We are launching a project „Orient yourself in (Wielko)polska. Knowledge and skills for mutual integration”.

The project is funded by EEA Funds within the Active Citizens Programme – the Regional Fund.

Project duration: 30.12.2021-30.09.2023

Amount of funding: 82 660,97 EUR

Description of the project: It is an orientational and adaptational project which aims at integration of the newcomers and the hosting society. The objective is to facilitate migrants’ independent functioning in a new place – in Poland and locally in Poznań and Wielkopolska Region, provide equal opportunities and empowerment of this group. Support for the migrants will take place through:

– providing Polish language lessons together with informative and orientational workshops explaining the functioning of the state and local environment as well as showing everyday practical meaning of the discussed issues

– introducing mentoring programme in schools

– preparing materials and conducting pilot workshops among teachers, polish employers and employees, representatives of local authorities and public utilities, raising awareness about the ways of supporting migrants and providing essential “know-how” of living in Poland.

As a result of undertaken actions, the migrants will be provided with knowledge of the realities of living in Poland and in Poznań / Wielkopolska Region, their knowledge of Polish language will improve. The project will raise awareness among Polish citizens about migrants’ situation and how to support them. During the project we will cooperate with schools, employers’ association, local government entities and public utility institutions. We’re planning to reach new groups among migrants as well as among Polish citizens.

Project coordinator:

Karolina Sydow

karolina.sydow@migrant.poznan.pl

@Aktywni obywatele fundusz regionalny

#AktywniObywateleGranty

Foundation Open Society Institute we współpracy z OSIFE – częścią Open Society Foundations

Duration: 1.10.2021-31.12.2022

The amount of funding: 125.000 USD

One for All, All for One 4

Our Consortium is an informal group of 9 organizations that provide support to immigrants and refugees in 4 different regions throughout Poland. The Consortium was formed in May 2017 during a meeting of organizations that support immigrants and refugees Visegrád Group countries. Since then, members of the consortium have met on a monthly basis to plan joint activities in line with the memorandum of understanding agreed on at the initial meeting.

The following organisations are members of the Consortium: Amnesty International Polska, Migrant Info Point [Fundacja Centrum Badań Migracyjnych], “Our Choice” Foundation [Fundacja Nasz Wybór], the Polish Migration Forum Foundation [Polskie Forum Migracyjne], the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights [Helsińska Fundacja Praw Człowieka], the Polish Hospitality Foundation ([Fundacja Polska Gościnność] Bread and Salt informal group [Chlebem i solą] and the uchodźcy.info website), Homo Faber Association, the Association for Legal Intervention [Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej], and the Nomada Association [Stowarzyszenie NOMADA].

The main objective of the project is to increase the potential for assisting immigrants and refugees in Poland by means of:

• providing migrants facing particularly difficult problems – especially refugees – with direct aid and advice, and protecting their human rights when coming into contact with Polish authorities;
• improving the quality of migrant support, aimed at facilitating integration by means of sharing knowledge and experiences, implementing good practice locally, and enhancing the quality of activities for migrants, both within the Consortium and among other opinion leaders in the field;
• promoting the idea of helping migrants throughout Polish society and providing accurate information about migration – particularly refugee migration – and disseminating this to opinion leaders.

The planned activities can be divided into 3 parts:

1. Providing advice for migrants in 4 cities (Lublin, Poznań, Warsaw, Wrocław). 
2. Sharing experience, and exchange of information between organizations. 
3. Developing a strategy to counteract the exploitation of migrant workers.

Funding: Poznan City Hall

Duration: 01.08.2021 – 15.12.2021

Amount of funding: PLN 22,950

Project description:

The project is aimed at teachers and educators from Poznań schools. The implementation of the task involves organizing a series of meetings with project participants in a remote form. The project will consist of conferences, workshops, and the creative work of participants. People with experience of migration will be invited to cooperate, and they will prepare audiovisual materials included in the educational package. The effect of the entire project will be to provide teachers with tools, materials, and methods of implementing anti-discrimination activities with students.

It is assumed that the project participants, after completing the workshops, will conduct anti-discrimination classes in their schools and institutions as part of educational and / or extracurricular activities. They will be invited to compile reports on this activity and submit it to the “Catalog of Good Practices” which will be published on the Moodle platform.

Cooperation:

Teachers’ Improvement Center in Poznan, Centre for Migration Studies AMU.

Project coordinator:

Izabela Czerniejewska izacz@migrant.poznan.pl 

Foundation Open Society Institute we współpracy z OSIFE – częścią Open Society Foundations

1.01.2021-31.12.2021

100.000 USD

One for All, All for One 3

Our Consortium is an informal group of 9 organisations which provide support to immigrants and refugees in 4 different regions throughout Poland. The Consortium was formed in May 2017 during a meeting of organisations that support immigrants and refugees Visegrád Group countries. Since then, members of the consortium have met on a monthly basis to plan joint activities in line with the memorandum of understanding agreed on at the initial meeting.

The following organisations are members of the Consortium: Amnesty International Polska, Migrant Info Point [Fundacja Centrum Badań Migracyjnych], “Our Choice” Foundation [Fundacja Nasz Wybór], the Polish Migration Forum Foundation [Polskie Forum Migracyjne], the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights [Helsińska Fundacja Praw Człowieka], the Polish Hospitality Foundation ([Fundacja Polska Gościnność] Bread and Salt informal group [Chlebem i solą] and the uchodźcy.info website), Homo Faber Association, the Association for Legal Intervention [Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej], and the Nomada Association [Stowarzyszenie NOMADA].

The main objective of the project is to increase the potential for assisting immigrants and refugees in Poland by means of:

• providing migrants facing particularly difficult problems – especially refugees – with direct aid and advice, and protecting their human rights when coming into contact with Polish authorities;
• improving the quality of migrant support, aimed at facilitating integration by means of sharing knowledge and experiences, implementing good practice locally, and enhancing the quality of activities for migrants, both within the Consortium and among other opinion leaders in the field;
• promoting the idea of helping migrants throughout Polish society and providing accurate information about migration – particularly refugee migration – and disseminating this to opinion leaders.

The planned activities can be divided into 4 parts:

Component 1: Open Poland

At border crossing points, particularly at the one between Brest (Belarus) and Terespol (Poland), officers of the Border Guard deny refugees access to Poland, wilfully “not hearing” their appeals for the international protection they have the right to. Refugees often have to try to apply for international protection several times and only a few of them are allowed to enter. The media, the Ombudsman for Civil Rights, and social organisations have frequently stated that Poland infringes the provisions of international law in acting in such a way. Efforts made by social organisations in order to allow more refugees to enter Poland have repeatedly proven fruitless, and just 1 or 2 families manage to successfully apply for international protection every day.

This component will be comprised of three types of activity:

1. Direct assistance for refugees who have managed to enter Poland. This primarily regards legal assistance, without which refugees stand little to no chance of being granted international protection. Through the project, such assistance will be provided on the spot, mostly in Biała Podlaska (where a refugee reception centre is located) and in detention centres (if refugees have been detained). Lawyers will also identify cases where the Border Guard has infringed the law, in order to use strategic litigation in strong, selected cases before domestic and international courts. The selected individuals will also receive psychological support.

2. Information drive. Even though the situation in Terespol is covered by media outlets and international organisations, their message needs to be reinforced. We will collect information about the situation in Terespol and explain it to Polish society in a clear and understandable way so as to make them realise why not allowing refugees into Poland is such an important issue. We want to present a story which differs from the one presented by the current Polish government. We would like to prepare a comprehensive data record of the situation at the border crossing point, as well as information on the status of human rights observance in the countries of origin of people applying for protection in Poland.

3. Advocacy. Conducting advocacy work is made significantly more difficult due to both the policy of the current government – which is not open to cooperation with civil society – and the considerable level of hostility towards refugees among Polish society: over the course of two years of fear management and politicisation of the subject of refugees, between 8 and 11 million Poles have changed their opinion from expressing a willingness to receive refugees, to strongly opposing such an idea. To combat this, we would like to test different advocacy activities, targeting them at small, carefully chosen groups of decision-makers (politicians, officials, opinion leaders, journalists, local governments, etc.). To begin with, such activities would mostly consist of spreading information. The aim of this work is, first and foremost, to create robust foundations for future steps that would be taken after a change in government.

Organisations involved in this component: Amnesty International Polska, the Polish Migration Forum Foundation, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Polish Hospitality Foundation, the Association for Legal Intervention.

Component 2: On local level

Many members of the Consortium operate on the local, city level, where they support migrants. We would like to continue developing these activities, improve their quality, and, in particular, use our diverse experiences to learn from one another. As part of this component, our plans include:

1. Providing counselling at a local level in 4 cities (Lublin, Poznań, Warsaw, Wrocław). This will include providing various types of advice directly to migrants and the establishment of a service network. The assistance provided by members of the Consortium to its other members is also important, and our different experts will be able to support one another in handling difficult cases and sharing knowledge.

2. Sharing experience and standardisation. Because each of the Consortium’s member organisations have considerable professional experience, we would like to learn from one another and to implement good practices which have proven effective in other cities. We will also develop a set of minimum standards regarding services offered to migrants, on the basis of our professional experience.

Organisations involved in this component: Migrant Info Point, “Our Choice” Foundation, the Polish Migration Forum Foundation, Polish Hospitality Foundation, Homo Faber Association, the Association for Legal Intervention, the Nomada Association.

Component 3: All on Board

More than 300 volunteer activists from all across Poland work for organisations associated in the Consortium and every week, new people come through our doors and ask how they can get involved and help. This provides us with vast opportunities for expanding the activity of the entire NGO segment supporting migrants and refugees and making it more professional. We would like to take advantage of such opportunities, improve the management of volunteer activists, encourage them to act, and improve the level of their skills and knowledge. We would also like to add even more people to our database of volunteers.

To do this, we will create a joint volunteer database and a platform for volunteers. By automating many of our volunteer management processes we will be able to propose activities to volunteers based on their skills, knowledge, and expectations, and match this with organisations’ needs. As part of the platform, training courses will be organised in order to improve the level of skills and knowledge of volunteers (both online and during meetings). We would also like to make it possible for volunteer activists to set up and run their own projects by introducing a system of micro-grants.

An additional important part of these voluntary activities will be the creation of a special team for translating reports and information about the status of human rights observance in the countries of origin of people asking for protection in Poland. This work will closely complements the proposed activities in Component 1.

Organisations involved in this component: all members; coordinator of activities: Polish Hospitality Foundation.

Component 4: For Others

Over the course of the past three years, the social situation of many small and medium-sized towns in Poland has changed because of the inflow of migrants seeking employment (mostly from Ukraine), and large groups of foreigners have appeared over a short period of time. It is possible in larger cities to find organisations providing migrants with support, but in smaller towns and cities there is often no one who can help tackle challenges as they emerge. That said, leaders have begun appearing in such towns and, in spite of having little experience and resources at their disposal, they are trying to provide new migrants with support and assistance. As the Consortium brings together a large number of professionals, we would like to share our experience with those who have begun only recently begun working with migrants. By means of creating a mentoring system for community leaders, we want to create a system for assisting people who support migrants locally in smaller towns and cities. Initially, we would like to select 5 people (in an open call for applications) and offer them 8-month mentoring support based on the resources of the Consortium.

Organisations involved in this component: all members; coordinator of activities: Homo Faber Association.

Foundation Open Society Institute we współpracy z OSIFE – częścią Open Society Foundations

1.10.2019-31.12.2020

 250.000 USD

One for All, All for One 2

Our Consortium is an informal group of 9 organisations which provide support to immigrants and refugees in 4 different regions throughout Poland. The Consortium was formed in May 2017 during a meeting of organisations that support immigrants and refugees Visegrád Group countries. Since then, members of the consortium have met on a monthly basis to plan joint activities in line with the memorandum of understanding agreed on at the initial meeting.

The following organisations are members of the Consortium: Amnesty International Polska, Migrant Info Point [Fundacja Centrum Badań Migracyjnych], “Our Choice” Foundation [Fundacja Nasz Wybór], the Polish Migration Forum Foundation [Polskie Forum Migracyjne], the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights [Helsińska Fundacja Praw Człowieka], the Polish Hospitality Foundation ([Fundacja Polska Gościnność] Bread and Salt informal group [Chlebem i solą] and the uchodźcy.info website), Homo Faber Association, the Association for Legal Intervention [Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej], and the Nomada Association [Stowarzyszenie NOMADA].

The main objective of the project is to increase the potential for assisting immigrants and refugees in Poland by means of:

• providing migrants facing particularly difficult problems – especially refugees – with direct aid and advice, and protecting their human rights when coming into contact with Polish authorities;
• improving the quality of migrant support, aimed at facilitating integration by means of sharing knowledge and experiences, implementing good practice locally, and enhancing the quality of activities for migrants, both within the Consortium and among other opinion leaders in the field;
• promoting the idea of helping migrants throughout Polish society and providing accurate information about migration – particularly refugee migration – and disseminating this to opinion leaders.

The planned activities can be divided into 4 parts:

Component 1: Open Poland

At border crossing points, particularly at the one between Brest (Belarus) and Terespol (Poland), officers of the Border Guard deny refugees access to Poland, wilfully “not hearing” their appeals for the international protection they have the right to. Refugees often have to try to apply for international protection several times and only a few of them are allowed to enter. The media, the Ombudsman for Civil Rights, and social organisations have frequently stated that Poland infringes the provisions of international law in acting in such a way. Efforts made by social organisations in order to allow more refugees to enter Poland have repeatedly proven fruitless, and just 1 or 2 families manage to successfully apply for international protection every day.

This component will be comprised of three types of activity:

1. Direct assistance for refugees who have managed to enter Poland. This primarily regards legal assistance, without which refugees stand little to no chance of being granted international protection. Through the project, such assistance will be provided on the spot, mostly in Biała Podlaska (where a refugee reception centre is located) and in detention centres (if refugees have been detained). Lawyers will also identify cases where the Border Guard has infringed the law, in order to use strategic litigation in strong, selected cases before domestic and international courts. The selected individuals will also receive psychological support.

2. Information drive. Even though the situation in Terespol is covered by media outlets and international organisations, their message needs to be reinforced. We will collect information about the situation in Terespol and explain it to Polish society in a clear and understandable way so as to make them realise why not allowing refugees into Poland is such an important issue. We want to present a story which differs from the one presented by the current Polish government. We would like to prepare a comprehensive data record of the situation at the border crossing point, as well as information on the status of human rights observance in the countries of origin of people applying for protection in Poland.

3. Advocacy. Conducting advocacy work is made significantly more difficult due to both the policy of the current government – which is not open to cooperation with civil society – and the considerable level of hostility towards refugees among Polish society: over the course of two years of fear management and politicisation of the subject of refugees, between 8 and 11 million Poles have changed their opinion from expressing a willingness to receive refugees, to strongly opposing such an idea. To combat this, we would like to test different advocacy activities, targeting them at small, carefully chosen groups of decision-makers (politicians, officials, opinion leaders, journalists, local governments, etc.). To begin with, such activities would mostly consist of spreading information. The aim of this work is, first and foremost, to create robust foundations for future steps that would be taken after a change in government.

Organisations involved in this component: Amnesty International Polska, the Polish Migration Forum Foundation, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Polish Hospitality Foundation, the Association for Legal Intervention.

Component 2: On local level

Many members of the Consortium operate on the local, city level, where they support migrants. We would like to continue developing these activities, improve their quality, and, in particular, use our diverse experiences to learn from one another. As part of this component, our plans include:

1. Providing counselling at a local level in 4 cities (Lublin, Poznań, Warsaw, Wrocław). This will include providing various types of advice directly to migrants and the establishment of a service network. The assistance provided by members of the Consortium to its other members is also important, and our different experts will be able to support one another in handling difficult cases and sharing knowledge.

2. Sharing experience and standardisation. Because each of the Consortium’s member organisations have considerable professional experience, we would like to learn from one another and to implement good practices which have proven effective in other cities. We will also develop a set of minimum standards regarding services offered to migrants, on the basis of our professional experience.

Organisations involved in this component: Migrant Info Point, “Our Choice” Foundation, the Polish Migration Forum Foundation, Polish Hospitality Foundation, Homo Faber Association, the Association for Legal Intervention, the Nomada Association.

Component 3: All on Board

More than 300 volunteer activists from all across Poland work for organisations associated in the Consortium and every week, new people come through our doors and ask how they can get involved and help. This provides us with vast opportunities for expanding the activity of the entire NGO segment supporting migrants and refugees and making it more professional. We would like to take advantage of such opportunities, improve the management of volunteer activists, encourage them to act, and improve the level of their skills and knowledge. We would also like to add even more people to our database of volunteers.

To do this, we will create a joint volunteer database and a platform for volunteers. By automating many of our volunteer management processes we will be able to propose activities to volunteers based on their skills, knowledge, and expectations, and match this with organisations’ needs. As part of the platform, training courses will be organised in order to improve the level of skills and knowledge of volunteers (both online and during meetings). We would also like to make it possible for volunteer activists to set up and run their own projects by introducing a system of micro-grants.

An additional important part of these voluntary activities will be the creation of a special team for translating reports and information about the status of human rights observance in the countries of origin of people asking for protection in Poland. This work will closely complements the proposed activities in Component 1.

Organisations involved in this component: all members; coordinator of activities: Polish Hospitality Foundation.

Component 4: For Others

Over the course of the past three years, the social situation of many small and medium-sized towns in Poland has changed because of the inflow of migrants seeking employment (mostly from Ukraine), and large groups of foreigners have appeared over a short period of time. It is possible in larger cities to find organisations providing migrants with support, but in smaller towns and cities there is often no one who can help tackle challenges as they emerge. That said, leaders have begun appearing in such towns and, in spite of having little experience and resources at their disposal, they are trying to provide new migrants with support and assistance. As the Consortium brings together a large number of professionals, we would like to share our experience with those who have begun only recently begun working with migrants. By means of creating a mentoring system for community leaders, we want to create a system for assisting people who support migrants locally in smaller towns and cities. Initially, we would like to select 5 people (in an open call for applications) and offer them 8-month mentoring support based on the resources of the Consortium.

Organisations involved in this component: all members; coordinator of activities: Homo Faber Association.

#AKTYWATOR WLKP – Support for the integration of migrants in the
Wielkopolska Region
Financing: The project is co-financed from the resources of the
National Program within Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF)
and the state budget

Duration: 01/02/2020 – 31/09/2022
Amount of co-financing: total budget 3 145 834,20 PLN including the
Foundation`s budget 895 416,00 PLN

Project leader: International Organization for Migration (IOM)
partners:
• Poznań City Hall (UMP)
• Fundacja Centrum Badań Migracyjnych / Migrant Info Point (MIP)

Project description:
The aim of the project is to contribute to facilitating the
integration of migrants and Polish society; this is done by supporting
migrants and preparing Polish society for their reception.
As part of the project, the Foundation Center for Migration Research
is responsible for:
• running the Migrant Info Point (MIP),
• legal advice,
• career counselling,
• organization of stationary Polish language courses,
• the realisation of local integration initiatives,
• cooperation with other entities.
UMP will run the Poznań Integration Center (POINT), under which MIP
will operate, will take an active part in the implementation of local
integration initiatives in POINT, will prepare a diagnosis on the
situation of foreigners in the city.
IOM is responsible for conducting advisory activities for migrants
(hotline, website, application), orientation training, organization of
Polish language courses on-line, organising conferences for employers,
as well as the implementation of local integration activities outside
Poznań.

Coordinator: Karolina Sydow karolina.sydow@migrant.poznan.pl

Funding: Poznań City Hall
Duration: November 20, 2019 – December 31, 2019
Amount of funding: 10 000 PLN

Project description:

The aim of the project is to support students who have experienced migration in integration with their school and local environment; to raise the students’ cognitive interest in Poznań’s culture and traditions, as well as to perfect the students’ language skills. 

The final product of the project will be a substantive formulation of 20 double-sided worksheets designed for primary school students with an experience of migration.

This batch of worksheets will also be a valuable education material providing support for primary school teachers in the teaching of Polish as a foreign language. 

Thanks to the collaboration with the Centre for Cultural Tourism (TRAKT) in Poznań, the worksheets will be illustrated and graphicly designed. 

DOWNLOAD CARDS 

Collaboration

Centre for Cultural Tourism (TRAKT) in Poznań 

Project coordinator 

Izabela Czerniejewska

izacz@migrant.poznan.pl

International student in Poznań: the guide to your rights 

Funding: Poznań City Hall
Duration: October 14, 2019 – December 31, 2019
Amount of funding: 10 000 PLN

Project description:

The aim of the project is to prepare and present a manual involving key information related to law that will be useful to an international student in various spheres of functioning in Poland (from the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Polish Constitution, their rights at universities and government agencies, up to tenants’ rights).  

„The guide to your rights”, formulated in English, will be available to anybody interested online for free download as a PDF file. 

Moreover, the project includes the organisation of open meetings in English for international students of Poznań’s universities in order to present them with the aforementioned manual and to familiarise them with the issues mentioned in it. 

DOWNLOAD: Foreign students in Poznan

Project coordinator 

Agnieszka Narożniak

porady@migrant.poznan.pl

One for All, All for One

Our Consortium is an informal group of 9 organisations which provide support to immigrants and refugees in 4 different regions throughout Poland. The Consortium was formed in May 2017 during a meeting of organisations that support immigrants and refugees Visegrád Group countries. Since then, members of the consortium have met on a monthly basis to plan joint activities in line with the memorandum of understanding agreed on at the initial meeting.

The following organisations are members of the Consortium: Amnesty International Polska, Migrant Info Point [Fundacja Centrum Badań Migracyjnych], “Our Choice” Foundation [Fundacja Nasz Wybór], the Polish Migration Forum Foundation [Polskie Forum Migracyjne], the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights [Helsińska Fundacja Praw Człowieka], the Polish Hospitality Foundation ([Fundacja Polska Gościnność] Bread and Salt informal group [Chlebem i solą] and the uchodźcy.info website), Homo Faber Association, the Association for Legal Intervention [Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej], and the Nomada Association [Stowarzyszenie NOMADA].

The main objective of the project is to increase the potential for assisting immigrants and refugees in Poland by means of:

• providing migrants facing particularly difficult problems – especially refugees – with direct aid and advice, and protecting their human rights when coming into contact with Polish authorities;
• improving the quality of migrant support, aimed at facilitating integration by means of sharing knowledge and experiences, implementing good practice locally, and enhancing the quality of activities for migrants, both within the Consortium and among other opinion leaders in the field;
• promoting the idea of helping migrants throughout Polish society and providing accurate information about migration – particularly refugee migration – and disseminating this to opinion leaders. 

The planned activities can be divided into 4 parts:

Component 1: Open Poland

At border crossing points, particularly at the one between Brest (Belarus) and Terespol (Poland), officers of the Border Guard deny refugees access to Poland, wilfully “not hearing” their appeals for the international protection they have the right to. Refugees often have to try to apply for international protection several times and only a few of them are allowed to enter. The media, the Ombudsman for Civil Rights, and social organisations have frequently stated that Poland infringes the provisions of international law in acting in such a way. Efforts made by social organisations in order to allow more refugees to enter Poland have repeatedly proven fruitless, and just 1 or 2 families manage to successfully apply for international protection every day. 

This component will be comprised of three types of activity:

1. Direct assistance for refugees who have managed to enter Poland. This primarily regards legal assistance, without which refugees stand little to no chance of being granted international protection. Through the project, such assistance will be provided on the spot, mostly in Biała Podlaska (where a refugee reception centre is located) and in detention centres (if refugees have been detained). Lawyers will also identify cases where the Border Guard has infringed the law, in order to use strategic litigation in strong, selected cases before domestic and international courts. The selected individuals will also receive psychological support. 

2. Information drive. Even though the situation in Terespol is covered by media outlets and international organisations, their message needs to be reinforced. We will collect information about the situation in Terespol and explain it to Polish society in a clear and understandable way so as to make them realise why not allowing refugees into Poland is such an important issue. We want to present a story which differs from the one presented by the current Polish government. We would like to prepare a comprehensive data record of the situation at the border crossing point, as well as information on the status of human rights observance in the countries of origin of people applying for protection in Poland. 

3. Advocacy. Conducting advocacy work is made significantly more difficult due to both the policy of the current government – which is not open to cooperation with civil society – and the considerable level of hostility towards refugees among Polish society: over the course of two years of fear management and politicisation of the subject of refugees, between 8 and 11 million Poles have changed their opinion from expressing a willingness to receive refugees, to strongly opposing such an idea. To combat this, we would like to test different advocacy activities, targeting them at small, carefully chosen groups of decision-makers (politicians, officials, opinion leaders, journalists, local governments, etc.). To begin with, such activities would mostly consist of spreading information. The aim of this work is, first and foremost, to create robust foundations for future steps that would be taken after a change in government.

Organisations involved in this component: Amnesty International Polska, the Polish Migration Forum Foundation, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Polish Hospitality Foundation, the Association for Legal Intervention.

Component 2: On local level

Many members of the Consortium operate on the local, city level, where they support migrants. We would like to continue developing these activities, improve their quality, and, in particular, use our diverse experiences to learn from one another. As part of this component, our plans include:

1. Providing counselling at a local level in 4 cities (Lublin, Poznań, Warsaw, Wrocław). This will include providing various types of advice directly to migrants and the establishment of a service network. The assistance provided by members of the Consortium to its other members is also important, and our different experts will be able to support one another in handling difficult cases and sharing knowledge.

2. Sharing experience and standardisation. Because each of the Consortium’s member organisations have considerable professional experience, we would like to learn from one another and to implement good practices which have proven effective in other cities. We will also develop a set of minimum standards regarding services offered to migrants, on the basis of our professional experience. 

Organisations involved in this component: Migrant Info Point, “Our Choice” Foundation, the Polish Migration Forum Foundation, Polish Hospitality Foundation, Homo Faber Association, the Association for Legal Intervention, the Nomada Association.

Component 3: All on Board 

More than 300 volunteer activists from all across Poland work for organisations associated in the Consortium and every week, new people come through our doors and ask how they can get involved and help. This provides us with vast opportunities for expanding the activity of the entire NGO segment supporting migrants and refugees and making it more professional. We would like to take advantage of such opportunities, improve the management of volunteer activists, encourage them to act, and improve the level of their skills and knowledge. We would also like to add even more people to our database of volunteers.

To do this, we will create a joint volunteer database and a platform for volunteers. By automating many of our volunteer management processes we will be able to propose activities to volunteers based on their skills, knowledge, and expectations, and match this with organisations’ needs. As part of the platform, training courses will be organised in order to improve the level of skills and knowledge of volunteers (both online and during meetings). We would also like to make it possible for volunteer activists to set up and run their own projects by introducing a system of micro-grants.

An additional important part of these voluntary activities will be the creation of a special team for translating reports and information about the status of human rights observance in the countries of origin of people asking for protection in Poland. This work will closely complements the proposed activities in Component 1.

Organisations involved in this component: all members; coordinator of activities: Polish Hospitality Foundation.

Component 4: For Others

Over the course of the past three years, the social situation of many small and medium-sized towns in Poland has changed because of the inflow of migrants seeking employment (mostly from Ukraine), and large groups of foreigners have appeared over a short period of time. It is possible in larger cities to find organisations providing migrants with support, but in smaller towns and cities there is often no one who can help tackle challenges as they emerge. That said, leaders have begun appearing in such towns and, in spite of having little experience and resources at their disposal, they are trying to provide new migrants with support and assistance. As the Consortium brings together a large number of professionals, we would like to share our experience with those who have begun only recently begun working with migrants. By means of creating a mentoring system for community leaders, we want to create a system for assisting people who support migrants locally in smaller towns and cities. Initially, we would like to select 5 people (in an open call for applications) and offer them 8-month mentoring support based on the resources of the Consortium. 

Organisations involved in this component: all members; coordinator of activities: Homo Faber Association.

Budget:

Migrant Info Point – integration for foreigners

Co-financing:  Poznan City Council
Duration: 01.01.2017 – 30.06.2017
Project description: The aim of the project is to strengthen the process of integration of foreigners in Poznan by providing continuing support.

Free of charge services for foreigners include:

• MIP advisory and information point
• publication of information brochure for foreigners
• providing legal advice
• supporting professional development (workshops on career guidance and self-employment)
• Two Polish language courses
• supporting  new initiatives
• Picnics

Coordinator:
Izabela Czerniejewska
izacz@migrant.poznan.pl

Shaping fair cities: integrating Agenda 2030 within local policies in times of great migration and refugee flows

Project funded by the European Union and program DEAR
Duration: 22.12.2017 – 21.12.2020

Description of the project:
International project which aims to raise awareness concerning core premises of the Agenda 2030 within local authorities and societies.
More about the project: http://shapingfaircities.eu
More about the Agenda 2030: http://www.un.org.pl/agenda-2030-rezolucja

Key activities carried out during the project:
– conducting a survey of residents of Poznań regarding their knowledge of Agenda 2030 and sustainable development
– training courses for local authorities on sustainable development implementation
– marketing campaign to raise the awareness of sustainable development
– summer school
– Fair Cities Days in Poznań
– initiatives helping foreigners to integrate into the local community

Partners:
Regione Emilia-Romagna (Italy) – project leader
Alma Mater Studiorum – Universita di Bologna (University of Bologna) (Italy)
Ayuntamiento de Alicante (Town Hall of Alicante) (Spain)
Bashkia Shkoder (Szkodra Commune) (Albania)
Grad Split (Split City) (Croatia)
Falkopings Kommun (Falköping Commune) (Sweden)
Regional Center of Social Policies in Poznań (Poland)
Judetul Iasi (Jassy Precinct) (Romania)
Asociatia Biroul Regional Pentru Cooperare Transfrontaliera Iasi Pentru Granita Romania – Republica Moldova (Regional Office Association of cross-border Cooperation between Romania and the Republic of Moldavia in Jassy) (Romania)
Comune di Forli (Forli Commune) (Italy)
Comune di Modena (Modena Commune) (Italy)
Comune di Reggio Emilia (Reggio Emilia Commune) (Italy)
Conselho Municipal da Cidade de Pemba (City Council of Pemby) (Mozambique)
Conselleria d’Igualtat I Politiques Inclusives Generalitat Valenciana (The Ministry of Equality and Integration Policy Generalitat Valenciana) (Spain)
Gruppo di Volontariato Civile Associazione (Association of Civil Voluntary Organizations) (Italy)
Dimos Patreon (Patras Commune) (Greece)
Velje Kommune (Vejle Commune) (Dania)

Project coordinator:
Izabela Czerniejewska
izacz@migrant.poznan.pl

Communication Specialist
Campaign and Media coordinator:
Renata Teichert
renata@migrant.poznan.pl

raport SFC_eng

Wielkopolska Otwarta – innovative support and social integration of foreigners

Co-financing: The project is co-financed  through the the Wielkopolskie Local Government funds.

Duration: 01/06/2018 – 30/11/2018

Project description:
Taking advantage of our experience, we want to share knowledge and a set of practices with other entities (institutions, social organizations, leaders, representatives of local authorities) operating in the Greater Poland Voivodeship.

The idea behind the project is to select three places in Greater Poland, where the presence of foreigners is perceived as an important subject.

Within the framework of the project, in each of the places a diagnosis of the situation (problems and needs of foreigners and local residents) will be carried out, and then the community leaders will receive substantive and methodological support in order to conduct the activities for the integration of foreigners at the local level. The effect of the project will be trained leaders who, with the support of MIP, will carry out the first initiatives for the social integration of immigrants.

coordinator:
Anna Światnienko
anna@migrant.poznan.pl

Trzy miejsca_raport

Foreigners in Wielkopolska

Co-financed by the National Centre for Culture under the “Very Young Culture” program

Duration: 01/05/2018 – 15/10/2018

Partner: Fundacja Centrum Aktywności Twórczej in Leszno

Project description:
The project titled “Foreigners in Wielkopolska” is implemented thanks to the award granted by the Zamek Cultural Center as part of the “Cooperation in Culture” competition. The project aims to diagnose the situation and needs of foreigners living in Leszno, to create the network of institutions and organizations that will support the integration of foreigners at the local level. Project activities include training on legal aspects of legalizing the foreigners` stay and work, open meetings for residents and foreigners (topics will be identified based on the diagnosis). Similarly (based on the diagnosis) an initiative for the integration of the local and  foreign communities will be implemented. The diagnosis of the needs of residents and foreigners and a network of contacts between people and institutions that may facilitate the integration of foreigners at the sociocultural level will be created as a result of the project. There will also be a practical guide for other cities – know-how on facilitation of the integration of foreigners.

Place of implementation:
Leszno, Fundacja Centrum Aktywności Twórczej in Leszno.

Author:
Izabela Czerniejewska
izacz@migrant.poznan.pl

Coordinator:
Anna Światnienko
anna@migrant.poznan.pl

Raport_Leszno

Migrant Info Point: Information and advisory services for foreigners

Co-financing: Poznań City Hall

Time span: 01.02.2016 – 31.12.2016

Project realised by the Center for Migration Research Foundation.

Description:

The aim of this project is to provide support for foreigners through ensuring a better access to information connected to functioning in Poland and Poznań.

The free-of-charge offer for foreigners includes:

• information and advisory activities of Migrant Info Point
• providing legal counseling,
• providing career counseling,
• organising and conducting mentoring (until March 2016),
• organising trainings in the scope of starting own businesses.

Coordinator:

Izabela Czerniejewska

izacz@migrant.poznan.pl

Since February 2016 MIP has received funding from Poznań Town Hall sufficient till the end of 2016.

Migrant Info Point. Integration of foreigners and residents of Poznań.

Co-financing: Poznań City Hall
Time span: 1.03.2016 – 25.12.2016
Project realised by the Center for Migration Research Foundation.

Description:
The aim of the project is to support the process of integration through helping in learning polish language as well as organising meetings for foreigners and local residents.

The free-of-charge offer for foreigners includes:
conducting 3 courses of polish language
organising thematic picnics (monthly)

Coordinator:
Izabela Czerniejewska
izacz@migrant.poznan.pl

Safe home

Financing: Citizens for Democracy programme financed by the EEA Financial Mechanism, implemented by the Stefan Batory Foundation and Children and Youth Foundation.

Duration: 01.04.2015 – 31.03.2016
Place: Project realised in Poznan by the Centre for Migration Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University together with the Association for Legal Intervention in Warsaw.
Short project description: The aim of the project is to support the integration of migrants in Poznan and Warsaw through interdisciplinary legal, integration, and translation assistance.

Activities planned in Poznan:
– free legal advice
– advice provided by Migrant Info Point (MIP)
–international picnics organised monthly
– Preparation of two reports on the situation of migrants in Poznan
– further professional development of Migrant Info Point employees (workshops and internships)
– cooperation with institutions dealing with migrants in Poznan
– information portal for foreigners in Poznan – continuation and updating portal

Migrant Info Point opening hours:
Tuesday: 15-20
Thursday: 10-15

Publication „Nie dość mile widziani. Zmagania imigrantów z legalizacją pobytu w Poznaniu” [Not quite welcome. The struggles of migrants with the legalisation of stay in Poznan]
– see publication in Polish 

Coordinator:
Izabela Czerniejewska
izacz@migrant.poznan.pl

Support for Poznan foreigners in one place

Co-financing: Urząd Miasta Poznania
Duration: 01.10.2015 – 31.12.2015
Project run by the Centre for Migration Studies Foundation.

Project description:
The aim of the project is to strengthen the process of integration of foreigners in Poznan by implementing comprehensive support through:
♦ providing foreigners with better access to information living in Poland and Poznan,

♦ providing support to foreigners by increasing their language competence (Polish language),
♦ providing opportunities for migrants to broaden their knowledge in areas that allow for a more active participation in the local labor market and social life,

♦ continuing and developing the cooperation between various institutions and organizations dealing with migrants with a view to developing a model of a long-term cooperation.

 Current activities:
♦ running an MIP information point (Monday, Wednesday and Friday),
♦ organizing and conducting Polish language courses,
♦ providing career counselling,

♦ organizing and running mentoring,
♦ running workshops on opening and running your own business ,
♦ coordination of cooperation between institutions.

Migrant Info Point opening hours:
Monday: 14-20
Wednesday: 14-20
Friday: 10-16

Coordinator:
Izabela Czerniejewska
izacz@migrant.poznan.pl