The MOST Association is implementing the „Project Coordinator School” project, funded by the National Institute for Freedom – Centre for the Development of Civil Society, as part of the Government’s NOWEFIO Civic Initiatives Fund Programme for 2021–2030 (Priority 4: Strengthening the capacities of civil society organisations).
Why is this project necessary?
Managing a social project requires a simultaneous understanding of many areas: finance, employment law, data protection, accessibility guidelines and the promotion of activities. It is a responsible and demanding role, yet one that is poorly paid – in a typical project, only a small portion of the administrative budget is set aside for coordination.
Poland lacks a training system for project coordinators – the training courses available usually focus on managing large, multi-person teams, most often in IT companies, rather than on the realities of small organisations where one person is responsible for the majority of tasks.
As a result, every month the Centre for Non-Governmental Organisations in Katowice receives people who are unable to settle their project accounts correctly – which prolongs the settlement process and makes it more difficult for organisations to secure further funding. The solution to this shortcoming is to develop a single, consistent standard for the management of social projects and to train the next generation of coordinators, which is the aim of this project.
What shall we do?
- Standard for the Management of Community Projects. We are compiling a comprehensive, practical guide to running social projects – from procurement and budgeting, through recruitment and accessibility, to promoting activities. The standard will be preceded by a needs assessment involving at least 300 people from organisations. It will be available free of charge online (including in Ukrainian and English) and in print.
- School for Project Coordinators. We run free training courses – both face-to-face and online – for at least 70 people from non-governmental organisations across Poland, including a separate programme for those for whom Polish is not their first language.
- Recommendations for legislative changes. We are drawing up proposals to simplify the accounting of public funds and submitting them to the relevant institutions.
- Promoting high standards. We publish articles, videos and posts so that knowledge about the Standard reaches as wide an audience as possible.
Results
- at least 63 people will complete the course and gain practical skills in project and team management,
- the creation of 1 publicly available Standard for the Management of Community Projects, downloaded at least 1,000 times,
- recommendations for legal simplifications will be drawn up and submitted to the authorities,
- Information about the Standard will reach at least 4,000 people.
Budget and implementation
Total value of the project: 299,960.00 PLN Amount of funding: 297,260.00 PLN
Date the contract was signed: 29 June 2026.
Project office: Katowice, 14 Kopernika Street
The public initiative „Project Coordinator School” was funded by the National Institute for Freedom – Centre for the Development of Civil Society, as part of the Government’s NOWEFIO Civic Initiatives Fund Programme for 2021–2030.
