Social Mediation Agency (Studio M6 Foundation)

The project of the Social Mediation Agency (SAP) is an innovation that changes the direction of development of services provided in local communities. SAP is a tool that integrates the activities of public institutions, the NGO sector, entities and private persons in combating social exclusion on the local housing market and the labor market. Due to the huge need to secure a rental caused by the war in Ukraine, we accelerated the implementation of the project and launched a social intermediation service.

From February 24, 2022, thousands of refugees from Ukraine came to Toruń. The community solidarity movement provided them with basic needs such as food and temporary shelter. At the beginning of March 2022, the Polish government made the necessary changes to the labor law, enabling the same people from Ukraine to freely use the labor market. These steps were taken to ensure their long-term financial independence from government, local authorities and the NGO sector. Uncertainty about the future and the prolonged stay in Poland are the main motivators for many Ukrainian women to enter the local labor market in our city. Unfortunately, they do not know the specifics of the local economy, the needs and expectations of employers. Many refugees need help in collecting the documents necessary to apply for a job, and even help in preparing a CV and finding the right job, or in contacts with potential employers. Most of them also do not know Polish, which is another obstacle in communication and finding employment.

The project Intermediation with a social guarantee addresses these challenges. Studio M6 Foundation took steps to help refugees from the very first days of the war in Ukraine. As a social enterprise conducting vocational activation projects, we have experience in working for people who have problems with free access to the labor market. Thanks to the grant from the International Visegrad Fund, we can increase our activities of free aid provided under the Social Mediation Agency, social innovation developed in the international program Google.org Impact Challenge from the funds of Google.org.

The project is co-financed by the governments of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia thanks to Visegrad grants from the international Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to promote ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.