A conference summarising two grants programmes took place on 6 February, 2006 at the Senate Chancellery of the Republic of Poland. The programmes were the following:

• Polish-Canadian Development Co-operation (PCDC)
• Development Education

Polish-Canadian Development Co-operation programme (PCDC), aimed at strengthening institutional capacity of the Central European donors of development assistance, is an initiative carried out in 2006 by the MFA of the Republic of Poland together with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), within the realm of co-operation of the Canadian government with Central European countries initiated several years ago.

Development Education programme has been designed to raise awareness among Polish society of problems related to international development assistance co-operation and the world's development.

Both programmes were implemented through regranting: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs selected, through separate calls for proposals, an administrator which would carry put the granting procedure. The Education for Democracy Foundation (http://www.edudemo.org.pl/) won the contract in both cases. After being appointed, this organisation launched calls for proposals directed to Polish NGOs, through which subventions were given to the most highly-evaluated project proposals presented in the field of development co-operation and development education.

Within the PCDC programme grants were given to 20 out of 74 submitted project proposals, which were to be implemented in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Serbia and Montenegro, Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Sudan and also the Republic of Malawi. Within the Development Education programme, 30 out of 84 submitted project proposals were financed.

The conference was opened by Mr. Rafał Wiśniewski, Undersecretary of State in the MFA, who stressed the extremely important role of NGOs in the Polish aid programme. Apart from underlying their growing organisational capacity, he also put emphasis on their involvement in building social dialogue on the responsible role that Poland plays on the international scene. Mr. Wiśniewski also expressed thanks to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for sharing experiences and good practice guidelines.

Mr. Krzysztof Stanowski, the president of the Education for Democracy Foundation, referring to the main results of both programmes, stressed their importance in the field of enhancing organisational capacity of entities that implement international aid and development education projects. He also underlined the significance of these projects for the growing interest of Polish NGOs in development cooperation activities.

Following these speeches, a few projects and their achievements were presented by representatives of the NGOs in charge of their implementation:

• Young Democracy Foundation - project implemented in Ukraine;
• Educational Society for Malopolska - project implemented in Serbia and Montenegro;
• Simba Friends Foundation - project implemented in Kenya;
• YOUTH FOR THE WORLD - Salesian Missionary Voluntary Service - project implemented in the Republic of Malawi.

The accounts of the projects carried out in Eastern European, Balkan and African countries, not only were very interesting, but they also spoke volumes for good practice and extensive experience achieved through hands-on activities.

Mr. Jerzy Pomianowski, Director of the Development Co-operation Department of the Polish MFA, rose to speak in order to summarise the conference, and underlined the progress of the works on the new act regarding Polish aid which will make it much easier to implement Polish aid programme. This document will also devote a great part to the idea of international voluntary service. 

The conference was accompanied with an exhibition entitled "Elections around the world" prepared by the Tischner European University in Krakow using the funds from a grant obtained within the Development Education programme.

Take a look at multimedia presentations shown during the conference:

• Summary of the Polish-Canadian Development Co-operation Programme (PCDC)

Polish-Canadian Development Co-operation programme (PCDC) has been organised within the framework of the Canadian programme Official Development Assistance in Central Europe (ODACE), which commenced in 2002. The main goal of ODACE is to enhance institutional capacity of Central European countries which start to be donors of development assistance. The programme is directed toward ministries, among others, which deal with development assistance in countries covered by the programme, and it encompasses implementation of trilateral projects aimed at increasing the flow of funds for development assistance to countries in need. Currently we are carrying out the second stage of the programme. The ODACE programme will be concluded in 2008. More about ODACE at: www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/CIDAWEB/acdicida.nsf/En/JUD-327134440-PYY