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DESCRIPTION OF THE HOSTING ORGANIZATION:
The Bona Fides Association was founded in 2003 in Katowice. Association is an independent,non-profit and politically un-involved non-government organisation. In the beginning of its activity,Bona Fides was realising aid, educational and cultural ventures, aiming in children and young peopledevelopment in all areas. In 2004 Association joined forces with the Katowice Civil Group (KGO),which was aiming in education in the human rights area focusing on civil rights, increasing of thepublic information access, public spending control and counteracting for corruption in publicinstitutions. After several years of working on such different projects members of the associationdecided to focus their efforts on watchdog activity. Since 2008 association is mainly focused on itswatchdog activity plus it works as an organisation which is sending young people as volunteers abroadas part of the Youth in Action Programme.Most projects of the association are realised in Katowice, where actions aiming to increase thequality and transparency of the local public life are taking place; also development and reinforcementof the civil participation in taking important decisions regarding the city.Association realises also national projects mainly focused on increasing of the publicinformation access and public information bulletins.There are three main activity levels of the association:A. Watchdog activities in KatowiceThe aim of that activity is to increase the quality and transparency of Katowice public life on thelevel of local government communes units and also to develop and to strengthen the citizen’sparticipation in the process of undertaking important decisions.A starting point of that activity is an assumption that an openness of local governmentauthorities to the social partner is increasing civil activity and self-involvement and eventuallydevelopment of the commune, through accepting the right regulations which set the place of citizen’sin taking decision process and deciding about the public spending.At the beginning of every project the association monitors certain areas of functioning of localgovernment. When we already have the whole view of the situation we write the report from themonitoring where we describe everything we know and, at the end of the report, we also write ourpropositions for changes. The last step of every project is to take action which aims at improving thesituation in the controlled area.B. The activities focused on increasing the access to the public informationThe idea of that activity is concentrated on promoting freedom of information as a human right,necessary for everyone to use their own human rights. Freedom of information is not really well knownand not too many people realize what does it mean and how they can and should use it.The active citizenship is tightly connected with the freedom of information, as access toinformation is necessary to be an active citizen – one can't do too much, when one doesn't know.The activities focused on increasing the access to the public information are realized in thewhole region of Silesia. From one side the association promotes and multiplies the freedom ofinformation ideas in order to stimulate spreading such ideas like democracy, human rights andfundamental freedoms. From the other side we monitor and control how these rights and duties arerealised by public institutions.C. Community organizing in KatowiceThe aim of the community organizing is to actively engage large number of people to powerfullysolve community problems. Community organizing follows a three-step process of:a) Systematically listening to residents and citizens in order to select and prioritize problems andvisions, b) Research to identify potential solutions, and c) Solve these problems and achieve thesevisions through self-help approaches and engaging key government and other institutions.Community organizing can be done in a large number of contexts and with a variety ofconstituents: individual members, organization of organizations, neighborhood or issue based, withtenants, seniors, youth, etc.
 
 
PROJECT ENVIRONMENT
Bona Fides Association is a young organization run by a group of young people. The actionsand activities of Bona Fides Association are aimed especially at the local society of Katowice, but therange of these activities is broad and each volunteer working in Bona Fides can find a field whereshe/he can realize himself/herself. The association cooperates with different organizations andinstitutions, not only from the region, but also from other parts of Poland and from abroad.Bona Fides Association has its own office where some of the activities take place – the otherones are held outdoors or in other institutions. The staff of the Bona Fides Association consists ofyoung enthusiastic people and a group of about 20 local volunteers help in the current activities of theassociation.The Bona Fides Association is located in the center of a big city - Katowice - in Upper Silesia inthe South of Poland. 4 million people live in this part of Poland. Katowice together with borderingsmaller cities form one of the most industrialized region in Poland.Katowice has a good connection with other cities by the tramlines, there is also a possibility totravel by bus or a train. There is a small international airport in Pyrzowice (20 km away from Katowice)and a bigger one in Kraków. The Upper Silesia is a very attractive region thanks to various possibilitiesof spending free time, for example: a beautiful park in Chorzów with zoo and planetarium, theatres,cinemas, modern libraries, antique alloys mine in Tarnowskie Góry, water parks, Beskidy Mountains(80 km away from Katowice) etc.As there are five main universities in Katowice and in a neighbouring city Gliwice, the region isinhabited by a lot of young people, also foreigners studying at Polish universities. A lot of activities andattractions are aimed at young people and organized by students and the local communities.
PROPOSED ACTIVITIES FOR THE VOLUNTEERS
The actions and activities of Bona Fides Association are aimed especially at the local society ofKatowice, but the range of these activities is broad and each volunteer in Bona Fides can find a fieldwhere she/he can realize himself/herself.During the first month, a volunteer will participate in an intensive course of Polish and will alsotake part in workshops concerning both human rights and, in particular, an access to publicinformation, where a volunteer will learn his/her rights in this field. Aside from this, a volunteer sincethe first days of his/her stay will be involved in the association`s projects currently in process.Depending on the volunteer`s interests he/she will be able to participate in projects and actions, whichare carried out by the association: watch dog activities, activities connected with increasing thefreedom of information, community organizing etc. Besides the volunteer will be engaged in thepromotion of the organization itself and of the Youth in Action Programme (p.ex. by organizingconferences, meetings with local people, establishing partnerships with other organizations, creatingand maintaining the websites of the organization etc).The volunteer will become a member of the association’s working group from the beginning ofher/his stay in Poland and she/he will participate in all the actions with Polish volunteers and BonaFides Association’s workers. At the beginning the volunteer will be introduced to the activities andaccompanied by other volunteers, so she/he will get accustomed with the project’s environment. Later,step by step she/he will maintain more and more independent duties. The volunteer will also be able torealize his/her own ideas for the local community. He/she will get any personal and essential supportthat will be needed to run his/her own projects.The international volunteer will be a very important member between the association’s workersand volunteers. Her/his presence on the project will help to monitor public institutions with regard toproviding foreigners with public information and checking how Polish state is keeping its duty ofabiding civil rights, which are stated in European Convention of Human Rights and in the Constitutionof the Republic of Poland.During her/his stay on the project the volunteer will gain new knowledge in the topic of watchdog activities, community organizing, human rights, European Union etc. She/he will learn how to writethe official requests to different institutions and the reports; how to prepare and run a good project andhow to draw up strategies for solving local problems. She/he will be also able to develop his/herpersonality, gain new social competences and understand the Polish culture, while meeting duringher/his activities a lot of people from different social backgrounds.
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