What problem are you solving?:

In spite of democracy was introduced in Poland 20 years ago, there is lack of civil society that could testify quality of this democracy.
There are rules of a democratic country but very weak connection between effects of decisions and responsibility for these decisions made by officials can be observed.
Neither media, nor elections are sufficient to secure from irresponsible decisions.
It happened many times that only the EU law limited lawlessness of public institutions when socially harmful decisions were made. However, EU mechanisms often are not applied locally.

Describe your idea:

Create portal using wiki engine with forms to enable sending opinions by local inhabitants to their regional authorites.
In local law of Poland it is possible to comment on what officials do. The mechanism is rarely used because these opinions do not help to create personal consequences.
Thanks to [built -in] option of history editing and save documents it is possible – to speed up decision making process and to enable finding officials in charge.
By using wikipedia mechanism one can easily edit issues important for individuals. Moreover, when the first issue is introduced, next person interested finds it easily, having a form ready to send to an office, newspaper or friends.

Objectives:
– Support civil society development and improve transparency of decision-making process.
– Development of office responsibility for decisions that it makes.
– Increase of civil consciousness.

What country will this operate in?: Poland

Who are you?:

Fundacja Piaskowy Smok/Piaskowy Smok Foundation.
Cerated in 2009. It is focused on public issues, ecology and culture.

What problem are you solving?:

The role of the citizen as an elector does not end up with putting a vote with a candidate’s name into the ballot-box. The citizen has the right to know how the person elected by him performs. Unfortunately, soon after the election, many members of the local government break any contacts with their electors. There are no mechanisms to inform citizens about town councillors and their activity. We want to build a clear system of publicly accessible information about people who fulfill elective public functions or people who run for these functions. Our service will deliver every citizen the access to independent, unbiased information about town councillors. Everybody will be able to compare and assess whether the councillors’ declarations find reflection in real activities.

Describe your idea:

The database declared by candidates for town councilors in local elections in 2010 and info about councilor activity.Video live transmissions of town council meetings for further replay. Every councilor can add new data (updated by admin).All changes with dates.No possiblity to remove promises.Everybody can be sent newsletters.Regular chats with councilors and the mayor,recorded for further replay.Portal will enable to process,present,search and compare collected info.An advanced search-engine will simplify the process of searching for info.It will be transparent and readable for average user with ranking of concillors based on fulfilled promises in a given tenure.Editors will also take part in council sessions and committees to find out how the councilors vote and whether they are active or not.All the data will appear in the publicly accessible database.Website is universal,for use in every town.

What country will this operate in?: Poland

Who are you?:

Stowarzyszenie Malborskie Centrum KWADRAT (MC2) – (Association Malbork Centre SQUARE (MC2) is non-governmental organisation working for development of democracy and citizen society – the society of people who are aware of their obligations and rights, who are engaged in the matters of their local community and the country.
The priority tasks of the Association are: strengthening non-governmental organisations and their role in the social life, increasing citizens’ activity, promoting the rules for the country of law and transparency in public life and developing co-operation, solidarity and social partnership.

What problem are you solving?:

Violence of carers in care institutions is a common but rather unknown problem in Poland. We know about it from many media reports and our constant contact with care institutions (nursing homes, old peoples’ homes, insane homes, orphanages etc.). It also results from human nature and mechanisms of arising of violence.
Polish society is not aware of this problem. Despite the law, care institutions are mostly closed and isolated so not many people can come inside and observe what is going on there. Shocking media reports (beating old men, humbling mentally handicapped, insulting children etc.) seem to be just incidents for most of people.
Authorities, obliged to supervise care institutions, are not reliable enough to ensure prevention and fighting with acts of violence because they rarely know about them and want to reveal them.
There is no Polish website which would enable a social supervision of care institutions.

Describe your idea:

WWW.OPIEKABEZAGRESJI.PL (carewithoutviolence) will be a website where it will be able to:
-report acts of violence in care institutions on-line
-monitor the reaction for the notification (we would pass the case to authorities and follow the reaction)
-add/check an opinion of a specific care institution
-check how a specific institution is prepared to prevent aggression
-find information about the idea of care without violence
The website would be intended for: people who work in care institutions, residents of the institutions and their families, people who where witnesses of any abnormalities, authorities, journalists etc.
Our aim is to rise awareness of the problem of violence in public care institutions, enable society reporting such cases and monitor authorities’ reaction. The website would also put pressure on care institutions in order to make them comply with human rights.
Constructing the website, we are planning to use all the benefits of an Internet platform.

What country will this operate in?: Poland

Who are you?:

ORATOR Foundation is an NGO set up in 1991. We deal with many social problems. Currently, one of our main domains is the idea of care without violence in total care institutions. We have a many-years experience in the field of functioning of nursing homes, orphanages, senior homes etc. and we deeply know their strong and weak points. 2 years ago we set up a Partnership “Care Without Aggression” which spreads the idea of care without violence by organising conferences, trainings and other social actions.
I am a member of the board of Foundation and its Office Manager as well. I am also responsible for an international cooperation.

What problem are you solving?:

We want to establish a project interesting for children and youth, especially for those who are not poor. Established by the young is to create interesting propositions of spending leisure time. It should give them some answers for rankling them questions, provide some patterns and new forms of acting in a democratic society. There is a need to prevent social pathology and social poverty. Youth, having nothing to do, start to use drugs and to drink alcohol. The crime rate is increasing. There is a danger of excluding some groups of young people from the society and that can lead them to extreme forms of intolerance such as racism, xenophobia, anti-semitism and so on. As one of the priority we want to solve local problems using local potential. We want to give them interesting propositions of spending their leisure time so that they will not become members of the social marigin. The programme will be for both girls and boys. They co-operate in the sport and recreational activities.

Describe your idea:

For the project we will use for the first time well working internet website because so far we were using regular communication only because our website has technical problems and we cannot afford to hire a professional to make us and take care for the new web site. The direct benefit of this will be better communication with our target groups and we will be able to give particular information faster than before. People will also gain chance to meet new way of information. Through professional web site we want to rise the importance of the problems that neglected people have among local authorities. We want authorities to give biger attention to local problems. There is big distance between authorities and local people. We want them to get closer. We will be happy to share our ideas with other organisations form other cities and even countries.

What country will this operate in?: Poland

Who are you?:

Our mission is to generalise sport and physical culture, health prophylactic. We organise sport events mainly for amateurs but also for professionals. Our areas are local environments and area of the City of Lodz but we co-operate with similar organisations from Holland, Ukraine, Czech Republic and Slovakia. We try to help people who have social problems. One of our goals is to generalise sport among youth and children. We also help disability people to find their new way through sport.

What problem are you solving?:

Currently in Poland there not too many ways to influence politicians who once elected forget that they should serve their voters and not waste time in political bickering. Public debate often is organised after and not before bad laws are enacted, which is too late.
People who are most interested in making difference or show they disagreement are not heard as it takes too much effort to voice their views and stands. They are not sure how they can contribute to ideas they support and who are change leaders they could entrust.
People are not aware if what they view is important can gain momentum as it is not easy to find other would be supporters with whom they could team up and achieve more. They don’t want to be inactive yet due to work, family and money constraints they are left with little choice of what they can do about issues vital to them.

Describe your idea:

Pluru.pl is a Internet platform under development (currently beta tested) that aims to empower people in their grass-root actions around variety of issues whether political, social or local initiatives. It will help to access opinion of registered users, contrast it against that of others, start online discussions, enhance voting and provoke reactions of officials thus hold them accountable. It will be a platform for politicians, social and environmental activists who want a useful and powerful tool to gather supporters, manage social campaigns, assess feasibility of projects by collecting critical or enthusiastic comments and organise real life events.

What country will this operate in?: Poland

Who are you?:

The main founder of pluru.pl project is Jaroslaw Kozlowski, Internet entrepreneur, social and occupational psychologist, Wroclaw University of Economics graduate in the area of marketing, PhD student (social competences thesis), graduate of School of Helsinki Foundation of Human Rights, NLP coach, member and co founder of Direct Democracy Association (Poland). In pluru.pl project he is supported by IT specialists, computer graphics designers, political science studies graduates and PR specialists.

What problem are you solving?:

– Polish National Strategy for Social Integration says, that there is the social exclusion of disabled people. The digital exclusion reduces their level of activity in the society and the functioning of the democracy. There is more than 5 mln cripples.
– No comprehensive web portal for the cripples, which is informative and plays a role of a platform where the views on culture, art, education are exchanged. There should also be available social consultations on legislation for people with disabilities and policies pursued by the Polish Gov.
– Resolutions are consulted with NGOs, which represent the interests of a limited group or selected concepts, so there are excluded people, which can not understand the decisions that affect them and can not take part in discussions.
– No monitoring of tenders announced by the public administration, to which everyone has the insight and everyone – including people with disabilities – can report irregularities to take adequate measures.

Describe your idea:

Multimedia portal will make cripples able to actively participate in social life and be a genuine window on the world for excluded people because of their disability:
– updated daily
– communication tools
– active participation in the development of portal
– information on culture, arts, education, published by people from various regions
– information on planned changes in legislation and opportunities of consulting to develop a position which will be communicated to the legislative authority
– monitoring the administration’s activities or retain the principle of transparency, respect the civil rights and are consistent with the democratic right – each user of the portal will be able to report irregularities in order to take action
 
Open Source tools used only.
We want to make all of our work as the OS project.
The portal will be designed for use by disableds, incl. visually impaired (materials read by the lectors too).

What country will this operate in?: Poland

Who are you?:

Bridging the Barrier Association Open Doors is a new non-governmental organization, which does not result in gainful activity. It was created in order to promote the social integration of disabled people while preserving and respecting their rights. We counteract the social exclusion of disabled people and we are planning projects for people with disabilities, such as film workshops targeted to deaf and partially hearing, digitization of theatrical performances with translation into sign language.
 
At this time we have gathered a group of volunteers in various regions of the country who are willing to work as soon as the portal starts to work. Our volunteers are mostly people who feel themselves excluded and denied their right to participate in the society because of their disability. The aim of the portal is to change this situation.

What problem are you solving?:

The main problems:1) low transparency of the Polish MEPs activities in the European Parliament,2) small knowledge about decision procedures in the EP,3) lack of any watchdog website screening and assessing work of the Polish MEPs and the UE decision making process in Poland. The identified problem is caused by: 1)information gap between the Polish representatives in the EU and Polish citizens, caused by lack of tools for monitoring and evaluating of the Polish MEPs activities! 2)Polish citizens are unwilling to vote in the EP elections because they do not know how and according to what criteria assess the Polish MEPs’ work. The EP is the place were real decisions are made-concerning life of an everyday Polish citizen (energy security, budgetary issues). Thus it is no indifferent who represents Poland in the EP and how effectively fulfill his/her obligations to Polish citizens and the EU.

Describe your idea:

The MEP’s watch dog website www.europoslowie.ik.org.pl will consist of 3 dimensions: 1)monitoring, 2)information, 3)two-way communication:
1)In 2009 the Institute prepared the first in Poland ranking of the Polish MEPs. The criteria from it (11 macro and 49 micro criteria) evaluating the MEPs’ work will be used on the website- it will be updated monthly and will serve as stimulation to their reliable work
2)The website will offer complex, professional information about the EP functioning, core issues on the EP political and legislative agenda. It will help to understand that decisions made in the EU are crucial for Polish citizens and are equally important as the domestic ones
3)The project will serve as a platform of communication between MEPs and their electorate. Due to wide range of different options website’s users will be able to directly present their opinion to the politicians – also politicians will be able to establish relations with the electorate

What country will this operate in?: Poland

Who are you?:

The Kosciuszko Institute – Institute for European Integration is a non-governmental Think Tank. Mission: create ideas with practical impact for Poland and the EU, support Polish citizens and public administration in taking part in the European integration by providing recommendations in EU policies, assess work of Polish representatives in the EU, frame priorities of Polish-European policy. The KI cooperates with professional PR and IT company which will ensure the professional implementation of the project.
The KI has great experience in conducting several projects aiming at improvement transparency and effectiveness of the Polish-European policy: 1) first in Poland “Ranking Of The Polish MEPs 2009, 2) expert report evaluating Polish MEPs work in the mid term of the EP, 3) expert project making recommendations for improvement of the Polish-European policy, 4) projects about the Polish Presidency of the EU in 2011.

What problem are you solving?:

Project „Don’t vote blindly” is an answer to several problems: a need for spreading knowledge about elections and candidates running for positions in the local government, a need for information about self-government institutions, and finally – a need for promoting active participation of citizens in public life.
According to research carried out by Public Opinion Research Center in 2006, one month before elections, only half of citizens who declared interest in elections knew who they would be voting for. Statement “I don’t know who to vote for” is the most common reason for voter absetneeism. Lack of knowledge about the candidates stems from non-meritorical campaigns and – on the part of candidates – lack of motivation to discuss voters needs related to their local issues. To adress this problem, preceding the local elections in 2010, Association 61 wants to launch a website www.kandydaci2010.pl

Describe your idea:

Our goal for the local elections in 2010 is creating a mechanism of communication between candidates and voters, which will motivate: candidates to increase their meritorical engagement in campaigns; voters to become more aware and proactive while deciding who to vote for.
The internet tool, created by us, as well as the Questionnaire of Experience and Election Promises is meant to present candidates’ profiles (their views, work experience, reasons for running in local elections and contact) and increase the transparency of the public sector.
As a civic initiative tool, it is aimed at creating a sense of community and fostering a discussion about local issues (every municipality has its own needs, and its dwellers want to choose councillors, who will be best suited to adress those needs). Voters, media, the NGOs will be able to use the issues raised by the questionnaire in local pre-election debates. Our website will also function as an information portal about elections.

What country will this operate in?: Poland

Who are you?:

Association 61 is an independent and apolitical non-governmental organization. We would like to mobilize civic activity by means of the internet and thus persuade Poles to take an active part in their country’s democratic processes and mechanisms. By means of an independent information website, we want to increase Polish voters’ knowledge about their representatives and the rights they posses in citizen-state relations. We want to persuade them to take an active part in public life by means of verifying politicians’ views, actions and electoral promises as well as initiating civic debate.
The purpose of activities conducted by Association 61 is to create a transparent system of publicly available information on people serving elective public functions in Poland.

What problem are you solving?:

In my city (Warsaw) there are many NGOs.
They do a lot of work and this is very good. But I think, in most of cases, they
don’t cooperate with each other! Every organization work alone. Sometimes there
are two organizations which cooperate with each other but it’s quite rare.
I believe they could do more if they will work together. And when an ordinary (young but not only) people can easily find the right organization. Just like this: EXAMPLE:
“I want to protect the enviroment”

Throught this site, I can easily find one or even few organizations whose protect the enviroment.

Describe your idea:

Create the social networking site for NGOs.
Every NGO can become a member of the site (like on Facebook etc. ).
NGOs can easily communicate with each other throught the site.
Every NGO would have an expanded profile so individual persons= volunteers
could easily find the organization
which meets their needs and interesting.
They could read the profiles of NGOs
and choosing the right one.

What country will this operate in?: Poland

Who are you?:

I’m an individual person, but I’m also a member of an NGO. I’m a student of social sciences.
I have no informatic skills but I have
the complete idea of the project (and of the site )in my head.
Of course I will looking for
the partners (I already do it )

What problem are you solving?:

Democracy works best when coupled with citizens’ interest and interaction. In Poland this is a problem with voter turnout oscillating around 50% and many people finding political life hard to understand or even unattractive. I want to change this. I want to give citizens modern, super-accurate, real-time control over the work of their deputies. The law creating process doesn’t have to be boring and with the help of the newest web 2.0 technologies it can be very clear and as exciting as using Facebook, Twitter or YouTube (my comparison is not accidental – please keep reading).

Describe your idea:

The citizen goes to elections and makes his vote. He or she logs on to a personal profile on Sejmometr.pl and adds the new deputy to a personal “observed deputies” list, just like a “subscribe” mechanism on YouTube. Sejmometr.pl, powered by its innovative software, won’t let the user miss a single action made by the deputy.

An “observed deputies” mechanism is responsible for delivering the right content to users. All kinds of communication will be involved. Mail notifications, personalized RSS feeds, even Facebook and Tweeter integration. Sejmometr.pl will make use of all available technology to promote transparency and citizen-control in the law creating process.

Example communicates that can be sent by Sejmometr.pl service:
“Your observed deputy, John Kowalski, gave a speech on the topic of “Income Tax Law Amendment”. Read it>>”
or
“Your observed deputy, John Kowalski, voted against his own party on the topic of “Anti-corruption Law”. See details>>”

What country will this operate in?: Poland

Who are you?:

I’m a private individual, not associated with any social organization. I work as a CG operator and a music producer in a music television station. I also used to work as a websites programmer on a freelance basis, but gave this up after developing the Sejmometr.pl idea about two years ago. Since then, I have worked alone on building Sejmometr.pl software in my spare time. A few results of my work can be seen as a http://sejmometr.pl portal. Part of the features described above already exist but most of them are still under development. I feel like I’ve reached the end of my capabilities in working on the project by myself. In order to continue the professional development process I need financial support.