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Description
In the last decade, there has been a significant increase in the number of foreigners in Poland. At the beginning of 2020, there were approximately one million foreigners in Poland, of whom 80414 had permanent residence. At the same time, xenophobic sentiment has been on the rise in Polish society since 2015. Although foreigners may live, work, and study in Poland legally, they encounter many obstacles on the path to obtaining full citizenship. Apart from legal obstacles to obtaining citizenship, they face social barriers. Anti-refugee rhetoric has made Poles'' attitudes towards foreigners worse, especially towards refugees. The project is intended to empower foreigners and give them the skills to support others, promote themselves, their culture, interests and opinions actively, and defend their rights. It also aims to include foreigners and Poles in the integration process, through voluntary work and cultural and awareness-raising initiatives for foreigners themselves. For adults, under the project, the Cultural Mentor Academy will be run (eight weekend sessions) and the Cultural Educator Academy (six sessions); the Activism Academy (one week of classes) will be held for a youth advocacy group for people from immigration and refugee families. An Intercultural Voluntary Center will be run for people that wish to teach Polish to adults and children, help children with their studies at school and with their individual development, and help foreigners to integrate. 12 people who attend the Cultural Mentor Academy will learn to help and resolve conflict; 12 people who attend the Cultural Educator Academy will improve their skills in planning, organizing, and conducting group activity. Persons who attend the Activism Academy (10 people) will learn about issues relating to human rights and children''s rights, and functioning of public institutions. 44 foreigners and 70 volunteers from Poland will take part in the project.
Summary of project results
In the last decade, the number of foreigners in Poland has increased significantly. At the beginning of 2020, there were approximately one million of them, of which more than 80,000 had permanent residency. As a result of Russia''s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, these numbers have increased many times over. Although foreigners can legally live, work and study in Poland, they face many difficulties on their way to full citizenship rights - in addition to the legal difficulties involved in obtaining citizenship, they face social barriers. They are often offered undervalued salaries, work in the grey economy, work at night, and are delegated to perform the most onerous activities. Inspections by the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP) reveal abuses committed by employers against foreign workers: non-compliance with working hours, non-payment of overtime, failure to grant holidays. Unfortunately, the government presented cultural and religious diversity as a threat. Anti-refugee rhetoric has resulted in a deterioration of attitudes among Poles towards foreigners, especially refugees.
The project developed and implemented several educational programmes targeting different groups: Academy of Cultural Mentors (8 weekend sessions) and Academy of Cultural Educators (6 sessions). Educators prepared 7 cultural and educational initiatives targeting migrants. Young people from migrant and refugee families took part in the Activism Academy, which focused on self-advocacy. There was also a programme of Intercultural Volunteering for people who wanted to teach the Polish language to adults and children and support children to get a better start in school.
Those participating in the Academy for Cultural Mentors (11 people) learned how to support migrants and resolve conflicts, while those participating in the Academy for Cultural Educators (17 people) increased their competences related to planning, organising and leading group activities. Young people participating in the Activism Academy (11 people) learned about human and children''s rights issues and developed self-advocacy competences. The project involved 44 foreigners and 63 volunteers from Poland. The result of the project is the active inclusion of both foreigners and Poles in the integration process.