Speakers

Maciej Żywno, born in 1976 in Białystok, is a proud husband and a father of one daughter and two sons. Professionally, he has worked as a social animator and activist, a municipal official and a NGO trainer. He graduated from the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology at the University of Białystok and completed a post-graduate course in NGO management at Collegium Civitas. He finished Training The Trainers Course for Social Animators University of Birmingham Social Science, as well as a post-graduate course in administration at the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw. For many years Żywno has been an instructor at The Polish Scouting and Guiding Association (ZHP). He is a certified instructor and an expert of National Association of Trener’s NGO and Organization of Assist Local Activity in Warsaw. Between 2003 and 2007 Żywno worked as the President of Białystok’s plenipotentiary for NGO cooperation. He also founded the NGO Consulting Team and co-founded and coordinated the Białystok NGO Cooperation Centre. In 2007 Żywno was appointed Governor of the Podlaskie Voivodeship and served two consecutive terms until 2014. His most significant achievements as the Governor include modernizing and creating border checkpoints, overhauling strategic roads in the region and implementing the Electronic Document Management System, which is currently used by more than 200 state institutions. Since December 2014 Maciej Żywno is a Vice-Marshal of Podlaskie Voivodeship. He supervises, among others, the work of Department for Regional Development and Department for Regional Operational Programme Implementation, whose main responsibilities include regional strategic planning and development, promotion of the region’s economy, as well as realization of the multi-fund ERDF/ESF Regional Operational Programme. The EU co-financed Regional Programme aims to increase the competitiveness of the region’s economy based on the regional strengths and assets.