The monograph presented at the meeting includes conclusions from the evaluation study carried out at the turn of 2018 and 2019 by a research team at University of Warsaw under the leadership of Prof. Anna Giza. The evaluation confirmed that the method applied in practice is effective and useful, or in other words serves local community activation well and its results meet the residents’ needs and expectations. The method not only helps to activate local communities to act for the common good defined by them themselves but also allows these activities to be organized in form of partnership and integrate people, institutions and organizations around them. This way the implementation of the method contributes to strengthening of local social capital and local community development.

The event was opened by President of the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland Paweł Łukasiak and Program Officer of Polish-American Freedom Foundation Kalina Grzeszuk-Zajączkowska. They pointed to the fact that the method is universal and useful for local leaders and organizations. “The method promotes uniquely positive attitude to reality – it doesn’t focus on problems but on solutions to them. It’s also very useful at the time of pandemic when we look for the ways to stimulate social activity,”  President Paweł Łukasiak noted.

The introductory lecture was given by Prof. Anna Giza who told about the beginnings of the work on that method and on excellent results of its implementation by PAFF local partnerships. “And such an idea was born to  focus social activity on the common good, that is on things that are really important, play the key role and have the potential to be a  local community awareness-raising element which is the sense of responsibility for the community they live in,” Professor Giza said.

Next, social expert of the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland Tomasz Schimanek presented the method of local community social animation for the common good and its basic assumptions, and researchers Dr. Anna Baczko-Dombi and Dr. Agata Komendant-Brodowska, representing University of Warsaw spoke about effectivity and usefulness of the method on the basis of assessment they had carried out.

The crowning point of the event was a panel discussion on Possibilities to Animate Local Communities for  the Common Good During the Time of Pandemic with participation of President of Biłgoraj Local Fund Irena Gadaj, President of Science for Environment Foundation and a representative of Koszalin University of Technology Piotr Jaśkiewicz, Mayor of Złocieniec Krzysztof Zacharzewski, and Tomasz Schimanek. The panel participants answered the questions and comments by people taking part in the seminar.

The host of the event was Grzegorz Nawrocki. The seminar was held on Hopin platform and broadcast live on YouTube and Facebook. It had a total of almost 250 participants.

The monograph is available on this site.

The objective of the “PAFF Local Partnerships” Program is to initiate and develop cooperation of various PAFF programs’ participants in order to establish partnerships that will carry out projects important for local communities. In its activities the program applies the method of local community animation for the common good. Since 2009, in seven rounds of the program, 50 PAFF Local Partnerships and 11 partnership start-ups were set up. They cover 107 communes and municipalities and involve 900 partners. The program is managed by the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland.