The course began with a ceremonial inauguration in Warsaw, which was attended by the representatives of the presidium of senate Committee of Emigration and Contact with Poles Abroad Andrzej Person and Barbara Borys Damięcka, Joanna Fabisiak, the deputy chairman of the parliamentary Committee of Contact with Poles Abroad, director Jacek Junosza Kisielewski of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of Cooperation with Polish Community, and Maria Belina-Brzozowska of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland. The inaugural lecture was led by the Chief Executive of the Leaders School, Przemysław Radwan-Röhrenschef, after which the participants went to the first meeting in assistant groups. The day ended with a guided walk along the alleys of the Old and New City, followed by a welcome dinner.
The next morning, the whole group went to the training centre in Białobrzegi, where the first topic of training for leadership was started with a discussion about the identity of a leader. The participants spent the rest of the day on the first part of the leadership workshops engaging others to act, which was followed by a demonstrational Oxford debate with the participation of the coordination team and the graduates of Polish and international programs of the Leaders School. Day 3 of the event brought another part of the outdoor workshops and it ended with an evening discussion, this time concerning the presence of a leader in the public life of the local society and the country.
Days 4 and 5 were destined for study visits, presenting the contemporary public initiatives functioning in Poland, their leaders and a good practice in involving the local community. Their coordinators were the graduates of the Leaders School programs: Jarosław Waszczyk (XIII Leaders School of Civil Society) and Anna Żygulska (ABC of Leadership). Friday’s visit took place in Łódź, where the participants visited four organizations. Gabriela Zajfert presented the works of the Foundation of Education and Development of Civil Society, which brings various groups together, such as seniors, children, teenagers and foreign volunteers. Agata Deszyńska and Danuta Sażyn from Caritas of Archidiocese of Łódź presented the system of volunteer management, which is used by many non-governmental organizations in Łódź. The visit in cafe&club “6th District” (“6 Dzielnica”) was an opportunity not only to observe the functioning of the meeting place, discussions and promotion of culture, but also to speak with the chief editor of the magazine Liberte!, Leszek Jażdżewski, and the director of Industrial Foundation, Błażej Lenkowski, about various ways of promoting the idea in the public discourse. In the end of the day there was a meeting in the Area of Alternative Cultures with its co-creators, Martyna Pabisiak and Adam Jajo, who spoke about the history of the creation of this meeting place with alternative culture, which used to be textile factory.
Saturday’s visit to Poznań focused around the Śródka region and the organizations operating in that area. The meeting began with the presentation of the “Barka” Foundation of Mutual Help, which was led by the vice-chairman of the management, Barbara Sadowska. Branches of “Barka” functioning in other countries were also discussed, especially “Barka UK”, whose activity focuses on helping addicts and homeless people from Eastern Europe who currently live in London. The participants also had the opportunity to learn about the development of the social economy in Poland and the success of social activists influencing on Polish legislation in this field. The second part of the visit concerned creating local partnerships basing on work of coalition of revitalized territories, which includes a number of organizations and institutions working in Śródka region. About the challenges and the successes of engaging the residents of Śródka to integration, social and cultural activities spoke also Anna Żygulska and Patrycja Wosińska from the Association of Friends of Śródka and its neighbourhood “Śródeja”.
Sunday, the fifth day of training passed with Oxford debates. After returning from Poznań, the participants were improving and practicing the skills of argumentation and the construction of statements during the debate workshops, so to test themselves in the fire of debate in the evening. This part was an introduction to the image building topic, whose development was a two-day workshop about building the image of both yourself and your environment, led in a form of a simulation game. It was preceded by a panel about the image of Poles abroad, which was attended by Piotr Erenfeicht from the Department of Public and Cultural Diplomacy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Dr Marta Hereźniak from University of Łódź, a specialist in building a national brand. Two complementary lectures were also held – one about the creation of the image through social media (led by Bartosz Sokoliński, a specialist in marketing strategies and branding) and the other about positivist approach to Polish culture and national identity (led by Marek Krawczyński, head of the “Polish Future” Foundation).
On Wednesday, July 3, another part of workshops began with a discussion panel on partnerships and cooperation with the representatives of institutions and organizations cooperating with Polish Diaspora and Poles from Western Europe. The two-day workshops on building permanent relations and partnerships was complemented with lectures on the possibilities of gaining funds from EU for activities of Polish community (led by Tomasz Szymczak, member of the board of the Foundation for the Development of Education), and on leading advocacy activities (led by Piotr Frączek, president of the National Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations). The final part was on Friday, during a series of meetings in Warsaw. The day started in the Information Office of the European Parliament in Poland, where its press attaché, Piotr Wolski, presented the possibilities that the European Union offers regarding the use civil rights. Then, the participants visited the Parliament, where they were guests of Mrs Fabisiak from the parliamentary Committee of Contact with Poles Abroad, and they also participated in the meeting with Senator Andrzej Person, the chairman of the senate Committee of Emigration and Contact with Poles Abroad, and Artur Kozłowski, the director of the Office of the Speaker of the Senate and a former director of the Polish Diaspora Office. After lunch, there was a meeting with Professor Piotr Gliński, a sociologist and a candidate of PiS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) for the technical Prime Minister of the government, who talked about the vision of development of Polish politics. At the end of the day, the participants took part in the second Oxford debate.
The final part of the program was the presentation of possibilities of development offered by the program of Graduate School of Polish Leaders, whose practical application was described by three graduates from different countries: Anna Barycka from Canada, Adam Kwiatkowski from Poland (deputy of Sejm, member of the Committee of Contact with Poles Abroad) and Tomasz Pustówka from the Czech Republic. After the meeting, there was a summary of the work in assistant groups and evaluation, after which the whole group went to the Presidential Palace to meet the representatives of Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, and finally, a ceremonial ending of the course and giving out the certificates.
The project coordinators would like to thank all the guests, lecturers, speakers, teachers, coordinators of study visits, and all those who contributed to the success of the project. Special thanks to the coordinators of assistant groups: Kasia Kamińska, Tomasz Pustówka and Bartosz Rief, who worked tirelessly for almost two weeks and gave the participants advice, knowledge and leadership inspiration, and greatly helped the coordinators in their work. We would also like to thank all the participants who showed indefatigable strength and motivation, actively taking part in the ongoing for sometimes several hours a day program, while finding time to organize extra activities (dance classes, choir, lectures on the use of IT tools in the work of Polish community) and the realization of projects, which we hope to see in action soon!
The School of Polish Leaders of Western Europe took place within the framework of the V edition of the Polish Leaders School, organized by the means of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and under the sponsorship of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski. Media partners of the project were: Polskie Radio dla Zagranicy, TVP Polonia, Link to Poland.