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Description
According to the ‘Challenges and Threats of Working at NGOs and in Informal Social Movements’ study conducted in 2020 by Marzena Cypryańska-Nezlek, PhD, ca. 38% individuals experience (often or very often) burnout at work, 39% of study subjects have a sense of helplessness when encountering the system, administration, social passivity, and only 16% have been trained to cope with work-related threats. We can see that activities we have been engaging in so far are insufficient and we wish to do more. We will start from analysing the existing legal solutions and recommendation on mental health and best practices of professional and activist burnout prevention both globally and in Poland. Then together with activists, we will prepare change introduction scenarios, e.g., via petitions, social consultations, access to public information, monitoring and advocacy actions. Together we will also propose changes to the law and organisation functioning preventing activist burnout and mental health crises. We will also address the issue of conflicts emerging in teams. Moreover, we will conduct research on Polish activists’ burnout and mental condition and will organise a series of training sessions on anti-violence initiatives, burnout, mental health crises, conflict management, and influencing the law. We will create a textbook for people active in NGOs and informal social movements on challenges and opportunities of social engagement and social activity based on collected materials and consultations with activists.
Summary of project results
Dr. Marzena Cypryańska-Nezlek''s study "Challenges and risks of working in NGOs and informal social movements" conducted in 2020 showed that about 38% of people feel (often or very often) burned out in their work. In addition, 39% of the participants surveyed feel that they are powerless in their clash with the system, administration, social inactivity, and only 16% had been trained on how to deal with the risks of their work. We see that what we have done so far is not enough, and we want to do more.
We started the project by analysing current legal solutions and recommendations on mental health and good practices on prevention of and activist burnout in the world and in Poland. Then, together with activists, we prepared scenarios for implementing changes, e.g. through petitions, public consultations, access to public information, monitoring, and advocacy activities. Together, we also developed proposals for changes in law and organisational functioning to prevent activist burnout and mental health crises and to respond to emerging conflicts in teams.
In addition, we organized a series of trainings for male and female participants on anti-violence activities, burnout, mental health crises, working with conflict and influencing the law. Based on the collected materials and consultations with male and female activists, we created a manual, entitled. "Acting for Change in Community Organisations". It was created mainly for people working in NGOs and informal social movements, and the content is about challenges as well as opportunities for community engagement and civic activism.
From the evaluation surveys, we know that, because of the training, participants have raised their level of knowledge of legal tools. The first edition of the manual, 1,000 copies, sold out so quickly that we decided to add about 1,400 more.