POLAND: Does EQUAL really promote entrepreneurial attitudes?

In 2007 Poland will begin the third and the last year of the EQUAL program in Poland (Poland, unlike some other Western European countries have had only one edition of the EQUAL program). As the end of program approaches and the results of various partnerships are taking shape, more and more people and research institutions involved in the program are reflecting on the real and long-term effects of the program. Will the program achieve its assumed goals? One of the Polish research institutes, involved in the theme D of the EQUAL program devoted to the creation and promotion of social economy, conducted research to see the real impact of the program. The research was conducted in the regions where new social enterprises are being created. Many conclusions can be drawn from the research. But particularly interesting seems to be the finding that according to many businessmen, entrepreneurs that are now involved in the establishment of social enterprises, the EQUAL program, does not, in fact, promote entrepreneurial attitudes, even though this was one of the main assumptions of this program. At first, it seems that the program EQUAL was designed in a way just to promote entrepreneurship and entourage to entrepreneurial behaviors and activities. First, the EQUAL funds enable the establishment of social enterprises, their infrastructure, development of their legal and organizational structure, as well as help include them into the mainstream politics. But what would seem of crucial importance for promotion of entrepreneurial attitudes is that the EQUAL program encourages attempts of innovative social enterprises without taking any risk. The program enables people to test various innovative ideas just to see if they will work out. If such attempts turn into failure, those innovators would not have to account for this failure. This promise, however, for businessman and current entrepreneurs, might actually work against promotion of really entrepreneurial activities. In their opinion, the real entrepreneurship is not the creation of social enterprises for the significant E.U. funds, but the ability and willingness to take a risk, in solidarity with the marginalized, and try to create work places for them without government help, and with own financial responsibility for the whole endeavor. The future will show whether the created now social enterprises will be supported and replicated once the E.U. funds for that aim will be over. For now, it really seems that those involved in creating social enterprises (many of them are not NGOs), do not show any entrepreneurial attitudes, such as willingness to take a risk, long-term thinking, financial responsibility for one?s actions and decisions. There is a concern that NGOs that are now so much interested in social economy, once the EQUAL program is over, will adjust their interest to the priorities and goals of the next funding opportunities available. It seems that the program EQUAL, to a great extent, creates an ?artificial entrepreneurship?. It tries to encourage grassroots entrepreneurship by external intervention and short-term financial support. The EQUAL is indeed an experiment, yet like every experiment it is an artificially created environment that does not exist in reality and that overlooks many conditions existing in natural environment. On the other hand, however, one can say that it is easy to criticize things without giving an alternative. In fact, it is difficult to provide an alternative for the EQUAL program and suggest another program that could be more effective in creating entrepreneurial attitudes in Poland. For it is very likely that, if the entities that would want to participate in the EQUAL program had to provide their own contribution and were held accountable for the projects? results and sustainability, few would engage in such a program.