Kuyavian-Pomeranian Regional Branch of the Polish Red Cross with funding for the project „Live with Dignity”

The meeting was attended by, among others, the Director of the Department of Social Policy, Mr. Przemysław Biegański, the Voivode's Representative for Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organizations, Mr. Ireneusz Nitkiewicz, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations.

The Voivode, starting the briefing, emphasized the importance of cooperation between government administration and the third sector:

“There is no healthy state, there is no strong state in terms of subsidiarity without proper cooperation and the role of non-governmental organizations. It largely relies on the engagement of the people themselves, volunteers, and staff of the organizations.”

This year, 623,000 PLN has been allocated to support 19 public tasks that will be carried out by 17 organizations. Next year – as announced by the Voivode – the budget for the competition is planned to increase to 1,000,000 PLN.

“I would like to declare that I want to increase this pool and next year it will amount to 1,000,000 PLN, provided that the budget that I will have as Voivode is the same as this year.”

Among the organizations that received support was also the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Regional Branch of the Polish Red Cross in Bydgoszcz. The funds will be allocated to implement the “Living with Dignity” project, which has long supported homeless individuals and those at risk of homelessness.

As emphasized by Director Krzysztof Rębacz:

“For several years, we have been implementing the Living with Dignity project. It is a project targeted at homeless individuals and those at risk of homelessness, and also this year this money will be allocated to support these individuals.”

Support under the project includes, among others, food assistance, the purchase of hygiene products, psychological support, as well as integrative and activating activities:

“We offer these individuals a certain idea for integration, to engage in small local environments, for example, to involve them through simple aid actions that we organize as the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Regional Branch. (...) We focus on both assistance and on the activation and integration of these individuals.”

The total value of the project amounts to nearly 70,000 PLN (including 50,000 PLN grant).

The Voivode's Representative, Ireneusz Nitkiewicz, pointed out the importance of professionalizing NGO activities:

“These are the best-spent and engaged funds, because non-governmental organizations, through volunteers who sacrifice something invaluable, namely their time, and we help them in this action, so that it reaches an even larger number of beneficiaries.”

Cooperation with non-governmental organizations remains one of the pillars of the activities of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship Office. The briefing concluded with the symbolic handing over of contracts and a declaration of further support for social initiatives in the region.