In 1992, PHO was a new unknown organisation. Since that time, we have grown and developed into a widely recognized organization which uses modern tools of management and fundraising.

Due to close cooperation with local and international organizations our efficiency is still increasing.

Over the 15 years PHO has implemented projects in cooperation with UNHCR, UNICEF, ICRC, IRCand WHO. In 2003 PHO was invited (as the first Polish NGO) to work with the European Commission Humanitarian Office. Therefore, we are able to fundraise effectively outside Poland, hence multiplying resources allocated to ourhumanitarian programs. Cooperation with ECHO allows only 24 hours for resources to be approved in case of emergency, essentially making it possible for PHO to act immediately. In addition, UNHCR recognized PHO as a key implementing partner in Poland. PHO has been invited by the European Commission to participate in the TRIALOG project, which aims at increasing social awareness of development problems among EU citizens as well asfostering cooperation between European NGOs.

PHO is a founding member of the Zagranica Group - an association of Polish non-govemmental organizations working abroad in cooperation with and forthe benefit of foreign partners. Ali the membersofthe Zagranica Group are conjoined by the will ofacting togetherin orderto create betterconditions in Poland and Europe for developing supportive activitiesfor countries in need.

The Zagranica Group is also a member of the pan - European network Concord. In this way PHO has developed the capacity to influence the shaping of national and European-level humanitarian and development policies.

As of 2003 PHO has built an Endowment Fund, which currently amounts to morę than 1 000 000 USD. The funds were initially provided by "Trust for a Cvii Society in Central and Eastern Europę" (a consortium of private foundations: Atlantic Philanthropies, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Ford Foundation, German Marshall Fund of the United States, Open Society I nstitute, Rockefeller Brothers Fund) with the main requirement that any funds donated need to be matched 1:1 with independently fundraised. The Endowment Fund has an independent lnvestment Council consisting of financial market practitioners, who advise PHO Board on necessary decisions. Furthermore, the fund is managed by a professional institution chosen in an open tender, subject to the conditions specified by our institutional donors. The performance of the portfolio invested in low-risk profiled instruments is judged againstthebenchmarkonamonthlybasis.

According to the research carried out pro bono by the market research company GFK Polonia, PHO is perceived as the quickest and the most flexible Polish NGO, and at the same time the most modern and the most innovative among all humanitarian organization operating in Poland.

Polish Humanitarian Organisation is a non governmental organisation registered in Poland, which works internationally and within the country. Our Mission is to make the world a better place through alleviation of human suffering and promotion of humanitarian values. PHO realizes its mission by helping communities in crises to regain responsibility for their own futurę and become self-reliant. PHO shapes humanitarian attitudes among the public and creates modern culture of mutual help. PHO combines effectiveness with the respect for human dignity.

PHO's activities are based on two main pillars: humanitarian and development aid in places which suffer from natural disasters, conflictsorstructural povertyand also Humanitarian Education in Poland. In addition, Refugee and Repatriates Counseling Center provides assistance to foreigners seeking shelter and repatriates starting a new life in Poland.

PHO has actively provided humanitarian aid for 15 years. The first campaigns included the convoys for Bośnia and Kosovo in 1992. Since then, PHO has specialized in emergency relief, dispatching tons of assistance to victims of earthquakes (e.g. Iran, Pakistan, Turkey), hurricanes (USA), tsunamis (Sri Lanka, Java), floods (Czech Republic, Germany) and military conflicts (Chechnya, Sudan, Afghanistan, Lebanon).

Our presence in these areas frequently extends to overseas missions assisting local communities in sustainable recovery efforts. These activities include vocational and non-formal training, reconstruction, capacity building of local communities, child care as well as refugee assistance. Predominantly however, PHO focuses on water and sanitary projects. These activities are financed through private donations, as well as institutional funding provided by international agencies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and EU authorities.

The Humanitarian Education Programme is directed to students and pupils, teachers and NGOs. The aim of the programme is to increase their awareness and sensitivity to the humanitarian and development issues. Young people participate in classes and workshops, conducted either by their teachers or by humanitarian education trainers. The topics cover such issues as refugees, human rights, volunteerism, helping, tolerance and racism. Teachers are being trained on methodologies of development education and are supplied with teaching materials. PHO also publishes a magazine "We are helping" ("Pomagamy') which is edited by PHO's volunteers and covers humanitarian, developmentand human rights topics.

Since 1994, PHO's educational program has developed in terms of content(from purely humanitarian issues to morę complex issues of interdependence), structure (from ad hoc actions to long-term and specialized projects), target groups (from generał public to specific: teachers, pupils, volunteers and other NGOs). At the same time, addressing the public is the main task for the PR department, successfully engaging many commercial partners on fully non-commercial basis in many advocacy and social awareness projects.

PHO is a fast developing, flexible institution easily adapting to dynamie and changing conditions. As it extends its overseas field missions, PHO seeks for other, alternative sources of funding. PHO staff has been trained in the framework of exchange and capacity building programs byAmerican agencies (e.g. Federal Emergency Management Agency). Moreover, the American Embassy in Warsaw has been frequently supporting some of PHO's educational and development programs, whilethe United Nation's High Commissioner for Refugees has regarded PHO as a key implementing partner in Poland for the pastdecade. In 2003 PHO has signed the Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) with European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO) henceforth implementing sanitation projects funded by ECHO, among others in Groźny, Chechnya. Recently, PHO has engaged into the compliance process with USAID, with the aim of eventually enabling direct application for US. Until now, projects for Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI) in lraq and for National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in Afghanistan as well as a number of projects in Chechnya for European Commission Humanitarian Office(ECHO) have been positively evaluated - PHO has proved to be a responsible, reliable and a professional partner.

Over the fifteen years PHO has grown to employ morę than 70 HQand mission fields workers and operates in the network of morę than 200 volunteers on constant basis. PHO strongly believes in partnership with all international humanitarian actors. We put the needs of the beneficiaries as a principal criterion for our program development, building strong cooperation with other NGOs as well as seriously implementing harmonization and standardization in ourdaily activities.

This effort has been noticed by many international institutions. PHO's president, Janina Ochojska-Okońska has received a number of awards, including European Woman of the Year, Honorary Legion and Karski Award (from the Polish community in USA). Moreover, many of PHO's activities were noticed, including the most prestigious recognitions of civic society initiatives in Poland, a Pro Publico Bono prize awarded to Humanitarian Education programs.

1. Show solidarity
Assistance means solidarity with those in need and helps to build a truly civic society in both donor and recipient countries.

2. Share and respect each other
Assistance should bring people together. It should mean real sharing and not distributing goods we do not need. Humanitarian aid must respect human dignity support it and not destroy it.

3. Beneficiaries can do it themselves
Beneficiaries should be involved in the entire aid process from the emergency stages through planning and the subsequent implementation of aid programmes. Relieving the beneficiaries of work they can do themselves, as well as excessive use of foreign workers and volunteers weakens local initiative.

4. Do not increase anarchy
Close cooperation with local and central authorities is necessary even if they are not very efficient. Such cooperation creates conditions for experience sharing and reinforces the local officials' sense of responsibility for the communities they serve.

5. Foster the spirit of initiative
Local NGOs should be partners of foreign organisations realizing aid programmes. The awareness that foreign aid is limited in time and that at any given moment they will have to take over and continue our job, servesas a strong mobilizing factor for the local population and prevents over dependence on outside assistance. Aid giving organization should fosterin them the spiri of activism: let's do it together, let's help ourselves.

6. Create the foundation for trust
At any stage of the aid process (emergency as well as implementation of development programs), in the places where ethnic conflict took place, simultaneous help to dvii victims of all parts of conflict, impartiality and autonomy is necessary. Such attitude creates the foundation for trust and enhances intercourseof all parts of conflict.

7. Mutual understanding helps
NGOs working in post-conflict areas deal with different cultures, languages and customs,which can prove a difficult barrier to their efficient operating. lt is therefore of particular importance not to be guided by our preconceptions about the scope and kind of assistance needed, but to make an effort to assess the real needs. It is equally important not to simply copy and pastę solutions developed in our countries but to adjust our working methods and style to the specific local conditions. An NGO's efficiency stems not merely from its previous experience in other countries, but from its ability to answer new challenges.

8. Narrow the distance
International aid presence stimulates development in crisis-stricken areas provided the distance between aid providers and the beneficiaries is kept at a minimum. NGOs should strive for a partnership with their beneficiaries rather than just giving out aid without involving those who receive it in the process. Consequences may be of attitudes of entitlement or unreasonable demands.

9. We are only here for a while
Our main role is to lay the foundation for peace and social trust. Assistance provided should lead not only allow the beneficiaries to rebuild their independence but also to develop their confidence so they are willing and able to influence theirown futurę when the NGO is no longerthere.

10. Create positive legacy
Humanitarian or development aid should leave a positive and lasing effect, which will become a path to civic society development in a post-crisis setting. What we leave behind should enable the society to help other society in need.

Providing access to potable water and improvement of sanitary standards are the first and indispensable steps that Polish Humanitarian Organizationtakestosavehuman life and relieve humansuffering. Ourfocus on the waterand sanitation sectors resultsfrom a long processof familiarization with the problems of the most disadvantaged regions in the world. Lack of access to potable waterand Iow sanitary standards constitute the most basie obstacle to development and empowerment.

PHO's water and sanitation programs are not only about providing facilities. We consider this is just a first step to the empowerment of these communities. Re-building waterand sanitary facilities destroyed in military conflicts or in natural disasters, often exceeds the possibilities of local communities.
We believe that a through assessment should precede any action. A high quality assessment done in cooperation with the local inhabitants, organizations and institutions has frequently helped us many times avoid mistakes. in actions. This is our way of working and we have used this method in many places e.g. in Sri Lanka and in Sudan.

In the coastal areas of Ampara, Sri Lanka, where the tsunami destroyed virtually all water facilities, PHO in cooperation with local communities conducted a comprehensive assessment, resulting in the construction of a new network instead of desalting of the existing wells.

Thanks to PHO's water projects in this district, as much as 1/3rd of watersupply in the region has been assured, offering these communities anopportunityofanewstart.

In Southem Sudan, PHO helps to establish local Water Committees which comprise of members of different ethnic groups. They are involved in the process of building the borę holes from the very beginning. Furthermore, both the Committees and community representatives are trained in maintenance of the infrastructure, which inereases the facilities' durability. Finally, the assessment indicated that intensive and comprehensive trainings about adequate sanitary standards are indispensable for the investments to have a real impact on the life standards (contaminated water containers and pollution by animals are as important health threats as the lack of water access itself). The training has proven highly successful in altering sanitary habits, thus effectively contributing to long-lasting relief in human suffering caused by various diseases.

PHO has undertaken several water projects in the most disadvantaged regions of the world with varied approaches both in terms of technical (from borh holes, through sanitary infrastructure to rainwater harvesting) and social infrastructure. Our focus on the people and providing relief in theirsuffering is the key success factor in implementing these projects.

War and natural disasters break down the order of people's everyday lives. As a result, people do not continue education, lose their jobs and indispensable tools to earn their living. It also destroys economical structure of a society. Securing life and health should be accompanied by giving a chance for self maintenance. Empowerment projects are undoubtedly very important, as is proper and individual adjustment of those projects to the community needs.

PHO activities rangę from completing gaps in vocational education to providing necessary tools. We put emphasis on cooperating with local govemors and NGOs. They have knowledge about the needs and problems of local communities which is essential to support the most vulnerable and needful group of people. Additionally, it is much easier for them to convince and encourage beneficiaries to make an effort in becoming self-reliant, to start with a new job orfind a way to adopt to a new life - after moving orchanging social roles.

In the Palestinian Authority our main goal has been enabling a group of women to start sheep and goats husbandry; in Afghanistan thanks to our project public administration workers have been leaming English and IT. The tribal communities in Southem Sudan have been provided with adequate training in peaceful land conflict resolution. Moreover, they have been encouraged to increase and diversify theirfood production by altemative and innovative agriculture techniques training. In Sri Lanka, after the tsunami we distributed tools to widowed women. They could reconstruct their lives and gained sustain able source of income.

PHO's empowerment projects allow beneficiaries to take responsibility for their own lives, adopt to their newsituation and rebuild their self-confidence.

Polish Humanitarian Organisation believes that education is one of the most important tools to get people out of extreme poverty. Only educated and conscioussocieties will be able to lift thei rcountries to a higher level of development and make the gap between North and South smaller. lt provides the children andyouth with life opportunities and gives them a chance fora better future.

Whether in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Sri Lanka or lraq, PHO gets involved in wide rangę of educational programmes promoting sustainable solutions. PHO is active both in primary and secondary education. While the involvement in primary education is PHO's contribution to the achievementofthe Millennium DevelopmentGoals, the reconstruction of secondary and vocational schools is also its important objective.

In Afghanistan, a country with one of the lowest education indicators in the world, education projects are one of PHO's priorities. In 2002 a public fundraising campaign called "1 zloty for children in Afghanistan" was launched in Poland. Thanks to the Polish children's generosity PHO reconstructed the Arts and Musie Secondary School in Kabul which had been closed by the Taliban. Since then, morę vocational and primary schools have been re/constructed by PHO in Afghanistan.

Beside formal education, PHO runs several informal education programmes in Kabul's orphanages and rural areas of Kapisa province. They include musie and fine arts classes and English, computing and beauty parlor courses. In the developing world girls' rights to education are very often neglected. Therefore all the projects are particularly addressed at girls.

Another of PHO's big concems is the local communitys involvement in the educational projects. PHO expects from the beneficiaries to provide some easily accessible materials as well as unskilled labor. Once the implementation stage is complete, the community members become involved in maintenance of facilities and other activities that benefit the local educational infrastructure.

Education is also very important to people during the time of crisis when schools and universities are usually closed. It gives them hope for better days and skills that will be very useful in the post - crisis times. In Strebce (Kosovo) in 1999 PHO provided a broadband intemet connection forthe students so they could continue theirstudies in Belgrade.

For PHO education means much morę than just humanitarian assistance. It is an investment in people's futurę and their capacity to help themselves.

In emergency settings, the principal aid objective is to save human life and to remove, insofaras possible, the direct source of suffering. PHO aims to deliver emergency solutions that are both durable and widespread interms of beneficiary numbers.

It is of utmost importance that beneficiaries join in the assistance process so that they are able to regain as soon as possible independence and control overtheir lives. PHO cooperates with local authorities, experts and NGOs operating in the crisis-affected areas. The character and quantity of aid provided is decided following a case-by-case need assessment. This was the case, among others, in flood-ravaged areas of Siberia in 2001 orin earthquake-affected Indonesia in 2006; in both instances, assistance provided by PHO consisted of tools necessary in order to rebuilt households and remove other damage. The beneficiaries repaired the damages themselves using the tools provided. PHO's assistance is thus aimed at creating added value through fostering the beneficiarys dignity: ratherthan basing aid on free giveaways, we seek to involve the target communities in thei rown recovery process.

PHO engages in emergency assistance when the scalę of a crisis and the resulting needs exceed the capacity of the existing local response structures (i.e. local authorities, military etc.) Our assistance, aimed at responding to the beneficiaries' basie needs, is an expression of solidarity. In orderto furtherfostersolidarity, we seekto engage the Polish people in the aid process not only through individual donations but also through volunteerism. Our objective has been to steerthe public opinion away from beneficiary attitudes typical to the post-Soviet błock and toward helping others. The remarkable level of public involvement achieved so fartranslates into figures: within the last 15years, PHO has delivered to 34 countries emergency assistance worth nearly 11 milions USD.

PHO's first emergency response began in December 1992 with an aid convoy to the besieged city of Sarajewo; the convoy transported 115 tons of goods collected among the Polish people in a nationwide campaign. Until the year 2000, PHO's emergency response in and outside Poland consisted for the most part in aid convoys, and volunteers formed the majority of the organisation's staff. As the next step, the organisation stepped into the Water and Sanitationsectors by launching infrastructure reconstruction projects(waterdistributionsystems, sanitaryfacilities).

Nowadays, PHO works in both emergency and post-emergency settings through improving access to water, sanitation, education and healthcare. At the same time, community empowerment remains our underlying goal. Based on our experience thus far, we have created flexible needs assessment tools. One example of such flexibility was PHO's medical needs assessment conducted following the 2006 Indonesia earthquake: thanks to the immediate establishment of information exchange with Polish citizens who witnessed the disaster we were able to conduct a detailed assessment of the local hospitals' needs.

Poland does not seem a poor country. Neither does Lithuania. Nonetheless, a study conducted in the periphery areas demonstrated that some children are severely malnourished, while no public programmes existed to tackle this problem. Problem proved to be independent of the relative deprivation of the areas, existing on individual and not necessarily community levels. PHO was the first institution in Poland to raise the issue of malnutrition in our country. In addition to fundraising activities, there is an awareness campaign every year, explaining the difference between malnutrition and hunger and pointing to its consequences (this campaign is especially addressed to schools and parents).

The very design of the Wooden Puppet program conveys three major messages. First of all, this is individual assistance - schools file applications with the numberof children that require supplementaryfeeding but without disclosing publicly the namesof the needy children. Secondly, sińce this program is funded entirely by private donations, large emphasis is put on transparency - not only do we inform how many meals a year these donations finance, but alsowhich schools and how many children, which permits very simple verification o four claims.

Thirdly, this is not a charity program, which means that providing financing for supplementary feeding is just a first step in assisting the schools and their pupils in overcoming the barriers they may experience. Schools and local communities can benefit from trainings on how to fundraise for financing development, while they are also encouraged to participate in humanitarian education initiatives. The Wooden Puppet program was subsequently extended to children in Lithuania, while similar activities were undertaken in Romania, Iran and Afghanistan.

The Wooden Puppet program was the first in CEECs to use click-to-donate as a fundraising tool, with currently over 30 000 independent visitors a day. This means that provision of a warm meal a day to deprived children results from a combined voluntary effort of donors and the local communities where these children live. Teachers implement the program on a daily basis without any financial reward, while parents engageinto monitoring of malnutrition problems among the colleagues of their own children.

PHO realises its mission through provision of humanitarian assistance as well as through education. In the latter, we aim to inform the Polish people about other societies' needs and problems in order to open their minds and raise awareness on how they can be involved. Our educational activities have led many Poles to become part of the aid process and thus contribute to alleviating human suffering in the world.

Poland has a long-standing charity tradition, but it was not until 1989 that a culture of involvement in intemational aid began to emerge as a result of increased civic awareness and economic development as well as creation of a legał framework. For 15years, PHO has developed its potential, gained experience and leamed

how to foster a humanitarian outlook through education.

We have worked, on a daily basis, with several communities and social groups, including children andyouth, teachers, students, joumalists, politicians.

We have implemented a variety of educational activities, such as training workshops, counselling and support for teachers and students, school activities, preparation of educational and information materials, as well as various projects and campaigns addressed at schools.

Increased involvement of schools, teachers, students and volunteers has translated into tangible results, such as two highly successful PHO campaigns aimed at collecting symbolic donations from students. The funds thus collected were used to finance the reconstruction of the Kabul ArtsSchool and co-finance well construction inSouth Sudan.

PHO's educational work also encompasses social awareness campaign focusing on the Millenium Development Goals, including access to potable water, access to education, reduction of poverty and related topics such as children malnutrition or refugee issues in Poland.

These campaigns have tangibly influenced the beneficiaries' situation. Since 1998, for instance, PHO's 'Pajacyk' campaign has created among a vast majority of Poles an awareness of children malnutrition across the country. Both the central and local authorities have been mobilised toward remedying the problem, as have local communities. Similarly, PHO's lobbying with the Polish govemment' legislative branch and PHO-provided consultation have led to the passing of improved refugee laws. Currently, our organisation is lobbying for the passing of a Development Aid act which would lead to an increase in Poland's funding forprojects in the world's poorest countries.

We believe that increased knowledge and awareness of the Global South's problems has mobilised the people of Poland to take action to influence the South's future.