A New Fund for Civil Society!
The new Civic Society Fund was launched on 20 November 2024. The programme is funded by Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein under the new period of the EEA and Norway Funds. The new Civil Society Fund aims to strengthen democracy, human rights and the capacities of non-profit organisations in Europe.
The total allocation is 300 million euros, for the Czech Republic the amount has been increased to 20.3 million euros compared to the previous grant period.
The Civil Society Fund is an essential source of financial aid for civil society organisations at a time when democratic institutions are facing unprecedented challenges.
An information day for organisations and those interested in taking on the role of facilitator will take place on 12 February 2025 in Prague.
You can find more information here.
President Petr Pavel thanked civil society organizations for their courage and excellent work in the Active Citizens Fund
On Thursday, 17 October 2024, 300 representatives of civil society gathered in the Prague Castle Ballroom to celebrate the completion of the Active Citizens Fund programme, which supported 305 projects with more than 300 million Czech crowns. The event entitled A Celebration of Courage paid tribute to the work of organizations that have involved nearly 3 million people in the Czech Republic with the goal of improving life in the country over the 5 years of the programme. The Celebration of Courage was supported by the President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel, who personally thanked all those who implemented these projects. He emphasized that “a well-functioning civil society can be not only a guarantor of preserving democracy, but also a guarantor of preserving and deepening its values and thus the full life of society.” The first-lady Eva Pavlová also gave her patronage to the event.
The Active Citizens Fund programme in the Czech Republic is managed by a consortium of three organisations – OSF Prague, the Committee of Goodwill – Olga Havel Foundation and the Scout Institute. From 2019 to 2024, the consortium provided significant grant support for civic participation, the empowerment of disadvantaged groups and the strengthening of non-profit organisations. It developed organisations in the field of digital competences and online fundraising. International cooperation also played a key role in the entire programme. Supported organisations were able to part in study trips where they could be inspired by the work of the civil sector in partner countries.
Allow us to take you back to the Castle together once more – continue reading, look at the photos from the event and the report!
We were delighted to receive your messages and impressions from the Celebration of Courage. Thank you!
I was genuinely touched. When I listened to everyone’s speeches, I had a lump in my throat. It’s kind of sad that I realized that in my 20 years at the nonprofit, this was the first experience where I felt this kind of sincere appreciation of the work being done by all of us. To make a long story short, I returned home with such a contented feeling that it all had a great amount of meaning and with energy for the years to come.
What an unbelievable experience. We arrived practically straight from a crisis meeting and had to return to work that same night, but this meeting was an incredible boost for us. We focus a lot on our professional work – providing free therapeutic help for children and families in crisis. We want to heal society, fix it, motivate it and that’s exactly how the entire event affected us. It was both motivational and therapeutic.