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Description
The research from the Centre for Public Opinion Research from 2015 showed that 38% of Poles believe they have no influence over what is going on in their country, or their local community. Only one third of citizens of Poland is interested in the public life, even when not always actively engaged in it. As we go through the pandemic of Covid-19, we are observing diminishing of the trust in the government, lack of understanding of the decisions made by those in power, and very limited knowledge of the country’s operations. We would like to address these issues by creating five nationwide series of educational and activating lectures designed to educate and active citizens, which will focus on participation in the legislative process and the opportunities and ways to debate with the representatives in Parliament. The lectures will be based on tools and data from MamPrawoWiedziec.pl and will help in building a dialogue between the citizens and the lawmakers. The participants will learn how to file questions to representatives’ offices and learn about their positions. We will organize online meetings with the lawmakers on the subject as well. We will also have workshops focused on civic engagement and tools for influencing issues on a local and national level, as well as the value of collaboration. We will organize civics and politics competence training on citizen rights, opportunities for participation in public life and the operations of specific government institutions in Poland. We will conduct practical workshops with educators, during which participants will create a model civic project that will help them solidify the knowledge they have acquired. Recruitment for the project will be conducted in collaboration with NGOs, culture centers, businesses, and informal groups from all over Poland.
Summary of project results
A 2015 study by the Centre for Public Opinion Research shows that as many as 38% of Poles feel that they have no influence on what happens in the country or in their local environment. Only a third of people living in Poland are interested in public life, even if they do not always get involved in it. Due to the political situation, over the years we have observed increasingly low trust of people in the authorities, a lack of understanding of government decisions and little knowledge of the activities of state institutions.
We responded to these issues by conducting 5 nationwide educational and activation cycles about citizens'' participation in the legislative process and opportunities and ways to debate with their representatives in parliament. The cycles were based on tools and data from the MamPrawoWiedziec.pl website and developed a dialogue between citizens and members of Parlaments. On the basis of the responses received, after each cycle we prepared texts with their analysis and comparison. Participants learned how to raise questions to politicians and how to check their views. We conducted workshops on civic activities, such as the activities of the Sejm or the European Parliament, civic rights, opportunities for participation in public life, as well as the activities of individual institutions in Poland. We recruited for the project in cooperation with CSOs, community centres, workplaces and informal groups from all over Poland.
After interviewing the project participants, we can conclude that they have raised their level of knowledge on topics related to the functioning of the state and its position in the European Parliament. In addition, they have increased their skills in listening attentively and arguing their point of view, as well as in discussing various, sometimes contradictory, topics.