Wednesday, 05. April 2023
Our European partners were welcomed in Lublin and Warsaw to explore the Polish social innovation ecosystem.
End of March 2023, the Polish partners hosted ESIA colleagues of the Estonian National Foundation of Civil Society, German Social Impact and Glasgow Caledonian University in Warsaw and Lublin. The purpose of the visit was to introduce and discuss current Polish social innovations.
The visit took place as part of the European Social Innovation Alliance project, co-financed by the European Union. One of the key elements of the collaboration is the exchange of experiences between different countries, e.g., exchange on different approaches to social innovation and ways to support the ecosystem. During the study visit in Poland, the Polish partners from Shipyard Foundation shared the context in which social innovation functions and is created in Poland by getting to know examples, as well as presenting approaches of Polish methods of support and finance instruments.
We started the first day with a meeting in Warsaw's Jazdów, where Wojciech Matejko from the Otwarty Jazdów partnership told our guests about the history of this unique housing estate of wooden Finnish houses and how it turned into a community offering cultural, artistic and social activities which are open to the public.
We also met Dominika Szaciłło, the creator of the group "Attention, the garbage truck is coming", with whom we talked about changing the approach to garbage and its reuse. We had a delicious lunch at Baza by Inclusive Buzz (one of the participants of the Business Unusual shipbuilding program) – an alternative culture center where dishes from around the world are served, prepared by people who brought recipes from their own family homes. We also visited the Dreamers and Craftsmen where we talked about the specifics of social innovations developing in Poland. We also visited the Invisible Exhibition, which is a place for professional activation of blind and visually impaired people, and gives visitors the opportunity to face everyday activities without using the sense of sight.
The second day, we enjoyed our time in Lublin, where we met with organizations that have been focusing their activities on helping refugees for years. We visited Homo Faber, a human rights organization from Lublin, which recently opened the Baobab space – a new place for integration of refugees, migrants and residents of Lublin. We explored the social shop Second Things, run by the Dla Ziemi Association, which is supporting refugees in the Lublin region since 2009, e.g., by selling handicrafts made by refugees in the centre in Łuków.
Our visit in Lublin was completed by a walk around the Osiedle im. Juliusz Słowacki , designed by Oskar and Zofia Hansen, which is an example of innovative spatial planning during the communist era. We were shown around the estate by a representative of the Museum of Housing Estates.
On the last day, we met with Justyna Kryczka from the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy who explained how social innovations are supported in Poland thanks to the means from the European Social Fund. The visit ended in Klubokawiarnia Pożyteczna meeting with its founder Blanka Popowska, who talked about 10 years of operation of the cafe employing employees with intellectual disabilities and about working with people as therapy.
After three full days of exploring Poland and its Social Innovation ecosystem, the group was filled with inspiration and new ideas thanks to the many conversations, discussions and meetings with Polish social innovators.
Thanks to our partners Helena Bremer, Kuba Wygnanski and Zofia Komorowska from Shipyard Foundation to hosting us!
The study visit took place from March 22 to March 24, 2023 in in Warsaw and Lublin.
The European Social Innovation Alliance is a joint project of Centre for Social Investment, Danish Design Centre, Danish Social Innovation Academy, Diakonie Schleswig-Holstein, FASE GmbH, Foundation for Civil Society, Glasgow Caledonian University, Institute for Work and Technology, Phineo gAG, Social Entrepreneurship Netzwerk Deutschland e.V., Shipyard Foundation, Social Enterprise Estonia, Social Innovation Exchange, Tallinn University, Technical University Dortmund, Võru County Development Agency with the lead partner Social Impact gGmbH and is funded by the European Commission via the European Social Fund and the European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation.
