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Description
As part of the project we will foster dialogue and cooperation between residents and representatives of local government in the Podgórze district of Cracow, and also support residents’ grassroots activity. The project responds to the problem of low culture of dialogue which can be observed particularly in the way public debate is conducted on issues important to the residents or, quite often, in the absence of such debate. The problem exists both on a national level, and in local communities. We have also diagnosed the need for development of a culture of dialogue and cooperation in the Podgórze district, with a population of almost 40 000 inhabitants. The main goals of the project are: strengthening local cooperation at the district level, developing new forms of dialogue between local government and residents, engaging residents in dialogue with local government. As part of the project we will strengthen the activity of residents and local institutions and organizations in undertaking grassroots initiatives and encourage them to engage in dialogue with local government. We will create a District Forum for Dialogue, through which meetings, debates and other events promoting social participation will be conducted. We will develop recommendations for communication and friendly and permanent forms of dialogue between the local government and residents. We will cooperate with members of the Podgórze District Council. The project’s partners will also include Cracow City Hall and Bjerkaker Learning Lab from Norway. We are addressing the project primarily to local leaders, representatives of the District Council and residents of 2 district sub-areas - Stare Podgórze and Płaszów. Bilateral cooperation within the project will help to enrich the activities with lessons learnt from Norwegian experiences of dialogue between public administration and residents (f.i. dialogue development methods).
Summary of project results
The aim of the project was to take action to improve the quality of dialogue in the Podgórze district, to engage the residents of the Podgórze district in threads that are important from their perspective, and to develop and test new forms of communication and cooperation between the local government and residents.
ACTIONS:
1. PREPARATION OF LOCAL ANIMATION
2. LOCAL ANIMATION
3. DISTRICT DIALOGUE FORUM – PUBLIC DEBATE WITH RESIDENTS
4. DISTRICT DIALOGUE FORUM – TOOLS FOR COMMUNICATION WITH RESIDENTS
5. PARTICIPATION SUPPORT BANK
6. ACADEMY OF GOOD DIALOGUE
7. COMMUNICATION AND PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES
PRODUCTS:
1. Fanpage of the project entitled "Podgórze in dialogue", which was not only a showcase of the project but was and will continue to be a platform for communicating about activities for dialogue in Podgórze
2. Map of resources and needs covering two sub-areas of the Podgórze district - Płaszów and Stare Podgórze. This is a document summarizing the identification of resources, potentials and needs of the local community that we carried out as part of animation activities. We treat this document as a valuable resource for the know-how collected by the BIS Foundation in the field of animation work tools, for use by current and future social animators operating in Podgórze.
3. Report from the debate "Kalwaryjska today and tomorrow" - a summary of the multi-stage process, the elements of which, in addition to the debate, included surveys and individual interviews with entrepreneurs operating at ul. Kalwariajska.
4. Recommendations "How to conduct dialogue with residents in districts?" - a document containing proposals for tools for effective communication and cooperation with residents. Recipients: local government, with particular emphasis on District Councils. The recommendations were presented during a dissemination meeting.
5. Recordings - live launch of the project, debate on education in Płaszów. Recipients - observers of the Podgórze fanpage in dialogue
6. Promotional posters and leaflets. Recipients - the local community of Podgórze
Making a real and lasting change in the environment as a result of an animation or participatory process requires a long time, often counted in several or a dozen years. The interventions we have made are more of a local "microchange", but we also note and appreciate them. These include:
1. Cooperation with RD
One of the results that we are particularly pleased with is getting to know each other better with one of the project partners - RD Podgórze. We highly appreciate the quality of cooperation and the commitment of councilors who, despite their numerous duties in the RD, devoted their time/energy to additional activities.
2. Strengthening interinstitutional cooperation
As a result of the animation activities, the idea to organize a street festival was born. We invited partners from Stare Podgórze with whom we established contacts in the initial phase of the project to join the organization of the event
3. Increased neighborhood activity
As a result of established new acquaintances and relationships with residents, we implemented ideas for neighborhood activities - including: a neighborhood Christmas at a nearby high school, a backyard picnic for neighbors from the tenement house.
4. We trained 12 participants of the Academy of Good Dialogue
In the surveys, the participants indicated that the knowledge acquired during the Academy would be very useful to them in their current activist activities.
5. 62% of respondents to the survey on the #DiscovertheDistrictCouncil educational campaign declared an increase in knowledge about the functioning of local government.
6. We initiated a discussion on the future and vision of the development of the Płaszów estate, the issue of education in Płaszów schools (we established two working teams operating at schools, one of which continued to meet after the end of project support), spatial development of ul. Kalwariajska.
7. We provided expert advisory and consultative support to active residents as part of the Participation Support Bank.
Summary of bilateral results
The main result was the use of the partner''s know-how (Bjerkaker Learning Lab) and the exchange of experiences between partners.As part of bilateral cooperation in the project, we implemented the following activities:1. Kick off meeting and online consultation and supervision meetings (a total of 10 online meetings were held)The first online meetings served to clarify the project assumptions, then their purpose was to plan and discuss ongoing activities, with particular emphasis on: recording a video by the Norwegian partner for the project launch briefing; study visit of the partner in Krakow, visit of representatives of the leader and partners from Poland in Oslo, arrangements regarding the course of the Academy of Good Dialogue workshops, with particular emphasis on the part led by Sturla Bjerkaker.2. Study visits:- Visit of the Norwegian partner in Krakow (28/04/2022)The aim of the visit was to get to know all partners and to familiarize the Norwegian partner with the conditions for conducting dialogue activities by the Krakow City Hall and the District Council XIII Podgórze.- Visit of representatives of the leader and partners from Poland in Oslo (22/08/25/2022)Purpose of the visit: exchange of experiences related to conducting dialogue activities at the regional and local level.In terms of content, the most important benefit of cooperation from our perspective was the study visit to Oslo and the meeting in the Bydel Frogner district (which is the equivalent of our district) - a presentation of activities undertaken at the local level and an accompanying lively discussion. The second most impactful event was the workshop on the study circles method conducted in Krakow by Sturla for the participants of the Academy of Good Dialogue, also highly rated in the evaluation surveys by the project participants.