THE ASSOCIATION OF REGIONAL INITIATIVES was established in December 2003 as a non-governmental non-profit organisation. It brings together mainly young people from Małopolskie Voivodeship, as well as from Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Silesia and Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, i.e. from most of southern Poland in the area where it is most active. Initially, the headquarters was located in Tarnów, where most of our members came from, now, due to the development of activities, we have moved the headquarters to Kraków. We carry out our actions at local, national and international level. The members of our association are people with experience in this kind of activities, often members of other organisations, and new, yet creative people who want to expand their knowledge and skills and actively participate in the creation and implementation of new regional initiatives. As part of our activities, we organise trainings, conferences, youth exchanges, workshops, sports events and many other didactic and integration projects. We have established and are constantly expanding cooperation with several non-governmental organisations in our region, with the Tarnów City Council and student self-governments of several universities in Małopolska. As part of the promotion of our business, we cooperate with Radio Kraków, the regional information portal tarnus.pl and recently also with the local section of the portal onet.pl.
Vision
Strong in human capital Poland, at the centre of a democratically integrated Europe, where active citizens respecting their diversity realise themselves at all levels of social life, contributing to the wise development of the whole continent.
Allocation
The Association supports individuals, groups and institutions in their efforts to shape modern civil society in Poland and Europe. The Association is a platform for cooperation, exchange of experience, development of intellectual capital, shaping the competences of members and supporters and supporting people with fewer opportunities. In promoting European integration, the Association actively uses European Union funds, which sets an example of active participation in social life. The Association places special emphasis on working with and for young people, seeing in it the future of modern Europe. The Association is a leader of positive changes in the sector of non-governmental organisations in southern Poland.
We implement the above mission by achieving our legal objectives, namely:
organising co-operation in the NGO sector,
organising international youth exchanges,
organising various integration and didactic events,
supporting the idea of European integration,
creation and implementation of new regional initiatives, both in the country and in international co-operation,
work for the disabled and disadvantaged,
cultural and scientific cooperation with people and institutions in Poland and abroad,
promoting sport and a healthy lifestyle,
care for the cultural heritage of Poland and Europe,
supporting ecological education and environmental protection.
So far, we have completed more than 20 projects with a total value of more than 1.5 million PLN, using funds from the Erasmus+, ‘Youth’, ‘Youth in Action’, Polish-Lithuanian Youth Exchange Fund and Polish-Ukrainian Youth Exchange Council programmes. These were mostly international youth exchanges and seminars. During these projects, we hosted representatives and groups from various organisations, from practically all European countries, a total of almost a thousand young people!
In addition to international projects, we also carried out numerous local activities, i.e. winter sports activities for young people from Krakow entitled ‘Holidays with curling’. For our members and supporters, we also organise regular discussion meetings and socio-cultural events in Tarnów, Kraków and other places in Małopolska. You can find more information about our projects in the section >>Projects<<.
Our members also participate in various foreign projects on a continuous basis, mainly by investing in themselves and gaining contacts for the association by participating in numerous trainings. We cordially invite you to cooperate with us! We are looking forward to young and motivated people joining our work and the joint implementation of future projects, including our own interesting initiatives!
