We present you nine projects selected in the EUPP5 grant competition.
Reports from Senegal, workshops for young people and teachers, webinars, publications in the local press and videocasts. These are just some of the projects that will be implemented as part of the presidential project “Towards an open, fair and sustainable Europe in the world – Fifth Trio EU Presidency Project 2024-2026.” Grupa Zagranica selected nine winning projects in a grant competition.
The aim of the competition was to identify and subsidize the best projects that will contribute to
increasing public awareness of the role of Poland and the European Union in implementing
development and humanitarian aid activities. Below is a brief description, each of them.
“Development assistance of the Polish Medical Mission in Senegal – health, education, sustainable
impact” . The project will include press and television reports documenting Polish development and humanitarian aid through the activities of the Polish Medical Mission in Senegal. As part of the project, three journalists from leading news portals together with a coordinator from the PMM will travel to Senegal where the PMM has been conducting development aid projects for the past 9 years. The journalists will visit wards and delivery rooms built and renovated by PMM, hospital wards, nutrition and malnutrition treatment centers, food warehouses, among others, and will talk to the people using them.
“European Clubs – Local Action, Global Perspective,” is a project implemented by the Polish Robert Schuman Foundation aimed at teachers leading School European Clubs, who will later be involved in organizing educational activities in their schools. The initiative is intended to increase teachers’ competencies and expand students’ knowledge of education on development cooperation, humanitarian aid and climate justice.
“Global Education for the Engaged” by the Grzybnia Association, is a training course and webinar on global challenges, the role of Poland and the European Union in the global network of interdependence, including in the areas of development cooperation, climate catastrophe and global inequality. The webinar will be recorded and posted on the YouTube platform.
The executor of the project “Small media about big aid – locally about aid and humanitarian projects” is the Lower Silesian Local Media Association. The project envisages the publication of journalistic articles in five local weeklies of the Lower Silesian Voivodship and on regional information portals. The articles will concern the development and humanitarian aid activities carried out by Poland and the European Union. The authors of the project aim to raise awareness of the subject among residents of smaller towns in counties around Wroclaw. This is because, according to the survey, more than 80 percent of those surveyed have not encountered information on Poland’s assistance to less developed countries, and more than 90 percent have not heard of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Among those familiar with the subject are mostly residents of large cities and better educated people.
The NGO Training Association’s (sTOP) “Reflectively on Climate Narratives” project consists of three main activities: webinars and an email course, “The Climate Thinker” (a workbook publication), and on-site training for climate educators. The project will train more than 500 people. It aims to stimulate critical reflection among educators on the dominant narratives about the climate crisis and inspire them to integrate a global and critical perspective into their work.
“Aid Without Colonialism – Towards New Practices in Humanitarian Action” by the Go’n’Act Foundation aims to raise public awareness (especially among young people) and strengthen critical thinking, about the impact of the colonial legacy on contemporary aid efforts. The project aims to increase the involvement of civil society in the area of development and humanitarian aid and develop solidarity attitudes towards those facing the effects of crises. The project includes a number of activities, among them: an educational package called “Decolonization Toolbox,” a webinar on the links between humanitarian aid and colonization that will enable a broader discussion on decolonization of aid practices, posts on the Decolonization Action channel on Instagram to reach a young audience, and a two-day training for humanitarian practitioners, students and educators to help them understand the theoretical and practical aspects of decolonization and aid efforts.
“Dialogues on Reconstruction” is a series of five videocasts dedicated to the key challenges of rebuilding Ukraine after the war. Leading intellectuals and experts from Ukraine and Poland will be invited to join the discussions and share their analyses, ideas and experience. Each videocast will touch on a different aspect of reconstruction: homes and spaces, word and memory, nature, democracy and mental health. The discussions will be recorded at the Ukrainian House in Przemyśl-a place of special importance for Polish-Ukrainian dialogue and a space that has played a key role in bringing humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war. The project will be implemented by the Union of Ukrainians in Poland, Przemyśl Branch.
“Youth Humanitarian Compass” is aimed at high school students from outside large cities. The project will involve 10 schools in the Mazovia province. During the project, an interactive educational spot on humanitarian and development aid will be produced. The 3-minute video will be created based on consultations with young people and experts, then presented at a conference at the PAP Press Center and on social media. The conference will include a panel discussion with experts and a workshop for young people. The next stages of the project include the development of an educational package for schools: lesson plans, exercises, case studies and multimedia materials to help teachers and young people conduct lessons on humanitarian aid. At the same time, 10 youth groups will participate in mentoring sessions to develop their own lesson plans and prepare themselves as educators. The final stage of the project will be peer-to-peer workshops in schools, during which the youth will conduct 10 activities for their peers. As a result, the knowledge gained during the project will be transferred to a wider audience, and young people will develop their leadership and educational skills. The project will be implemented by the GrowSPACE Foundation.
The Green Light Foundation, in turn, will publish a special issue of the Green News magazine entitled. “Climate Justice – Voices of the Global South.” By doing so, it wants to familiarize Polish social movement activists with the perspectives of activists from countries in the Global South published in the pages of the special issue of the Green News magazine and on the website www.zielonewiadomosci.pl. An additional goal of the project is to prepare male and female activists, as well as male and female opinion leaders, for a substantive discussion on issues of climate justice and climate finance for countries in the Global South ahead of the upcoming UNFCCC COP30 climate summit in Brazil.
We will report on the results of our selected projects on our website and social media. The grant competition is operated by the Abroad Group as part of a project funded by the European Commission under the EU’s DEAR (Development Education and Raising Awareness) program.