Think bigger

Civil society could be playing a bigger role in Poland.Unfortunately the Polish government doesn’t consider it to be a tool or a partner when determining welfare policy.

Typically the government views non profit organisations as another superfluous cost. In Poland hard economic times leads to government cuts to funding for organisations in favour of spending on other social initiatives.

Yan Herbst a researcher for ngo.pl, a resources portal for Polish NGOs, tells Vita Europe that the onus is on organisations to prove to the government that they want to play a bigger role in the welfare state.    

What impact has the crisis had on Polish civil society?

A partner organization of ours surveyed Polish civil society to find out what type of impact the crisis was having. What we found was that there wasn’t really an impact. I can’t say that I was surprised, the non profit sector in Poland operates locally. It is mostly composed of small scale organisations that act locally. So they don’t experience the crisis unless it hits at a local level.

Did non profits organisations take on a bigger role during the crisis?

It depends on the type of organisation we are talking about. For most organisations I would say no.  But organisations dealing with issues like unemployment had a role that they could play and they tried to help out.  There are not that many organisations in Poland that deal with issues like this. Most organisations are sports clubs or cultural associations.

Were any new organisations established?

Non profit organisations are always founded when a need arises. So when something like the crisis occurs there is always a response from the non profit sector.  Even if organisations are not feeling the crisis directly they respond to what is happening around them. This could mean establishing new organisations when its needed. But I would not say that there was a marked increase in the number of organisations working in Poland.

Has the crisis impacted the relationship between the government and civil society in anyway?

The government has cut financial support to the non profit sector. Government funds are their most important source of funding. So when the government reacts to the crisis and cuts expenses, then organisations feel the impact. This was particularly true in bigger industrial cities where the crisis had more of an impact. Higher unemployment forced local governments to react and to restructure their budgets. Which meant they cut funding to free up cash for other initiatives. In Poland civil society is not seen as a development force or as a tool that can be used in development policy. They are seen as a separate actor. They are seen as just another group looking for money. They are not seen as a partner.

Is there any possibility for this relationship to change?

That will depend in part on the organisations themselves.  If they continue to act in the way that they are right now, I don’t think that anything will change.  Why would the government involve organisations if they don’t want to get involved themselves?