the promoter organised a national professional forum to disseminate the developed standards.The project benefited 14 LGBT+ leaders from Malbork, Sztum, Lębork, Elbląg, Kościerzyna and Gołdap, as well as 44 people working in the Gdańsk City Hall. LGBT+ people have improved their leadership and advocacy skills and gained knowledge about the functioning of municipalities and social policies, and those working in offices have increased their knowledge about the needs of LGBT+ people and how to address them in municipal services. Although the standards have not been fully implemented in any of the institutions yet, there has been a change in awareness in all of them. The project has also had an impact on strengthening alliances that provide support and safety for LGBT+ people at the local level.
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Summary of bilateral results
The cooperation was very fruitful, all needs and previous arrangements were fulfilled to excess.In connection with the pandemic, the planned visit to Norway took place first online (2021) and then live (2022). For both visits, the Norwegian partner (FRI) invited the mayor of Oslo - Marianne Borgen.The meeting was extremely important for people from Poland, as they were able to learn about another dimension of a public office holder in the context of LGBT+ rights. The mayor said: "it pays off for the city to cooperate with ngos, because the city then has constant contact with experts."In addition, on the visit they met people from different levels of decision-making in Norway (ministry, city, local/district centers) and were able to learn directly from them how LGBT+ rights are implemented.The contact with the partner itself also gave a lot - they got to know an organization of 70 people and its various projects, which broadened the perspective of thinking about LGBT+ rights - such as the Rainbow Lantern project - on certifying the accessibility of public institutions in terms of LGBT rights (implemented by the ministry in cooperation with the NGO).The Tolerado team also learned about Oslo''s cultural context - the Holmenkollen Ski Jump, which is illuminated in rainbow during Oslo Pride.The foreign partner has raised the prestige of the project and it is now easier for the Tolerado team to cooperate with the city of Gdansk - for example, they managed to train 120 social workers as a follow-up to the project.