partycypacjaobywatelska.pl

The Laboratory of Civic Participation is a project realized by the Unit for Social Innovation and Research – Shipyard with the support of the Stefan Batory Foundation. The Unit for Social Innovation and Research - Shipyard is an organization created by persons connected with the Polish non-governmental sector with the aim of critical and reliable description of challenges of social life in Poland, as well as of searching and promoting effective, innovative methods of reacting to them based on civic participation. Among the goals of the Shipyard are formation and intellectual development of people from different environments, ready to engage in public affairs, and reinforcement of co-operation between academic researchers and civil activists. Its actions concentrate on the issues of development of local communities, social innovations, and civic participation.

The Laboratory of Civic Participation, launched in February 2010, was established to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences between various circles and people involved in participatory activities, and to promote the idea and practical tools of civic participation. The goal of running the portal and organizing seminars and meetings within the project is for us to contribute to better communication and mutual learning of actors engaged in the area of civic participation. Reaching this aim requires of course a lot of humility, as well as cooperation and building relations with numerous institutions and organizations, including especially NGOs, academic institutions, and government bodies.
An important part of the project is providing help and support for the grant recipients of the Stefan Batory Foundation’s program Democracy in Action that are active actors of civic participation, and for other organizations that might be interested in entering this area and exchanging experiences. We also plan to publish materials on participation to be distributed through the Internet and some also in print.

One of our main goals is sharing the collected knowledge in an accessible way with people who have not yet dealt with participation. This is the idea behind our portal (www.partycypacjaobywatelska.pl) where we publish and make available to all interested parties information and materials about civic participation.
In the News (Wiadomości) section we inform about various projects and events that have to do with participation, civic engagement, and promotion of greater involvement of citizens in public life.
In the Seminars (Seminaria) section we publish systematically summaries and materials from seminars and conferences we organize.
In the Techniques (Techniki) section you can make yourself acquainted with various methods and techniques that can be used in carrying out participatory actions, with tips on their best applications and necessary outlays.
In the In practice (W praktyce) section you will find basic information on the idea of civic participation, its forms, and general guidelines for organizing the participatory process, as well as numerous accounts of especially interesting cases of civic participation “at work” and specific participatory techniques put into practice. We are constantly developing this section, adding descriptions of participatory processes implemented both in Poland and abroad that could provide inspiration and practical guidelines for future participatory initiatives.
In the Library (Biblioteka) section we gather interesting materials, publications, and links to websites that deal with civic participation and can be instructive to those interested in the topic. The collection includes publications in Polish and English that can be downloaded from the portal, as well as links to valuable external Internet sources.

Continuous improvement of the store of knowledge and broadening horizons are crucial for us. Therefore we are open to all new examples of participatory actions, as well as to important theoretical issues on the matter. We warmly encourage everybody to contact us – we would be grateful for any suggestions!

Contact information
Laboratory of Civic Participation
Unit for Social Innovation and Research – Shipyard
Bracka 20a, 00–028 Warsaw
(+48) 22 100 55 94
partycypacja[at]stocznia.org.pl

The Laboratory's Team
Katarzyna Starzyk kstarzyk[at]stocznia.org.pl
Ewa Stokłuska estokluska[at]stocznia.org.pl
Maria Perchuć mperchuc[at]stocznia.org.pl