Organizations and institutions operating in municipalities and communes of up to 50,000 residents that will establish a partnership can take part in the tutoring program, and next win a grant of up to PLN 20,000 for activities carried out by the partnership. The deadline for applications is on March 14, 2022.
“The ‘PAFF Local Partnerships’ Program and the idea of establishing local partnerships acting for the common good using the method of local community animation are very popular. Therefore we decided to open the program to Initiative Groups that haven’t been involved in PAFF programs yet,” Polish-American Freedom Foundation Program Director Joanna Lempart says.
Open competition
The open competition is addressed to Initiative Groups consisting of at least three entities that cooperate at the area of one or more municipalities or communes with the population of up to 50, 000 residents. The partners can be NGOs, schools, libraries or cultural institutions. At a later stage of establishing partnership the Group is joined by local governments, businesses and local media.
The open competition will have two stages: one is participation in a three-month tutoring program and the next is applying for a start-up grant of up to PLN 20,000. The competition fund is PLN 80,000, and maximum 4 start-up grants will be awarded.
Selected six Initiative Groups will be invited to participate in the tutoring program. The program includes training in local community activation, mini-grants of PLN 3,000 for carrying out the local diagnosis and social consultations, as well as experts’ and animators’ support, training sessions and webinars.
To apply to the tutoring program you should submit the application form and send it by March 14, 2022.
Detailed information can be found in Rules and Regulations.
About the program
The “PAFF Local Partnerships” Program, launched in 2009 and managed by the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland, is addressed to local communities in communes with population of up to 50,000 which are the most active in implementation of various programs of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation. The objective of the program is to strengthen cooperation of organizations, institutions and individuals involved. The objective is reached by partnerships established under the program thanks to joint implementation of projects.
Emilia Dmochowska, the Program Coordinator, says: “In some villages and towns there is the lack of common space where people can meet and talk, in other places residents want to appreciate their local product or a pride of the region, and sometimes the need arrives to create a professional cultural or tourist offer. Therefore the partners start with the problem diagnosis. Next you have to turn talking about the ideas into action and build a coalition of those who are like-minded. And of course apply to the ‘PAFF Local Partnerships’ Program.”
The core of each partnership is the Initiative Group consisting of civil leaders, NGOs, schools, libraries or cultural institutions. At the later stage other social life actors – local governments, businesses, and local media – join them. In their activities they use the local community activation method to build the common good on the basis of social diagnosis that has been carried out earlier.
Under the current 8th round of the program two competitions are announced. The national closed grant competition for beneficiaries of PAFF programs who over the period of last four years have implemented projects in their local communities under at least four various programs of PAFF. The other is the national open grant competition for start-up grants addressed to Initiative Groups established at their own initiative and not involved in earlier implementation of PAFF programs or such partnerships where only one partner has been a PAFF program beneficiary so far.
To date 50 partnerships and 11 start-ups have been established under the program. They operate in 107 municipalities and communes and have been participated by a total of almost 160, 000 residents and almost 1,000 partners.
The results of their joint initiatives include a local Internet citizen television in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, development of a public park in Biłgoraj, and promotion of local products – a carp in the Barycz River Valley, apples in Warka and a bread in Szadek. The program led to establishment of the Network of Youth-Friendly Places in the Podkarpacie region, and to the Clean Air campaign in Żywiec. In Chrzanów the history of Poland’s first, shut-down some time ago, locomotive factory Fablok SA has been reconstructed and promoted to become the showpiece of the town.
More information:
- Emilia Dmochowska: tel 22 622 01 22 ext. 16
- Stanisław Głąbski: tel. 22 622 01 22 ext. 24
