Program Title:
Central & Eastern European Civic Development Project: Polish Program

Location:
Warsaw, Poland

Requested NGO and Partner:
Stowarzyszenie Podnoszenia Kwalifikacji Kobiet (SPKK)
Central & Eastern European Civic Development Project: Polish Program

Program Summary:

POLAND is one of the countries in our Central & Eastern European Civic Development Project (CEECD Project).  Foundation for Women's Advacement support will help girls, university students, and young professional women in post-communist societies become productive self-governing citizens, with an understanding of their personal responsibility in the social, civic, political, economic, cultural and moral decisions that shape their own lives, the lives of their families, their community, and society.  This project gives girls and young women in Central and Eastern Europe the skills, confidence, and education they need to become catalysts in cultivating genuine citizenship, civic involvement, moral character, and personal responsibility as young citizens of their country and as a new generation of Europeans.

To best cultivate civic engagement at the local level, the Foundation has partnered with locally-born civic-oriented education, leadership, and character development programs for girls and young women in the region.  The Central & Eastern European Civic Development project is designed to help build the local capacity of these organizations without creating long-term dependency.  Through the CEECD project, we have partnered with two cultural centers: Stowarzyszenie Podnoszenia Kwalifikacji Kobiet (SPKK) in Warsaw, Poland and Vintgar in Ljubljana, Slovenia.  Both of these centers have a proven track record of success, have commanded local support in the community, and demonstrated extended community impact through their programs.  To best foster a strong sense of personal investment by participants, the CEECD project requires that all participants make a contribution relative to their means as well as give back through service in their communities.

To continue Central and Eastern Europe’s revival and encourage a renaissance of the region’s traditions, rich heritage and cultural identity, CEECD programs focus on promoting creativity and fostering hope, joy, and optimism, and a pro-active approach to the society in which they live.  To recuperate lost civic structures and cultivate a vigorous sense of citizenship, the CEECD project engages participants as well as local communities on multiple levels: through intellectual and cultural formation, freedom and anthropological formation, spirit of service and respect for the person.  

These concepts are reinforced through one-on-one personal and professional coaching. These programs are unmatched in the region not only for their focus on civic-oriented education, but for their integral approach to communicating with and developing the whole person.  The CEECD project is designed to build local capacity without creating dependency.  Building up their local community is expansive growth: their country directly benefits from their commitment to civic involvement and social awareness, and in the long term, so will the greater community of Europe.

EXPECTED IMPACT IN 2019:

Total girls and families impacted: 800

Total students enrolled in Klub Filary: 200

Videos created by Klub Filary's Journalism, Art & Service Program for high school students:

TESTIMONIALS:

“In my country we need young leaders who do not give up hope but transmit it.  This is how I learned to live at Klub Filary."