MasterPeace around the world: Poland

With #MasterPeace_Around_The_World we focus on the people behind our 45+ MasterPeace clubs. We built on their ideas, hard work, and creativity and would like to share their stories with you.

This week we came across a bold and inspiring research on the importance of social entrepreneurship for the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this research Prof. dr. Harry Hummels stated that Social Entrepreneurship should be adopted as the 18th Sustainable Development Goal, as it has the power to enable individuals and communities to play a more substantial role in policy processes and practices. While reading this research, we immediately had to think about our MasterPeace club in Poland! Our Club Leader in Poland, Slawomir Nawrot, is a big fan of Social Entrepreneurship and uses it as a driving force behind all his projects.

Social Entrepreneurship and MasterPeace Poland

By focusing on ‘spreading the spirit of social enterprising’ Slawomir Nawrot aims on creating higher inclusiveness in the Polish community and beyond. Most of his work focuses on social minorities for whom it is difficult to find a suitable job. With most of their projects they do not necessarily focus on inspiring people to become social entrepreneurs ‘although that would be a great outcome.’ More than that, however, MasterPeace Poland aims on inspiring people to adopt the ideas and the mindset of a social entrepreneur.

An example of this is their game A Social Economy, which they developed in cooperation with the Regional Center of Social Policy of the Silesian Voivodeship. To spread awareness on the importance and meaning of social entrepreneurship MasterPeace Poland designed a game that teaches people how to manage a social enterprise.  It offers people the opportunity to experience the norms and values that are important while being a social entrepreneur and helps in creating awareness on the effects of managing with an eye for social inclusion.

This game is a great start for the participants in one of their biggest projects ‘Tackling Long-term Unemployment.’  With this project they aim on lifting long term unemployment in the South of Poland, currently helping over 100 people. The project is structured in such a way that the participants do not only receive training and job skills, but also psychological help. Everyone entering the program gets the opportunity to meet with both a job advisor as a psychologist to help them gain confidence throughout the process. Next to that, the candidates participate in a course that fits their future ambitions. This can be everything, from computer science to linguistic skills. When gained confidence, skills, and experience, the team helps them to apply for jobs. As a result of the success of the program, MasterPeace Poland has been attending conferences and meeting across Eastern Europe to share their experience.

Thank you Slawomir Nawrot and MasterPeace Poland for the great efforts!