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Description
The Pomeranian Equal Treatment Centre (PETC) is a network of social organisations providing support to people who experience discrimination on one of the six statutory grounds: age, gender, psychosexual orientation, disability, creed, religion and irreligiousness, or ethnic or national origin. We recognise the need to support educational activities and to publicise various manifestations of discrimination and hate crimes. The target group of the project are people living in the Pomeranian Province who have experienced direct or indirect discrimination or hate violence. Such people will have access to a safe place that provides high quality services tailored to individual needs. The NGOs operating in the Pomeranian Province, which will declare their willingness to cooperate within the Centre’s network, will be able to gain experience in the field of human rights, counteracting discrimination and supporting people with experience of hate crimes. Eight regional PETC points will offer expert support and assistantship. Animators from organisations in the PETC network will take part in a series of anti-discrimination workshops, establish cooperation with expert support persons in the field of psychology, law, translations, etc., according to an individual support path. They will also organise support groups for people with experience of discrimination and work with local authorities.
Summary of project results
The aim of the project was to provide residents of the Pomeranian Voivodeship with access to the support network within the Pomeranian Center for Equal Treatment (PCRT). It was also planned to encourage the local governments of the Pomeranian Voivodeship to actively implement the equality policy. Two research reports were to provide support. The project was also intended to strengthen local leaders by improving their competences and building the image of an equality-oriented local organization.
Representatives of the recruited regional non-governmental organizations were to actively animate activities in the field of providing support to people experiencing discrimination and hate violence in one of the 6 conditional groups.
All this so that people who are treated unequally come to the points and receive specific individual, group or assistant support. Animators received support in the form of mentoring, training, meetings and workshops for professionals in expanding their knowledge about 6 statutory premises. The PCRT project was intended to increase competences on equality in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, provide support to people experiencing inequality and strengthen the competences of local animators.
As part of the task, a network of the Pomeranian Center for Equal Treatment was created. The network consisted of 8 points located in large and smaller towns, i.e. Lębork, Hel, Gdynia, Wieżyca, Bytów, Kościerzyna, Kwidzyn, Tczew. During its operation, the Pomeranian Center for Equal Treatment implemented:
- 623 hours of expert support - mainly group and individual support - legal and psychological, as well as document translation.
- 257 people volunteered to support the project.
- 2 research reports were completed.
- additionally, numerous promotional activities were carried out, website and Facebook.
First of all, we managed to select organizations from various parts of the province to cooperate within the PCRT network. Pomorskie, which perfectly fit into the ideas of equality and 100% met our expectations regarding becoming experts in the field of counteracting discrimination, vigilance against phenomena related to discrimination and hate violence. We have effectively strengthened the competences of people operating within the organizations selected to cooperate in the PCRT network, and what will remain - in our opinion - a lasting result of this project will be human resources.
During the task, 623 hours of expert support were provided - mainly group and individual support - legal and psychological, as well as document translation. 257 people volunteered to support the project. Support groups were largely conducted in places chosen by local animators.
By comparing the effects of the work of eight points located on the map of the province. Pomeranian Voivodeship, we can certainly say that it is much easier to operate in larger cities, such as Gdynia, where we are aware of the problem of discrimination and the willingness to cooperate on the part of the local government.
The animators saw the need for help, but especially in small towns, people with experience of discrimination most often lacked the courage to seek help in matters of unequal treatment. The launch of support groups in areas where discrimination often occurs meant that after the meetings, more people decided to also use individual support. We also handled the case of a family from a small town where the children were not enrolled in religious studies and, as a result, were omitted from the souvenir photo with Santa Claus. Each of these cases is a personal drama of many people who felt helpless in the face of these difficult experiences, and thanks to the PCRT project funds, it is possible to offer legal, psychological or assistant assistance, which effectively restores hope and faith in a just world in which, regardless of characteristics and capabilities, we all deserve respect and dignified treatment.
While developing cooperation between organizations, we noticed greater and greater benefits resulting from cooperation and networking, which had a real impact on people''s greater resources of courage to take further actions.
animating.