Baobab Project, Homo Faber, Poland
Anna Dąbrowska is the president of the Homo Faber Association. She is a graduate of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights’ School of Human Rights and the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, as well as the US Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP 2024). At Homo Faber, she focuses on advocacy and coordinates activities related to creating systemic, inclusive integration solutions at the local level. She also coordinates the development of the
city’s integration policy document. In the years 2009-2017, she was the coordinator of the “Welcome to Lublin” (EFI) project, the main goal of which was to test integration tools at the city level. She chairs the Civic Dialogue Commission for the integration of migrants in Lublin and is a co-chair of the Migration Consortium, an association of organizations working for migrants and refugees in Poland.
The Baobab Project is an integration center that provides a safe, inclusive space and resources for migrants, refugees, and local residents to connect, share, and build community, offering activities like language classes, legal aid, cultural events, and support for job market integration. The audience asked questions about the name of the project, which referred to a tree on the Market Square in Lublin, as well as the reactions of the local inhabitants of Lublin and how the initiative had changed the social atmosphere in the city, addressing the appearance of refugees and counteracting animosity and violence between the groups.