The Polish NGO sector counts about 73’000 entities of different legal forms (mainly associations and foundations). After a peak in the early 90ies, the sector lost steam and the number particularly of young organizations has decreased.

One hypothesis for this change of dynamics is a decreasing engagement of citizens in civil activities. The scale and tempo of young organizations dropping out is worrying and can be understood as a symptom of difficult conditions in which new entities begin their activity.

This situation confirms the opinion that in order to be able to play the expected important role in the public life and in fostering social and economic development particularly small and young organizations need additional institutional support in order to survive the first and the hardest years of their activity.

The first calls of this program in 2011 showed an overwhelming interest on the side of the NGOs and resulted in a high number of interesting proposals of good quality. This encouraging response initiated a second phase.

• The Block Grant will allow to enhance civic participation in Poland, therby strenthening the civil society in Poland as an important participant in improving the social and economic cohesion of the country.
• The Block Grant will also be an opportunity for small and local organisations which are often neglected.

Polish NGOs

Fase 2 01.04.2012 - 31.03.2016   (Completed)