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Description
The project responds to the problems of non-governmental organizations (Report on the conduction of the third sector, Klon/Jawor, Diagnosis of the third sector and volunteer activities, City of Poznań, 2018) related to i.a. acquiring funds for activities, retaining personnel and volunteers, developing intersectoral cooperation as well as lack of place for integrating the sector in Poznań.CAMP – Center of Active Residents of Poznań is the name not only of the project, but also of a specific place in Poznań created for and with NGO and inhabitants of Greater Poland.As part of the project, we will ensure that the support center and the networking platform will be operating, thanks to which 100 NGO, including at least 30 entities with little experience, will receive help with their ongoing activities. We will support the integration of the environment and cooperation with offices. At the level of the province, we will be developing and supporting social activities of at least 100 inhabitants, and most importantly, we will provide ongoing and specialist support for at least 250 foundations and associations.In a second part of the project (CAMP as the Center for Social Innovations) we will develop and implement 14 new solutions for the benefit of the third sector together with our partners and support the implementation of intersectoral initiatives. Thanks to the project implementation, new jobs in the third will be created in Poznań, 14 intrasectoral and 5 intersectoral initiatives will be implemented, social activities will be strengthened in 15 environments, and a platform for integration and cooperation of NGO will be created.Thanks to the cooperation between partners from three sectors, the activities are comprehensive and may be innovative. The partner from the local government increases the scale and power of promotion, whereas the foreign partner allows us to take advantage of Norwegian experience and solutions.
Summary of project results
The Center for Active Residents in Poznań, known as CAMP, was established with NGOs, local activists and residents of Wielkopolska in mind. The CAMP project was implemented by the PISOP Center Association in partnership with the City of Poznań and the social enterprise SoCentral from Norway. It responded to the need to create a support center for NGOs, local leaders and residents of the province in the capital of Wielkopolska. It gave them a place to work and organize meetings, but also to gain knowledge and skills.
The project was conducted in multiple tracks. It began with a diagnosis of the needs of NGOs and residents. Actions were taken in 18 so-called “white spots”, i.e. localities diagnosed as less active. Educational activities were carried out, which resulted in the improvement of social competence in 124 residents. 101 residents were inspired by Norwegian community activities. Support was provided to 24 informal groups in establishing NGOs and 17 groups in independent activity in the third sector. Forty-six training sessions were organized for Poznań and Greater Poland NGOs. A great deal of attention was also paid to activities promoting the Third Sector and cooperation - e.g., the Noteworthy Actions competition, which periodically rewarded Wielkopolska civic activists distinguished by their ideas, or annual volunteer actions, during which several civic organizations renovated and cleaned selected premises. CAMP also provided an opportunity to work towards networking the business sector with NGOs. As many as 11 cross-sector initiatives were organized as part of it.
More than 300 NGOs from Wielkopolska professionalized their activities, which is a significant increase compared to the project assumptions, and 52 NGOs with little experience developed their activities. 5 new solutions were prepared to support the functioning of the third sector. 51 NGOs took advantage of the CAMP space to carry out their activities.
Thanks to international cooperation, examples of interesting activities implemented in Norway were presented, which can also be applied in Greater Poland. Institutional development activities, translated in effect into more orders received from local governments . The project brought significant benefits to the local community, supporting the development of the sector and encourage residents to organize themselves into informal groups and engage in activities for the development of local civil society.
Summary of bilateral results
The importance of the foreign partner in the implementation of the Partner was big.We mainly benefited from the exchange of experiences and what the sector in Norway looks like - drawing inspiration from activities carried out in Poland. During our visit to Norway, we could learn about the activities of Norwegian NGOs and the civic sector, also during the visit of the SoCentral representative to Poland, we acquired knowledge about civic activities in Norway.The role of the partner was based primarily on the exchange of experiences, consultations, e.g. topics of meetings/debates and inspirations that we used when organizing events for NGOs in Poland - these were, for example, lunch meetings for those using CAMP for NGOs and companies, the use of the motto for activities : "work is for living, organizations and activities in them are for better living", the Partner helped us establish cooperation with an NGO that has an individual advisory support/incubation system, which we implemented in our activities, he recommended other NGO partners for cooperation and showed us how they work with residents.The partnership gave us the opportunity to exchange experiences, strengthen cooperation and understand each other''s perspectives.At the moment, we are not planning specific activities/projects with Norway, but So Central remains in our network of contacts and we do not rule out cooperation with this country in the future.