Flourish like Alcea

Flourish like Alcea

Malwa Plus, which translates as Alcea Plus, is an association that has been synonymous with wise help for over 20 years. The Grodzisk-based association nurtures true talents of virtually any age in stage performance, sports and art.  

The project enabled Malwa Plus to expand the scale of their support. The association used EU funding to develop new innovative forms of social and occupational integration for people with disabilities. Each participant of the programme followed their individual activity plan focusing on self-reliance, activity and gaining important social skills.

‘Our centre has gained two new well-equipped therapy rooms, one general-purpose and one for occupational training. Project participants learn new skills, for example, to do shopping,’ says Joanna Purtak, the Project Manager. The list of activities is impressive and includes floral design, felting, production of candles and Christmas cards which city administration then sends to its partners.

The association has traditionally organized two major holiday-related events the focal point of which is a live performance by patients. A reward for attending classes for several months are joint excursions and attractive trips, e.g. to Warsaw, Łódź, and Kazimierz Dolny.

Sizable aid
In Poland, we can find 700 professional therapy workshops that have attracted 26 thousand people with severe and moderate disabilities.

Iwona Mejsner, the President of the Association, and Agnieszka Muszyńska, the project promoter, were eager to have an integration-common room developed under the project. The common room was to facilitate the integration and rehabilitation of people whose assessment reports do not prescribe participation in workshops. And they succeeded! The project helped to develop a day-care facility for 40 people. ‘A common denominator for all activities is to promote self-reliance. We are particularly interested in the occupational development of our patients. We organize occupational training for them. Some patients established their own businesses and others found jobs in local companies,’ says Iwona Mejsner.

Project: Social and occupational integration of people with disabilities within Malwa Plus professional therapy workshops and the integration-common room
Project cost: PLN 1.2 million, including approx. PLN 989 thousand from the European Regional Development Fund, Mazowieckie Regional Programme