In the Qwsi Local Action Group (LAG) area of Lower Silesia (southwest Poland), young people and the elderly were particularly affected by social exclusion. The main issues related to low levels of civic trust, lack of social capital know-how, and limited development and training opportunities outside formal education.

For young people, the local facilities for spending free time in an interesting way were poor. For the elderly, the concerning issues included limited opportunities to communicate with other citizens, very poor access to vital care and medical services, and a general perception that older people were lonely, sickly and avoiding social interaction.

Therefore, the greatest needs concerned mobilising young people and the elderly to promote social inclusion by proposing interesting activities in community safety and healthy living.

At the same time, it was clear from the experience of previous LEADER funding periods that the existing local civic society organisations had limited capabilities, competencies, and experience in procuring and implementing local community projects.

The idea was to create a small grant scheme for the Qwsi LAG area focusing on addressing social issues while simultaneously building the capacities of local civic society organisations in accessing and implementing EU-funding projects. This would improve the professionalism of the organisations in project implementation and provide them with the necessary experience of applying for external resources and implementing EU-funded projects.

The grant scheme aimed to strengthen social capital and mobilise the LAG area’s citizens, in particular the target groups that were least often engaged in social activity, such as the elderly (those aged over 50) and young persons (aged 12-18 years). The projects supported by the grant scheme were to address issues related to improving the safety and health of local residents. The particular focus was on supporting mobilising activities for the elderly and young people and included training, sporting and leisure-time events, and other events (competitions in cinema, the arts and a social campaign).

The grant fund was set up and allowed small local civil society organisations to apply for funding ranging from EUR 1 200 to EUR 7 200. The applicants could cover up to 100% of their eligible project costs and receive a 70% advance. Participation in the funded activities was to be free of charge for local citizens.

Advisory support was provided during the application, implementation and payment processes.

The successful applicants were selected through a competition, which addressed the various identified needs of local communities. Thirteen safety and healthy living projects were selected. The funded initiatives usually ran for six months, from September 2017 to early 2018.

Most supported initiatives were designed for all age groups and promoted healthy living and strengthened social capital by offering a range of activities and training workshops. Popular topics included physical activities such as swimming, Nordic walking, cycling, self-defence, yoga, aqua-gym, etc. In addition, first aid topics were regularly promoted by a number of funded projects and themes on healthy eating, cooking skills, safety, art and ecology, traffic safety, plane modelling and environmentally friendly ceramics.

There were lectures on local environmental resources, recycling and upcycling (reusing resources) as well as bees and beekeeping, including their environmental benefits.

While covering similar topics, a few projects were specifically designed for the elderly rural population offering workshops in intuitive dance–art therapy, WenDo, workshops in ceramics, natural materials, cosmetics, cookery, healthy vegetarian cooking, yoga, Nordic walking, aqua-gym, first aid and self-defence.

One project was specifically designed for young people and offered culinary, recycling and open-air dancing workshops.

The following was achieved: