Ryszard Praszkier's Page

What motivated you (or your organization) to become involved in peace and conflict resolution?

I am working since 1995 for Ashoka, Innovators for the Public, traveling to Asia, Africa and other places. Am seeing the tremendous need for smart peace & conflict resolution programs. Also am fascinated by the innovative ways Social Entrepreneurs (Ashoka Fellows) find for addressing insurmountable situations

Please feel free to provide a short bio about yourself or the work of your organization (no more than 3 paragraphs)

Dr. Ryszard Praszkier is the Professional Development and Training Director for International Staff in Ashoka and is the Director for Bridge for Universities and Society (BUS), Global Initiative of Ashoka. Joined Ashoka as the Poland Country Director in 1994, launching the Ashoka program from scratch.
Prior to working at Ashoka, Ryszard was a practicing family psychotherapist, Founding Director of the Community Mental Health Center for Children and Youth in Warsaw, and the Polish national supervisor for psychotherapy. Involved in community mental health and prevention programs. He has authored over 20 books and articles on the emotional dimension of children and families, and has presented at international conferences on family psychotherapy in England, Finland, Germany, Austria, and the U.S.
During the 1980s, Ryszard participated in the underground Polish Solidarity movement, e.g. publicized under a false name an illegal manual for Solidarity activists “How to survive police interrogation”. Was a consultant for Solidarity candidates for the first free elections in 1989. In the early 1990’s was a co-founder of several grassroots NGO’s.
In the 90s he has coordinated Ashoka's expansion to the Baltics and helped building nominators network in the US; also participated in launching Ashoka in Ireland and Great Britain.
Along with staff and Ashoka Fellows in Poland, Ryszard launched Ashoka's School for Social Entrepreneurship (BUS,) an initiative designed to link business students and social entrepreneurs in productive, hands-on internships. He has been involved in designing Ashoka's staff training programs and has facilitated training events for staff.
Collaborates with the University of Warsaw researching social entrepreneurship; has completed a research “Social Entrepreneurs and Social Activists: A Comparative Analysis,” also authored and co-authored several articles on this issue. His Ph.D. dissertation was on the specific personality traits and specific methods used by social entrepreneurs.
Has been chairing the Ashoka selection panels in Canada (4 times,) Uganda (3 times,) Nepal (3 times,) Pakistan (5 times,) Bangladesh, India, Nigeria (twice) and Indonesia, also doing 2nd opinion reviews in USA, Hungary and Germany.

Please list the countries and/or regions in which you (or your organization) have direct and significant expertise

Pakistan, Nepal, Nigeria, Uganda, Canada, and more

What is your current country of residence (or location of your organization)?

Poland

What is your current job (and organization) and/or where and what field are you studying?

Ashoka, Innovators for the Public + Unoversity of Warsaw

How many years professional experience do you have ?

15+

What is your personal or organizational website?

http://www.ashoka.org

Which are your primary sectoral areas of expertise (or the primary sectoral areas of your organization) ?

Civil Society, Peacekeeping, Psychosocial

Which are your primary skills areas(or the primary skill areas of your organization)?

Research, Training

What are some of your current areas of research (if any)?

Am involved in researching the methods used by social entrepreneurs. The hypothesis is that they are building social capital while pursuing their ideas. The question is: how they do it?
There is a paper reporting this research, should anyone be interested

If appropriate feel free to list several of your (or your organization's) publications

Social entrepreneurship
Praszkier, R., Nowak, A., Coleman, P. (2009). Social Entrepreneurs and Constructive Change: The Wisdom of Circumventing Conflict. Peace and Conflict Resolution Journal. New York: Columbia University (in printing)

Praszkier, R., Nowak, Zaobłocka-Bursa, A. (2009). Social Capital built by Social Entrepreneurs and the specific Personality Traits that Facilitate the Process. In: Social Psychology, v4(10-11), 43-54

Praszkier, R. (2007). Trust as the pivotal factor of the social capital dynamics. In: Third Sector, Institute for Public Affairs, 10 / Summer 2007, Warszawa

Praszkier, R. (2006). Ordinary people or heroes? Motivation of social entrepreneurs. In: Third Sector, Institute for Public Affairs, 4, 2006, Warszawa

Praszkier, R., Nowak, A. (2005). Social changes triggered by social entrepreneurs. In: Third Sector, Institute for Public Affairs, 2, 2005, Warszawa.

Praszkier, R. (1999). Innovative Philanthropy. In: Philanthropy – a hearty help or a good business. Academy for Development of Philanthropy, Warszawa

Popularizing
Praszkier, R. (2009). Interview in the Newsweek magazine: “The Positive Deviants Republic”.

Praszkier, R. (2009). In Search for the Lost Power. A series of articles for the disabled. In: Integration, Warsaw

Praszkier, R. (2004). On entrepreneurship, changing the world and being up in the sky. In: School Principal, 4 (124), Warszawa

Praszkier, R. (2003). The need for social entrepreneurs, an interview. Ind: the Polish USA Diaspora daily newspaper Nowy Dziennik, New York, Nov. 12