Zagranica Group is undergoing major institutional changes

With the relocation of Zagranica Group’s office to the very centre of Warsaw's political space (Nowy Swiat) in February 2010, the first stage of institutional changes has been finished: the Polish NGDO platform now has an updated statute, new management structure, 6-year strategy and 3-person staff.

Management
In March 2009 changes to the statute were introduced, allowing the Board of Zagranica Group to become more proactive in influencing the platform’s functioning and policies. In July, the Board decided to hire the Executive director of the Group, Wojciech Tworkowski (formerly Board member), who became responsible for reorganizing the office, stabilizing the platform’s finances and pushing forward the Group’s work on the strategy, as well as its implementation. In November 2009 a new person was hired for the office, Katarzyna Krzemińska, to become a coordinator for working groups. In March 2010 Monika Kusmierczyk joined the staff as coordinator for financial/administrative matters and information policies. Meanwhile, in February 2010 Marta Pejda, who used to be the Group’s secretary for over 3 years left the Group and the position of secretary was officially cancelled.

Strategy
The work on the strategy started during the March 2009 General Assembly, during which the members obliged the Board to prepare the new strategy until the next General Assembly in November during which it was accepted. In between the assemblies, consultations took place, including a three-day multistakeholder seminar in Falenica (near Warsaw). The key operational objective of the new 2010-2015 strategy is building the institutional stability of Polish NGDOs. Within the strategy, the mission of the Zagranica Group has also been formulated, focusing the platform’s work on (1) Advocacy of NGDO sector interests, (2) Building capacity of NGDOs and (3) networking Polish and foreign NGDOs, all this with the ultimate aim of providing partners in developing countries with better quality of project impact.

What’s next?
The Zagranica Group is currently working on preparing Action Plans for different parts of the strategy, as well as fundraising for them. Within its broader mission, the Group is working hard in the area of advocacy (especially as the new draft of the Law on Foreign Assistance is being prepared) and reforming its information policies in order to become a better networker and gateway to the Polish NGDO sector.

You can find more information as well as new contact data on the Zagranica Group website, which is also being redesigned at the moment with the re-launch expected to take place sometime in spring: http://www.zagranica.org.pl/

Information provided by Wojciech Tworkowski, Zagranica Group