Summary of project results
"After the Act on Public Benefit Activity and Volunteerism (UDPP) came into force, over 94% of municipalities commission public tasks to organisations, which benefits almost 50% of them. Undoubtedly, it shows that organisations develop and their potential is appreciated by institutions. But at the same time, negative phenomena can be observed, such as repeatedly choosing the same projects in competitions, dividing resources ""a bit for everyone"", lack of innovative activities. Municipal offices fail to evaluate their spending of resources, and organisations are not interested in it. The aim of the project was to enhance effectiveness of meeting local needs through disseminating among municipalities the social auditing method of spending public resources under the Act on public benefit activity. As a result of the project activities, 18 municipal offices introduced new solutions under offer competitions for organisations - for example, application evaluation cards were extended and publicised. A guidebook for municipal workers and members of organisations was prepared enabling them to audit spending of resources under UDPP by themselves (
www.okst.pl). 16 municipal offices from accross Poland were recruited for pilot auditings. Then, after refining research tools, 21 offices were chosen. Assisted by consultants, 10 municipal officers and 11 members of non-governmental organisations conducted auditings in the offices. 16 seminars were organised where 334 representatives of organisations and municipal offices acquired knowledge and skills supporting auditing in their municiplaities. A guidebook for workers of municipal offices and organisations was developed and published on the Internet, describing how to conduct auditing. The guidebook contains questionnaires, explanations, good and bad practices. It was distributed among 465 officers and members of organisations, 300 social assistance centres, 3 ministries. The project benefited workers of municipal offices responsible for cooperation with organisations and non-governmental organisations. The partner, the Association for Civil Activity Bona Fides, was responsible for co-preparing auditing tools, conducted 5 trainings, 4 pilot auditings, and consulted 5 auditings led by non-governmental organisations, and also prepared one chapter of the guidebook."