Grzegorz Jędrys, the Head of the Representative Office of Polish-American Freedom Foundation in Poland welcomed the guests and congratulated them on participation in the program. Joanna Lempart, the Program Director of the Foundation emphasized the importance of the road which the organizations went – from preparing the local diagnosis through participation in tutoring to finally joining hands in working for the common good. The guests were also welcomed by Paweł Łukasiak, the President of the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland who presented the Common Good Seminary agenda and announced the lecture by the special guest of the Seminar, President of Iskierka Foundation Jolanta Czernicka-Siwecka.

The grants awarded in the main competition addressed to PAFF programs beneficiaries went to:

• The Initiative Group of Bircza commune (Podkarpackie province), composed of:  We Create Better Future Association (the leader), Public Library – Communal Center of Culture, Sport and Tourism at Bircza, Bieszczady Foundation, Jakub Kasprzyk PAFF Leader;  the grant of PLN 80,000 for What screeches in Bircza?;
• The Initiative Group of Janowice Wielkie commune (Dolnośląskie province)  composed of: Association of Spirit of Mountains Partnership Local Action Group (the leader) Mountains of Crazy Possibilities Association, PAFF Leader Magdalena Kudelska; the grant of PLN 40 000, for Janowice Time Capsule;
• The Initiative Group of Mosina municipality (Wielkopolskie province), composed of: the Initiative Group of Baranówko (the leader), AMBITIO Association, Arkady Fiedler Elementary School at Rogalinek; the grant of PLN 60,000 for THE BRIDGE project;
• The Initiative Group of z Nowy Tomyśl municipality (Wielkopolskie province), composed of: Municipal and County Public Library in Nowy Tomyśl (the leader),  KOLD  Local Action Group, F. Szołdrski No. 3 Elementary School; the grant of PLN 80,000 for Libra-garden Cicero – “To be happy a man needs a garden and a library” project;
• The Initiative Group of Pozezdrze commune (Warmińsko-Mazurskie province), composed of: Communal Public Library at Pozezdrze (the leader),  Jadwiga Tressenberg Elementary School at Pozezdrze, Gołdap Local Fund Association; the grant of PLN 80,000 We on the Masurian legends trail project;
• The Initiative Group of Ustronie Morskie commune (Pomorskie province), composed of: Communal Culture Center at Ustronie Morskie (the leader) , Public Library of Ustronie Morskie Commune, Maria Konopnicka Elementary School, Science for the Environment Foundation, PAFW leader Łukasz Molski; the grant of PLN 80,000 for Partnership for memory or what will remain when we are gone project;
• The Initiative Group of Wojcieszków commune (Lubelskie province), composed of: Communal Public Library at Wojcieszków (the leader), Elementary School at Wojcieszków, PAFW leader Kamil Zbietka; the grant of PLN 80,000 for W.P.A.R.K. (Wojcieszków Activity, Recreation and Culture Space) project;
• The Initiative Group of Wołów municipality (Dolnośląskie province), composed of: Odra Floodplain Country Local Action Group (the leader), Voluntary Fire Brigade at Krzydlina Mała, KREDA Krzydlina Residents Association; the grant of PLN 80,000 for CONNECTOR – tourist path project;

and start-ups:

• The Initiative Group of z Drawsko municipality and commune (Wielkopolskie province), composed of: Czarnkowsko Trzcianecka Local Action Group (the leader), The Young for the Village Association of Chełst, Drawsko municipality and commune, Culture, Recreation, Tourism and Public Library Center of Drawsko municipality and commune; the grant of PLN 20,000 for We are naturally connected by the Noteć river! project;
• The Initiative Group of Oborniki Śląskie municipality (Śląskie province), composed of: Trzebnickie Hills Region LAG (the leader), Oborniki Culture Center, J. Iwaszkiewicz Library in Oborniki Śląskie, Pęgów Development Association, Find the Purpose Foundation, a PAFF Leader Anna Pukacz Górnikowska; the grant of PLN 20,000 for Hand in Hand with the Nature! project;

In the competition for start-up grants for self-establishing partnerships the grants went to:

• The Initiative Group of Ćmielów municipality (Świętokrzyskie province), composed of: In a Good Direction (the leader), Friends of Ćmielów History Association, Residents of Ćmielów Association, „Miłośników Historii Ćmielowa”, Stowarzyszenie „Ćmielowiacy” Polskie Fabryki Porcelany Ćmielów i Chodzież S.A., Buszkowice Farmer’s Wives Club; the grant of PLN 20,000 for Ćmielów marked with porcelain and flint project;
• The Initiative Group of z Łubniany commune (Opolskie province), composed of: Łubniany Culture Center (the leader), Public Elementary School at Brynica, Active Culture and Sports Activization Foundation at Brynica; the grant of PLN 20,000 for Brynica Agora project;
• The Initiative Group of Słupca municipality (Wielkopolskie province), composed of: Municipal Culture Center in Słupca (the leader), Municipal and County Library in Słupca, A. Szeluta Association in Słupca; the grant of PLN 20,000 for Fiszer’s Słupca Daisy project;
• The Initiative Group of Wojkowice municipality (Śląskie province), composed of: New Opportunities Competence Development Foundation (the leader), Folklore Basin Foundation, No 3 Elementary School in Wojkowice, Municipal Culture Center, Voluntary Fire Brigade at Żychcice and Voluntary Fire Brigade at Kamyce, Members of the Wojkowice Town Council; the grant of PLN 20,000 for Polish-Ukrainian Enterprise Generator (Cauldron) project.

The second part of the meeting – the Common Good Seminar – started with the lecture given by Jolanta Czernicka-Siwecka, who spoke about building partnerships and getting various social groups involved in joint activities on the basis of experiences of the Iskierka Foundation carrying out work for benefit of children with oncological diseases. The participants learned about the ways of combining resources, as well as motivating partners and volunteers.

Next there was an Oxford-style debate on Partnership Is The Solution For Crisis in which Animators, the program alumni, took part. The Debate was moderated by Paweł Łukasiak. The proposition team was composed of: Lucyna Sobańska (Bieszczady Foundation), Agnieszka Pytlik (Granary Local Action Association), Piotr Jaśkiewicz (Science for the Environment Foundation). The opposition team consisted of: Sławomira Godek (Association of Cieszyn Creative Youth), Irena Gadaj (Biłgoraj Region Local Fund), Paweł Werbowy (Dębica Business Club Association). The role of the judge was played by Jacek Królikowski, the President of the Information Society Development Foundation, a member of PAFF LP Recommendation Committee.

At the end of the meeting two simultaneous workshops took place. One workshop – The Conflict Develops – was for rounds 1 to 7 alumni and Animators and was conducted by Konrad Sobczyk, a mediator, facilitator, supervisor, a coach of conflict solving skills and co-founder of mediatorzy.pl mediation center.

The other workshop was for 8th round of the program participants. It was on implementation of the program and was hosted by Tomasz Bruski, the Chief Financial Officer of the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland, Emilia Dmochowska, the Program Coordinator, and Katarzyna Kunert, PR Specialist.

The objective of launched in 2009 “PAFF Local Partnerships” program is to initiate and develop cooperation of participants of various PAFF programs that will implement projects important for local communities. The activities are based on local community animation method that serves building the common good on the basis of social diagnosis carried out before. In 2019 the pilot project addressed to self-established partnerships whose members haven’t had any contact with PAFF programs was launched, To date 50 partnerships and 11 start-ups have been established. Their activities covered a total of 107 municipalities and rural communes; they had almost 160,000 participants and almost 1,000 partners.

Under the 8th round of the program, 8 partnership projects and 2 start-ups will be implemented in the main competition category, and 4 start-ups under the open competition category for self-established partnerships. The planned activities will be carried out from October 2022 to September 2023 and will cover a total of 14 municipalities and communes.