TAIGA is an international partnership of women* from Poland, Germany, Latvia, Ukraine and Italy. The main goal of the project is to improve and strengthen the competencies of those working in the arts, culture and NGO sectors, and to foster cross-cultural dialogue to build more resilient organizations that drive positive social change associated with more equitable and inclusive communities. TAIGA is rooted in the recognition that culture and civic values have occupied a central place in almost every social movement throughout history and have had a profound impact on shaping social consciousness, and driving social change.

In many European countries, we have been experiencing increased civic activity in recent years due to the tense political situation. In an effort to increase democratic and social inclusion, it is essential to strengthen the ability to sustain and develop civic engagement. NGOs are a natural area for strengthening engagement (about 53% of the 100,000 active NGOs in Poland conduct educational activities); while cultural institutions are another area.

That’s why in the project we pay special attention to strengthening people working precisely in NGOs and the arts and culture sector. We targeted this project at women* because, as Eurostat data shows, both of these sectors are dominated precisely by women*, and this is a group on which it is worth focusing particularly in leadership activities and support in recovering from crisis.

The cultural and civic sectors have the greatest potential to drive positive social change, but the pandemic hit these areas particularly hard. It exposed the financial vulnerability of cultural institutions and NGOs through numerous constraints, shook up some of the basic elements of these sectors’ practices, highlighting the need to reformulate their activities of, among other things, connecting people, providing access to shared cultural, civic and educational experiences in physical locations, building transnational agreements, etc.

*trans, cis and non-binary

Target groups

People participated in the project were women*, associated with partner organizations (working and/or volunteers) – a total of min. 28 people.

*trans, cis and non-binary

Key activities

Workshops
As part of the project, each of the four partner organizations will organize workshops for 28 people in their country; these workshops will focus on women’s leadership, community organizing and grassroots action, entrepreneurship and fundraising, and countering activist burnout and self-care, among other topics.

Publication on good practices
As part of the project, based on the training conducted, we prepared a publication that included, among others, information about the workshops and good practices in working with diverse groups and communities. The publication is available for download in five languages:

English
Polish
Italian
German
Ukrainian

Thanks to this project

• access to informal education will improve and the number of adults learning and benefiting from the support of NGOs and cultural organizations will increase
• the level of effectiveness and professionalization of the activities of those participating in the communities they work with will increase
• the competencies of those participating in the areas of transformational leadership, building activist communities, combating burnout, or entrepreneurship, among others, will be raised
• there will be a strengthening of the role of leadership people in NGOs and culture in social change and in the current global and local conditions
• it will be possible to build a strong support network of participating individuals and strengthen partner organizations after the crisis

More information about the project

Miki Stępień
Mobile: +48 606 383 698
E-mail: miki@rzeczspoleczna.pl