|
|
||
Annual Report 2008
About the FoundationThe Stefan Batory Foundation, established in 1988 by George Soros, an American financier and philanthropist, and a group of Polish opposition leaders of 1980s, is an independent, private foundation registered as public charity under Polish law. The mission of the Batory Foundation is to build an open, democratic society — a society of people aware of their rights and responsibilities, who are actively involved in the life of their local community, country and international society. Our priorities include:
The basic method of the Foundation's operation involves making grants to non-governmental organizations engaged in public benefit activity in Poland and in Central and Eastern Europe. We also initiate and carry out — alone or in partnership with other organizations — various undertakings: we host public debates and conferences; organize study visits, seminars and workshops; issue publications; run social campaigns; engage in advocacy and monitoring of public institutions. The Foundation is a partner to many institutions from Poland and abroad. It is a member of Polish Donors Forum, Polish NGOs Abroad — Zagranica Group, the European Foundation Centre in Brussels and the Council on Foundations in the U.S. In our activity we observe principles of transparency and accountability. Decisions on grant distribution are made by the Foundation's Board with the help of committees of experts who assess grant applications and recommend projects for funding. Our finances are audited by external experts and the financial statements are published in the Annual Report, together with the list of grants awarded and projects implemented during the year. Up-to-date information on our activities and grant-seeking opportunities is posted on our website www.batory.org.pl. In 2008, we ran 14 domestic and international programs. We made over 370 grants for a total amount of PLN 8.8 million. We spent PLN 3.2 million on in-house operated projects implemented by ourselves or in cooperation with partners. As in previous year a series of our activities focused on the problem of lack of public trust toward Polish democratic institutions and meager civic participation in public life, as evidenced by low electoral turnout and the popular conviction that an average citizen has no influence over authorities' actions. We continued our Your Vote, Your Choice program planned for 2006-2010 (i.e. the entire term of local government officials elected in 2006) with an aim to increase public interest in local issues and activities of authorities. In 2008, 280 organizations and informal groups from 190 boroughs joined the project. Participants organized 182 public debates with the participation of local officials and residents. In 100 localities, they checked how local officials execute their responsibilities. They also implemented 154 activities to engage residents in their local civil society (happenings, events, competitions for youth, surveys). Our institutional grants, designated for organizations' core activity, capacity building and institutional development, were provided mainly to organizations that work to enhance civic participation in public sphere and promote good practices and transparency in public institutions [Civic Institutions]. We continued to support initiatives aimed to exert civic control over public institutions by providing grants for non-governmental organizations to monitor access to public information, use of public funds, and execution of statutory tasks by local government and public administration [Watchdog Initiatives]. As part of the Anti-Corruption program, we monitored observance by authorities and political parties of anticorruption laws and transparency standards, monitored the legislative process and suggested legislative solutions that could ensure transparency of decision-making processes and provide a bulwark against corrupt practices. We devoted a series of meetings as part of Batory Foundation Debates to discussion on the condition of Polish democracy, its political scene, the government's agenda and activities as well as required reforms related to, amongst other, the world economic crisis. Another important sphere of our activities concerned tolerance and fostering attitudes of openness toward racial, ethnic, and religious differences. We supported educational and cultural projects that recover and discover the roots of a multinational Poland and preserve a common multicultural heritage, especially that of Polish Jews. Most projects supported this year focused on discovering the past of local communities and filling in the historical 'blank gaps'. While learning about forgotten or muted facts, projects' participants had to face the history of Holocaust and — what was the most difficult — the history of Polish anti-Semitism. Xenophobia and anti-Semitism continue to be significant Polish problems. At the same time, however, there is an increased interest in the different and a growing awareness that cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity is an important value [For Tolerance]. A program initiated by the German Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation also served the discovery of a common, multicultural heritage. In it, young people from Poland, Germany, Belarus, Russia (Kaliningrad District), and Ukraine learned about various aspects of history and culture of borderland regions, along with theoretical and practical knowledge on protection of cultural assets. Two hundred young volunteers took part in 12 vacation camps. They cleaned up and renovated graveyards and sacral buildings of different denominations, and other local historical sites. They made inventories of cultural objects and documents in local museums and archives, recorded songs, tales and other testimonies of multicultural past of borderland regions. They documented the effects of their work in self-made films, photo exhibits and publications [Memoria]. We continued our support to organizations that provide legal aid to at-risk or discriminated groups. We awarded tied off grants to our 10 year grantees associated in the network of Citizens Advice Bureaus where about 30,000 people annually receive free legal advice and information as well as to organizations that provide legal aid to at-risk or discriminated groups [Legal Education]. The generosity of individual and business donors allowed us to continue assistance to local organizations that provide scholarships for young people from small towns and rural areas and ran integration programs for disabled children. Thanks to these donations, over 1,100 high school students receive scholarships in the 2008/2009 school year and 700 children participate in art therapy and integration programs [Equal Opportunities]. In the area of international cooperation, we continued advocacy efforts aimed to ease the restrictive EU visa policies and raise the standards of service for foreigners at the European Union's eastern border. We turned decision-makers' attention to the progress of Poland's preparations, as well as the effects Schengen membership may have on contacts with our eastern neighbors. Moreover, we took part in the debate on the European Neighborhood Policy and the discourse on changes occurring in Russia and their impact on Russian foreign policy, including Russia's use of energy resources as an instrument of international policy [International Cooperation]. In partnership with the Robert Bosch Foundation we supported tripartite cooperation of Poland and Germany with Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia serving to reinforce solidarity and neighborly relations, and to resolve problems faced by states of our region [Community Initiatives Partnership]. With the funds provided by the Ford Foundation we supported a network of Belarusian and Ukrainian organizations engaged in stimulating and funding local civic initiatives, developing partnership between non-governmental organizations and private and public institutions and implementing civic and European education projects [Citizens in Action]. We continued two regional programs, operating within the Open Society Institute network in the region of Central-Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Caucasus: the East East: Partnership Beyond Borders program which supports international cooperation for democratic transformation, civil society development and promotion of innovative solutions to social ills, as well as the Alcohol and Drug program that disseminates Polish experiences in addiction therapy and prevention as well as in re-education of perpetrators of domestic violence. CouncilChair of the Council
Members
BoardPresident of the Board
Members
Investment Committee
Program CommitteesEqual Opportunities — Rainbow Academy
For Tolerance
Watchdog Initiatives
Legal Education
Community Initiatives Partnership
Memoria
East East
Anti-Corruption
Beata Pawlak Award
StaffExecutive Director
Deputy Director
Information and promotion
Secretary's Office
Accountancy and Finances
Administration
ProgramsBatory Foundation Debates
Your Vote, Your Choice
Equal Opportunities
For Tolerance
Watchdog Initiatives and Legal Education
Anti-Corruption
Community Initiatives Partnership
Memoria
East East
Citizens in Action
International Cooperation
Regional Alcohol and Drug Program
Copyright © Fundacja Batorego
|
||
