New funds, new partners — how local governments can finance civil protection and civil defence

23 July 2026 · Webinar 2 of the “Together We Build Societal Resilience” series · “Public-Private Partnership and the Democratic Supply Chain in Societal Resilience”

On 23 July 2026, the International Centre for Civil and Societal Security (ICCSS) held the second webinar in its “Together We Build Societal Resilience” series, devoted to the practical aspects of public-private partnership in civil protection — financing local-government investment, cooperation with the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves, and the development of the Democratic Supply Chain for Resilience. The meeting brought together representatives of local governments, national administration and the private sector from across Poland.

Jan Rajchel

Jan Rajchel (President of the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves, RARS) presented the Agency's new role — from manager of strategic stockpiles to integrator of the resilience system — grounded in Articles 17(1)(19) and 33(6) of the Civil Protection Act, which open direct cooperation between local governments and RARS. He identified three partner groups — state authorities, local governments and the private sector — and invited joint efforts to overcome two barriers: limited familiarity with procedures among smaller local governments, and businesses' fragmentary knowledge of the Strategic Reserves Act's contracting instruments.

Krzysztof Dec

Krzysztof Dec (Deputy Mayor of Otwock) outlined financing sources available to local governments for civil protection — from voivode grants and the crisis-management reserve, through the Public Safety and Civil Protection Modernisation Fund, to the new Security and Defence Fund (approximately PLN 23 billion from Poland's National Recovery Plan, including PLN 11.2 billion for local governments). He presented public-private partnership as an alternative to budgetary financing — a way to share risk and deliver large investments without a one-off burden on the municipal budget.

Amb. Krzysztof Paturej

Amb. Krzysztof Paturej (Chairman, ICCSS) opened the webinar and presented societal resilience as a new economic market category, alongside the new PPP simplification introduced in May 2026 (Article 153(4) of the Civil Protection Act). He discussed the concept of the Democratic Supply Chain for Resilience — an ICCSS initiative under development, building a supplier registry under the roles of Chain Architect and Chain Link — and invited companies to join via IRLF @ MSPO 2026 and KIELCE IFRE-EXPO 2027.

The webinar closed with a direct invitation to the 1st International Resilience Leaders Forum, IRLF @ MSPO 2026 (10 September, Kielce Fairgrounds), and an announcement of the 1st International Forum on Societal Resilience, Civil Protection and Civil Defence, to be held during KIELCE IFRE-EXPO (10–12 June 2027, Kielce). KIELCE IFRE-EXPO will see the inauguration of the International Resilience Hub — integrating a trade fair for rescue equipment and technology with a global congress, training and exercise programmes, and a certification system for resilience technologies and services. Registration: www.irlf.eu

Next webinar in the series

• Topic: New Crisis Management Act and the Implementation of Societal Resilience in Local Governments
• Date: 13 August 2026, 14:00, online
• Special Guest: Zbigniew Muszyński, Director of the Government Centre for Security (RCB)
• Registration: www.irlf.eu