Dialogopolis ’22: The Inclusive City.
2nd edition of the Days of Dialogue and Intercultural Education.
An inclusive city – but what kind of city?
One that shapes its residents?
Or one shaped by them?
Dialogopolis ’22 is a space for sharing experience between local government, institutions, NGOs and volunteers.
Dialogopolis ’22 Days of Dialogue and Intercultural Education
– the idea
A modern city is a fabric woven from different communities, world views and perspectives. It is home to many social, national, ethnic and age groups.
Year after year, Wrocław is becoming an ever more diverse place. This delights and excites us, because we know that this diversity holds enormous strength and potential for every person who lives here.
Every resident of Wrocław grows in intercultural skills as the city’s community changes.
The inclusive city – values
An inclusive city cares for its new residents.
An inclusive city supports its citizens in their social engagement.
It gives public offices, schools and neighbourhoods useful tools and direction.
An inclusive city takes care of its resources.
How can we act – helping ourselves and others – so that Wrocław becomes such a city?
Dialogopolis ’22 The Inclusive City
– programme
From 2 to 10 June, Dialogopolis ’22 will take place at various locations across Wrocław.
We will meet representatives of local government, NGOs and volunteer groups to engage in dialogue about good practice in involving residents in the life of the city.
The starting point for our conversations is the set of challenges that the war in Ukraine poses for the local community. We particularly want a dialogue that takes into account the perspective of migrants and of the community involved in relief efforts.
We have planned round-table meetings, public consultations, debates and workshops for you.
2 June
The Welcoming City
What has happened in Wrocław’s public offices, institutions and NGOs since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine? A summary of the work of institutions, organisations and volunteers.
Over recent months we have witnessed an extraordinary mobilisation and commitment on the part of Wrocław’s residents to helping people fleeing Ukraine. Many challenges still lie ahead of us. Behind us – many shared achievements. Long-term solutions cannot be developed without reflecting on what has happened so far. That is why we are devoting the opening meeting of Dialogopolis ’22 to presenting a summary of the work of volunteers, non-governmental organisations, and municipal institutions and offices.
time: 10.30-12.00
venue: Czasoprzestrzeń, ul. Tramwajowa 1-3
What should local integration policy look like?
A round-table meeting as part of the public consultations. An exchange of knowledge and experience between local government, NGOs, Local Activity Centres (CAL) and volunteers.
A city that takes in refugees should support the integration of newcomers with the local community. The war in Ukraine presents Wrocław with an immense range of challenges that call for committed cooperation between local actors. Together with representatives of institutions, NGOs, the migrant and refugee communities, and the city’s residents, we will discuss the key areas of support. What are the strengths of the work being done in Wrocław, and what is currently missing? The public consultations are a cross-sector dialogue that approaches local integration policy from many perspectives.
time: 12.30-14.30
venue: Czasoprzestrzeń, ul. Tramwajowa 1-3
Round-table topics:
🔹 intercultural education among children and young people – we will talk about which activities are most effective in the integration process and which need support. We will ask what can help the school community and what hinders integration.
Moderator: Iwona Frydryszak
🔹 the volunteering of tomorrow – how can we make use of volunteers’ historically unprecedented commitment to supporting our guests from Ukraine? We will consider how to turn this exceptional activity into long-term engagement. We will also try to answer the question of what volunteers, non-governmental organisations, institutions and refugees need in order to build local civil society together – effectively, jointly and consistently.
Moderator: Joanna Wajda
🔹 housing and the labour market – what measures can improve the process of settling in, organising collective accommodation and renting flats? At this table we will also discuss employment as part of new residents’ path to independence, as well as the context of the social economy.
Moderator: Mirosława Hamera
🔹 the local dimension – neighbourhood – how can we create welcoming conditions for people to meet? How can we encourage local activity in neighbourhood communities by co-creating cultural, sporting, educational, social and other activities? These are the main threads of the planned discussion.
Moderator: Maria Zięba
🔹 resolving intercultural conflicts effectively – we will talk about what helps to prevent them, how to resolve them, which activities the city should support, and who should be involved in the process.
Moderator: Dorota Whitten
🔹 civic participation – how can refugees and migrants be effectively included in local social processes? The discussion will cover the rights and responsibilities of members of the community and local participation.
Moderator: Tadeusz Mincer
Local migration policies
An expert debate on local migration and integration policies, preceded by a summary of the public consultations.
Why do we need local migration policies? Should Polish cities work on a common model of policies and their implementation? How can we pursue systemic change that takes into account the situation of all the city’s residents? How can integration policies be made in a time of humanitarian crisis? Experts will try to answer these and other questions during the debate on local migration policies.
time: 15.30-17.30
venue: Czasoprzestrzeń, ul. Tramwajowa 1-3
Summary of the public consultations moderated by: Krzysztof Ziental
Debate moderated by: Anna Gmiterek-Zabłocka (TOK FM)
The debate will be streamed on the following Facebook pages: Wrocławskie Centrum Rozwoju Społecznego, Przejście Dialogu and Nomada Stowarzyszenie.
Polish Cinema for Beginners #16 – “Newcomers”, episode 4
A screening of the film “Między Słowami” (Beyond Words), directed by Urszula Antoniak, with English subtitles. Open-air cinema in Staszic Park.
Polish Cinema for Beginners is a film programme aimed primarily at non-Polish-speaking audiences – the films are shown with English subtitles, and the accompanying discussions are also held in English. Entitled “NEWCOMERS”, the 16th season of the series is devoted to the stories Polish cinema tells about newcomers: both foreigners arriving in Poland and Poles abroad in search of a better life.
time: 21.30-23.00
venue: Stanisław Staszic Park, ESK container
3 June
Managing conflict – intercultural mediation
A workshop on recognising and preventing intercultural conflicts.
Where do intercultural conflicts arise? How can they be prevented through cooperation between the parties and relationship-building? During the workshop, participants will get to know mediation and conflict-management tools and learn how to use them. The practical part will be preceded by a short introduction to the theory of intercultural conflict.
Led by: Dorota Whitten, Maja Zabokrzycka, Joanna Wajda (Dom Pokoju Foundation)
time: 16.00-19.00
venue: Infopunkt Łokietka 5, ul. Władysława Łokietka 5/1
Intercultural communication in a time of social challenge
A workshop on effective communication in an intercultural environment. Ways of looking after yourself and communicating well with others, especially in difficult times.
How can we increase our personal effectiveness, simplify relationships and make life easier for ourselves and others? What kind of rest will truly help us recover after hard work? What inspires whom, and what drains whose energy? Each of us interprets and responds to reality differently. By exploring thinking mechanisms and styles based on the FRIS® Model (Facts–Relationships–Ideas–Structures), we will learn how to look after our wellbeing in our contact with others.
Led by: Swietlana Listopadzka – certified FRIS trainer, coach and intercultural competence trainer. An entrepreneur with 20 years’ experience.
time: 14.00-18.00
venue: EWST, ul. św. Jadwigi 12, 50-266 Wrocław
3-4 June
Living Library
15 years of conversations between Wrocław residents and Living Books – people from marginalised groups.
The Wrocław Living Library marks 15 years of conversations about local diversity. Every visitor will be able to borrow a Living Book for a conversation – a member of a cultural, ethnic, religious, social or professional minority facing stereotypes, prejudice and exclusion. In this edition you will be able to talk to people such as: an Atheist, a Refugee, a Ukrainian Woman, the Mother of a Child with a Disability, a Queer Person and others. The aim of the project is to raise awareness and knowledge among Wrocław residents about minorities and the problems they face living in our city.
Organisers: Diversja Association, Mediateka Municipal Public Library, Branch 58
Introductions of the Living Books and more about the event: www.facebook.com/events/982260172491340
time: 12.00-20.00
venue: Mediateka, plac Teatralny 5
Open event – no registration required.
6 June
On the self-organisation of migrants and refugees
How are the Ukrainian and Belarusian communities helping newcomers? In the debate: the role of new residents’ self-organisation and their part in building the local community.
The Ukrainian community itself plays an active role in organising help from Wrocław’s residents for refugees from Ukraine. Similarly, for years the Belarusian community has been organising itself from the grassroots to support successive waves of people fleeing persecution in Belarus. What relief initiatives have migrant communities launched? How do they build cooperation and partnerships with local government and non-governmental organisations? We will find out by talking about their experiences.
Moderated by: Daria Mymka – member of the Intercultural Dialogue Team at the Wrocław Centre for Social Development (WCRS), consultant at WroMigrant, the city’s information point for migrants, co-founder of the “Ptach” Foundation, which works for children affected by the war in Ukraine, and co-founder of “English to the East”, a charitable educational programme for children from Ukraine. She has lived in Poland for over 10 years.
Guests:
🔹Artur Kviatsinski – one of the founders of the Belarusian Solidarity Union Association in Wrocław. Divisional technical director at an international packaging company. Member of the Belarusian Business Angels Association. He has lived in Poland for 14 years.
🔹 Ina Shulha – entrepreneur and volunteer. After the protests broke out in Belarus, she became actively involved in relief efforts. She came up with the idea of charity auctions whose proceeds went towards renting flats and providing material aid for people fleeing Belarus. She is now involved in helping friends from Ukraine. She has lived in Poland for 13 years.
🔹 Olena Vorovchenko – has lived in Poland for the last 6 years, works in IT, and is co-founder of the “Ptach” Foundation, which helps children affected by the war in Ukraine. She has worked on behalf of Ukraine for years. She joins forces with other organisations – at Fundacja Ukraina she heads the Refugee Support department.
🔹 Halina Czekanowska runs her own tailoring workshop and came up with a charity pierogi-making initiative, with the proceeds from sales going to the armed forces of Ukraine. She co-organises charity festivals for Ukraine and has been active in the local Ukrainian community for years. She came to Wrocław 11 years ago.
time: 18.00-20.00
venue: Passage of Dialogue (Przejście Dialogu), ul. Świdnicka 19
7 June
How to start your own business
Practical training for migrants planning to set up their own business in Poland.
Are you planning to start a business in Poland and looking for advice on where to begin? We have planned a training session that explains the process of setting up your own company step by step. What forms of business can foreign nationals establish? What formalities must be completed, and how do you apply for registration in CEIDG (the Central Register and Information on Economic Activity)? The training will be held in Polish, with a presentation and interpreting of participants’ questions into Ukrainian.
The training will be led by: Bożena Bronowicka – Director of the Civil Affairs Department, Wrocław City Hall, and Iwona Lubka and Ewa Ruda – specialists from the Economic Development Office of Wrocław City Hall with many years’ experience at the Business Information Point.
Language: Polish/Ukrainian
time: 12.00-14.00
venue: Infopunkt Łokietka 5, ul. Władysława Łokietka 5/1
Business for a new beginning – stories of Wrocław entrepreneurs
In this debate we give the floor to migrant entrepreneurs who started their businesses in Wrocław.
What is it like to be a migrant and run a business in Poland? Wrocław residents who came here from different parts of the world and opened businesses in their new country will share their experiences, observations and inspirations. Migrant entrepreneurs will tell the story of their own journeys and their diverse perspectives on running a company. We will talk about the challenges, difficulties and bureaucratic corridors that entrepreneurs from different countries of origin face in Poland.
time: 18.00-20.00
venue: Passage of Dialogue, ul. Świdnicka 19
8 June
Humanitarian aid on the Polish-Belarusian border
The humanitarian crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border is still ongoing. For more than a hundred days it has been unfolding in the shadow of the war in Ukraine and the exodus of people from that country, which numbers almost 4 million. That is a hundred times more than the number of people taking the route through the Białowieża Forest, the oldest forest in Europe, which refugees call “the jungle”. Since July 2021, tens of thousands of migrants and refugees have tried to cross the border from Belarus into Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. The policy pursued by the Polish authorities makes it impossible to help refugees and to monitor the actions of the uniformed services in the border zone.
During the meeting we will discuss the social movement that, in response to the humanitarian and human rights crisis on the border and in detention centres for migrants, organises and develops grassroots humanitarian aid.
We will look at segregation and the different standards for “receiving” refugees into our country. We will also point out that those who provide help at one border are called heroes, while at the other, a few hundred kilometres to the north, they face arrest and prison. Finally, we will try to answer the question of whether, after such experiences, in a state that tramples on human rights, there is still a chance of dialogue between its citizens and the services under its command.
Guests:
Aleksandra Chrzanowska – graduate in cultural studies from the University of Warsaw. Since 2006 she has worked with refugees as an integration/intercultural adviser at the Association for Legal Intervention (SIP), and since 2008 she has been a member of the SIP board. Author of publications on refugee integration and multiculturalism. Winner of the 8th edition (2015) of the J. Zimowski Award, given for work on behalf of social groups in extreme situations, particularly migrants and refugees. Since August 2021 she has been involved in intervention work on the Polish-Belarusian border as part of Grupa Granica.
Agata Ferenc – ethnologist and traveller. As a development aid worker in Palestine and Sri Lanka, she spent several years living in an intercultural environment and at the meeting points of cultures. She is associated with many Wrocław non-governmental organisations. Assistant and cultural interpreter for Roma families from Romania living in Poland. In 2015 she took part in aid missions to refugee camps in the Balkans. Social activist and human rights campaigner.
Weronika Mazurek – graduate in Cultural Studies from the University of Wrocław and in Architecture and Urban Planning from Wrocław University of Science and Technology. For 4 years she has been involved in climate activism, and since August 2021 she has taken part in intervention work on the Polish-Belarusian border as part of Grupa Granica. Since April this year she has been supporting the Polska Gościnność Foundation in its day-to-day communication with refugees seeking various kinds of help.
The meeting will be hosted by Maciej Mandelt of the Nomada Association
During the meeting at the “Passage of Dialogue” you will be able to watch video footage of relief operations on the border.
time: 18.00-20.00
venue: Passage of Dialogue, ul. Świdnicka 19
9 June
Building an intercultural school
Specialist workshops in intercultural education.
Faced with the challenge of taking in refugees, the school as we have known it may no longer be enough. So what if we rearranged the building blocks? During the workshop we will try to look at the school situation from a different perspective. To rebuild the blocks from scratch, we will use creative workshop methods (supported by wooden KAPLA blocks) and have a practical discussion about what to do, and how, in times of crisis.
Led by: Kamila Kamińska–Sztark, Hanna Achremowicz – PhD in the humanities, Critical Education Association (Stowarzyszenie Edukacji Krytycznej)
time: 9.00-11.00
venue: Przestrzeń Trzeciego Wieku, pl. Solidarności 1/3/5
Let’s talk about the multicultural school
A dialogue session – a conversation about schools’ needs in managing diversity, about good practice, and about the areas in which schools need support.
The meeting aims to raise awareness of the basic issues and tools that help prevent interpersonal conflict. What does working with newly arrived pupils involve? How does diversity affect creativity? What competences matter in building a close-knit, cooperative team? How can we foster good relationships within a group? The conversation will draw on examples of peer mediation, methods of resolving conflict in the school environment, and non-violent communication.
Led by: Dorota Whitten, Joanna Wajda – Dom Pokoju Foundation
time: 11.15-13.15
venue: Przestrzeń Trzeciego Wieku, pl. Solidarności 1/3/5
The intercultural school – a place of challenges and benefits for all
Specialist workshops in intercultural education.
The workshop will explore ways of creating an intercultural space at school – ideas for involving all pupils and making their presence visible in the school community. We will compare the opportunities and benefits offered by preparatory classes and mixed classes. We will discuss ready-made lesson plans and good practice from other schools and countries.
Led by: Małgorzata Czaicka-Moryń, Freya Foundation, XV High School
time: 13.30-15.30
venue: Przestrzeń Trzeciego Wieku, pl. Solidarności 1/3/5
Psychological first aid
What should we do to offer support – and what should we avoid so as not to cause harm? A psychological first aid workshop.
Any one of us can give psychological first aid to someone who has been through a crisis – it does not require training in psychology. Nevertheless, being aware of the principles of psychological support is extremely important. It safeguards respect for the dignity, culture and capabilities of the people in need. The workshop is an introduction to providing psychological first aid in a way that is safe both for those giving support and for those receiving it.
Led by: Urszula Andruszko – child and adolescent psychologist, graduate in psychology from the University of Wrocław, currently working at Mentali – Centre for Development and Psychological Support. She works with the Kalejdoskop Kultur Foundation to create a support system for people affected by the war in Ukraine.
time: 16.30-18.30
venue: Municipal Public Library, Grafit branch, ul. Namysłowska 8
10 June
Activities that include local communities – from idea to delivery of intercultural neighbourhood initiatives
Workshops on planning and organising local integration events that take account of the diversity of audiences (ethnic, national, linguistic, social and other).
How can local events for residents be planned effectively so that they actively involve people in the initiative, regardless of their language or country of origin? We will look at examples of many initiatives, distinguishing basic mistakes and pitfalls from good practice that contributes to a friendly, non-exclusionary atmosphere. We will practise thinking about neighbourhood events in a way that takes account of the diversity of their audiences and genuinely strengthens local ties, cooperation and integration.
Led by: Anka Bieliz and Aleksandra Stachura (Mikrogranty/Wrocław Institute of Culture)
Anka Bieliz – cultural animator and manager, graduate in sociology, art history, cultural studies and communication design from the University of Wrocław. Chief Coordinator of the Mikrogranty Programme at the Wrocław Institute of Culture and Programme Director of the MIASTOmovie Festival of the City and Architecture.
Aleksandra Stachura – graduate in Business Language and in Cultural Studies, specialising in Cultural Animation, from the University of Opole. Since 2018 she has co-coordinated the city-wide Mikrogranty project co-organisation programme at the Wrocław Institute of Culture (formerly at Strefa Kultury Wrocław). She is Vice-President of the Go’n’act Foundation, where she also works as an educator and coordinator of intercultural integration projects.
time: 10.00-14.00
venue: Municipal Public Library at Wrocław Główny railway station, ul. Piłsudskiego 105
What makes an intercultural city? Wrocław joins the ICC programme
In 2021 Wrocław joined the prestigious Intercultural Cities Programme (ICC). During the session we will give the floor to representatives of the Council of Europe, who will introduce participants to the vision, strategy and working methods of the Intercultural Cities network. Representatives of ICC member cities will share their stories and the benefits they have gained from taking part in the programme. The closing meeting of Dialogopolis ’22 is also a space for dialogue about the opportunities and challenges facing Wrocław as an intercultural city.
Moderated by: Dorota Kozak- Rybska, WCRS Intercultural Dialogue Team.
Guests:
🔹 Director Bartłomiej Świerczewski, Department of Social Affairs, Wrocław City Hall
🔹Ivana d’Alessandro – Council of Europe
🔹 Claudia Emmanuel Laredo – City of Bilbao
🔹 Anna Szadkowska – Ciężka, Deputy Director of the Civic Participation Office in Lublin,
🔹 Director Dorota Feliks, Wrocław Centre for Social Development
time: 11.00-12.30
venue: online meeting
Registration for Dialogopolis ’22 events
Registration forms for individual events can be found next to their descriptions in the programme.
Places at meetings, debates and workshops are limited – first come, first served.
Join the event on Facebook
so you don’t miss any new information about Dialogopolis ’22!
Organisers
The project is organised by the Intercultural Dialogue Team of the Wrocław Centre for Social Development.
Dialogopolis is delivered as part of the ReSTART project, co-financed by the national Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) Programme and the state budget.
