INE Project · NOWEFIO
A management competence development programme for the staff of non-governmental organisations.
The relationship between the third sector and public administration is asymmetrical, not because of ill will on either side, but because of unequal access to knowledge about how the state takes decisions. The Academy evens out that asymmetry.
Source: Kondycja organizacji pozarządowych 2024 (The condition of NGOs 2024), Klon/Jawor Association, Warsaw 2025. kondycja.ngo.pl
A concrete mechanism lies behind these figures. Applications are rejected on formal grounds despite the substantive value of the projects. Demands fail to reach the relevant decision-making point. Grant settlements carry a risk whose scale is sometimes disproportionate to the capacity of a small organisation.
The knowledge needed to avoid this exists, but it is dispersed across statutes, guidelines and administrative practice. It is held primarily by people working inside public administration.
The Academy rests on transferring that knowledge in the direction in which it does not usually flow.
A weekend session, 16-20 teaching hours, a group of twenty. Three thematic modules. Participation, accommodation and meals free of charge.
The state budget cycle and the origin of funds for commissioned public tasks. Public finance discipline and the scope of liability of an organisation's governing bodies. Eligibility of expenditure, documenting costs, competitiveness rules. Obligations concerning data protection and child protection standards.
The anatomy of an administrative decision: who takes it, at what stage and on what grounds. Stakeholder mapping. Framing a demand in public policy terms. Drafting letters that meet formal requirements. Access to public information as an advocacy instrument.
Digital tools that reduce the administrative burden on an organisation. Streamlining document workflow. Solutions that can be implemented without an IT department and without a corporate budget.
Classes are based on authentic, anonymised documents: applications, official letters, post-inspection statements. Participants analyse material that has gone through a real administrative procedure, together with its outcome.
The faculty consists of experts with experience in government administration and the INE team, which carries out public tasks financed among others by NIW-CRSO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NATO Public Diplomacy Division.
The programme is addressed to people responsible for how an organisation functions, members of statutory bodies, management staff and people handling administrative and financial matters.
We set no requirements as to the size of the organisation, its budget or its experience in obtaining public funds. The selection criteria favour smaller and younger entities.
An individual application is entirely sufficient. We do, however, encourage submitting two people from one organisation, most often a board member and an operational staff member. Procedural change is easier to implement when it is backed by both a decision-making mandate and executive capacity.
Recruitment will open in October 2026. It will be open, nationwide and conducted on the basis of transparent scoring criteria.
Registration in the National Court Register or another relevant register. A declaration of participation in the full cycle.
Additional points are awarded to organisations from rural areas and towns of fewer than 50,000 inhabitants, and to organisations established between two and five years ago. The mechanism serves to decentralise access to support and to counteract the exclusion of entities with smaller capacity.
Assessment of the intended application of the knowledge in the organisation's practice.
marzec 2027 · czerwiec 2027 · wrzesień 2027 · grudzień 2027 · marzec 2028 · czerwiec 2028
The form covers only the data necessary to assess the application against the criteria set out above.
The application form below is available in Polish only. The programme is national in scope and the entire recruitment process is conducted in Polish. If you need assistance, write to kontakt@ine.org.pl.
Nationwide reach.
Materials developed in the project are made available free of charge under an open licence, regardless of participation in the training cycle. The first of them (the Prompt Library) is already available. We undertake to maintain them for a period of no less than five years after the project ends.
Co-financed by the National Freedom Institute – Centre for Civil Society Development under the Government Programme Fund for Civic Initiatives NOWEFIO for 2021–2030
