Representatives of an NGO from Liverpool arrived in the mid-western city of Poznan on Wednesday to study how Poland copes with its long-term unemployed.

“The British are interested especially in solutions to the long-term unemployment problem,” Justyna Szefer-Kurkowiak from the Poznan PISOP Centre of promotion and development of civic initiatives told Polish Radio.

“The Liverpool region, Merseyside, is one of the poorest regions in the UK. There is a problem of unemployment there. We can show how we are trying to combat this problem or at least reduce its scope.”

Poznan and the entire western Wielkopolska region boast numerous initiatives focusing on the problem of unemployment, homelessness and social exclusion.

One of the main institutions which the British visitors are looking at closely is the Barka Foundation, established some twenty years ago, to help a large number of people who found themselves jobless and homeless as Poland switched to a market economy.

Over the years, Barka developed a network of self-sufficient communities and social integration centers as well as a re-housing program.

In 2007 Barka UK was established to help Poles who emigrated to Britain in search of better life and job opportunities and eventually ended up in the street. (kk)