Polish aid

The horizontal effect of human rights measures that were carried out as part of these initiatives was also evaluated. The projects selected for evaluation had been carried out with the participation of Ukrainian partners in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and in the Lviv and Vinnytsia Oblasts (regional development support) and in Poland (educational projects).

The main purpose of evaluation was, on the one hand, to define the role played by selected development initiatives in enhancing the economic and social potential of partner countries and, on the other, to identify the factors that affect the implementation of Polish projects. Its results can also be used by potential applicants and other participants of projects implemented under Polish development cooperation.

The evaluation has reaffirmed Polish development cooperation’s positive image, identified elements which after minor adjustment would additionally boost this positive image and outlined a possible reorientation in the programming and implementing of development initiatives over the next years. It also identified possible changes in assistance initiatives which could effectively improve Polish development activities.

The evaluation has shown specifically that:

1. Projects carried out in Ukraine
   • responded to genuine needs. Their beneficiaries gained knowledge about regional development and rural areas, the development of associations, activation and self-organisation of local communities, brownfield regeneration and internal audit. They have also improved their skills in drafting sustainable development strategies and regeneration/renewal plans, project applications, as well as conducting internal audits or setting up associations.
   • have blended well with measures implemented by the beneficiaries and also effectively complemented initiatives carried out by other donors. The applicants realized their planned objectives. They were able to do so because they were well prepared, had experience and tapped into the capacities of their Ukrainian partners. The implementation of projects has contributed to enhancing these capacities.
   • provided a development impetus at the local level and have helped to create an image of Poland as a modern and open state.
2. Global education projects implemented in Poland:
   • were diverse and were implemented on a wide scale and adjusted to the situation and the needs of the beneficiaries (teachers, students, academics). The projects achieved planned quality and quantity objectives. They have provided practical and useful knowledge that schools can apply. However, they did not bring about a structural change in the education system. It is up to the teachers to decide whether they want to introduce global education into the learning process.
   • have contributed to a change of attitudes on the part of the participants of the implemented projects. However, this change is clearly visible only in the people who directly benefitted from the assistance. One-off interventions that lack mechanisms that would make the changes permanent risk quickly losing people’s interest and do not leave lasting imprints in the form of changed attitudes and motivations to act.
   • have increasingly relied on modern technologies, but there is still room to tap into their full potential. E-learning trainings have proven the most popular. Thanks to such measures knowledge about global education can be developed on a wide scale.
3. The majority of evaluated projects accounted for human rights issues. The direct and indirect presence of this subject matter in implemented projects and its interpretation varied.