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Barka's Mission

Barka Foundation is a non-governmental organization. Its mission is to offer support for social development of excluded groups, build conditions to enable them to rebuild their lives by creating a system of mutual help, education and entrepreneurship, in line with a citizens’ society. 

The objective is to create a system of support for the process of integration of excluded groups. This system includes about 5000 persons annually (gathering persons in life crises, informal groups of citizens,non-governmental organizations, representatives of the government at national and local levels).

The main task is to create a program for the development of this system in Poland,in other countries in transformation and in developing countries.

The development of the program consists on creation of Schools of Social Animation (SAS – Szkoly Animacji Socjalnej), based on experiences and knowledge of people who overcame extreme poverty and serious life difficulties, and today are able to transfer the knowledge on the mechanisms of creation and development of programs of fight against social exclusion to groups from diverse regions of Poland and Europe, in a professional way. SAS educates in the self-help system future animators of centers and programs. The new Law on Social Employment and the project of Law on Social Cooperatives enable to give legal and financial support for the development of these programs in Poland.

EuroMI History

BARKA has organized the Polish-British Mission for the homeless and unemployed people in London and was invited for cooperation with two English organizations: the Simon Community  http://www.simoncommunity.org.uk office number (0044)075618270(3) and Housing Justice UNLEASH http://www.justhousing.org.uk/index.htm, who made a report on the complicated situation of Poles searching for job in UK. It comes out from the report that many of them do not find employment, start their life on the streets and become subject to live in degraded environments. British organizations fear that our compatriots may represent a social threat and, admitting that they are not in position to help them, ask support from the Polish side. Soon after that Barka has created EuroMi programme - Euromean Migrant's Integration Network.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Barka Foundation for Mutual Help was established as a response to increasing social problems during  transformation years. Barbara and Tomasz Sadowski wanted to create conditions in which the “forgotten and unwanted” could have a chance for personal growth and social development.

This mission influenced the creation of an alternative system of support, which gathers people from the weakest groups, giving them possibilities to rebuild their lives, upgrade vocational skills and find their way in the new socioeconomic reality. In 1989, these two psychologists set up the first Barka community, using the derelict school building in Wladyslawowo (in the West of Poznan). This first community gave a home for 25 “life wrecked”” individuals, who were living together with the Sadowski’s family. Wladyslawowo became the spring-board for the continuing mutual-help movement, engaging not only the people in need but also informal groups and non-governmental organizations in Poland and abroad. 

 

Due to the difficult situation of “work migrants” from the New Accession Countries (A8) in Great Britain, the Barka Foundation was invited for cooperation by two British organisations, Simon Community and Housing Justice UNLEASH, in August 2006. In September a Polish – British Mission for Employment was established. The project is aimed at providing assistance to “work migrants” who fail to find employment, end up on the streets and are  subject to quick degradation processes. Soon after launching the PBME project, we were contacted by various organizations and institutions from other Member States which face the same problems as the United Kingdom. In October 2006 creation of a European Migrants’ Integration Network (EuroMI) was initiated. The basic principles of the network were included in the appeal to the European Commission. The Euro MI representatives contributed to the Closing Conference of the European Year of Workers’ Mobility which was organized by the European Commission in Lille in France (11.12.12.2006). They presented  the basic aims of the European  Network  for Migrants Integrationwhich is being created. (short report) We would like to encourage you to engage in the EuroMI network and log in on our website in order to support our common initiative. If you log in, we will send you a newsletter on the most recent developments of the network and migration issues in general. You will also have the opportunity to decide about the priorities as well as co-create projects for migrants’ integration across Europe. 
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