Green partnership in Eastern Europe

Green partnership in Eastern Europe

www.wschod.zielonasiec.pl

Democracy and civil society development is the key task faced by post-communist societies. In the 1990s Poland received substantial support in this respect. Nevertheless, this is still a difficult and long process, although for Poland it is made easier by its EU integration, which provides many practical tools, including legal and financial ones. NGOs and local self-governments are our natural partners, being our closest neighbours with whom we share the same cultural background, historical and political burdens as well as geographic and natural conditions.

During several last years, together with the Dutch foundation Milieukontakt Oost-Europa, we organised a number of study visits to Poland for NGOs and local self-governments from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Their aim was to exchange experiences regarding concrete environmental protection solutions as well as cooperation between NGOs and local self-governments and central administration.
In 2007, within the Foreign Aid programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we supported development of the network of Belarusian NGOs – “Green Partnership” and conducted activities to build up contacts between Polish and Belarusian organisations, which enabled further cooperation and joint initiatives.
Currently, we are implementing a Polish-Belarusian projects financed by the European Commission and the RITA Programme of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation. The project is entitled “Multistakeholder Local Action Strength – Improvement of local sustainable strategies and local actions development and implementation in three rural communities in Belarus.”

Our partners include an international NGO from Minsk – Ecoproject Partnership and the following municipalities: Disna (Vitsebsk Voblast), Beloosersk (Brest Voblast), Ananichy and Dukora (Pukhavichy Voblast).

The project is developed around such issues as: What does sustainable rural development mean? Is it possible to achieve economic success by utilising social potential as well as natural and historical values of a municipality? How to improve the living standard of inhabitants and increase the development potential at the same time taking care of environment? How to stimulate social activity and involve people in joint work? What can Belarusians and Poles learn from each other and what can they gain from cooperation and exchange of experiences?

Within the project we have organised field trips to partner municipalities, joint workshops in Minsk, which presented methods for working with local communities within Leader +, as well as Open Space events. During a study visit to Poland our partners from Belarus became familiar with experiences from preparation and implementation of the local sustainable development strategy in the Barycz River Valley in Lower Silesia and Wielkopolska. Within the next project stage we have organised workshops with participation of local communities in three Belarusian municipalities, applying the Open Space method. This allowed to collect ideas for specific activities in respective municipalities. Implementation of three local pilot sustainable development projects will crown our cooperation with local communities from Disna, Ananichy/Dukora and Beloozersk.

The potential for Polish – Belarusian cooperation at the local level is substantial. The same holds true for other partners from the East. It requires, however, tangible and considerable financial and institutional support, and securing this support becomes one of the most essential challenges faced by Poland and the EU.

Programme’s leader: Joanna Furmaga joanna@zielonasiec.pl