Foundation / About us
We act because... change will not happen by itself!
Do you want to take a stand for people or groups affected by discrimination and deepen your pro-social interests? Are you looking for an opportunity to improve your activist skills? Do you want to join an international network of leaders and make the world a little bit better together? Follow our social media! Apply for our programs!
What makes us different?
We are a part of the transatlantic Humanity in Action (HIA) network operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and the USA. The HIA network currently consists of more than 2,600 activists and is constantly growing. Since 2008, we have been passionate about creating innovative educational projects and initiatives that combine human rights with history education and that have a concrete impact on activist work in support of democracy, civil society, and diversity. We focus on the relations between minorities,the majority society in Poland, and other democratic countries and work towards improving these relations. We are looking for new approaches to existing social challenges in order to inspire people to collectively overcome prejudices. On one hand, human rights are our tools for taking action, and on the other hand, they are a symbol of a certain social contract, the significance of which can only be assessed in a historical context. We believe that to change things for the better, theory and practice must go hand in hand!
More information
We have received numerous awards for our work. In 2015, we received the prestigious international Intercultural Achievement Award of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As part of the S3KTOR competition of the City of Warsaw in 2016, the Foundation received the award for the best non-governmental initiative in the category “Education”, as well as a special award from the citizens of Warsaw. In 2018, the “Kuchnia Konfliktu” (“Conflict Kitchen”) – a street food initiative founded by a graduate of our Academy – also received a distinction from the citizens in the S3KTOR competition. Our activities are often pioneering – we have created the first network of activists with and without disabilities in Poland, and the first national congress for cyberactivists (“Strefa Interakcji”). Our flagship program, the international Human Rights Academy/Warsaw HIA Fellowship, has been running since 2006 and has been ranked in the top ten among educational fellowships in the world by the opinion leader portals Human Rights Careers and College Magazine.