Stories of Courage

The mission of the OSF Foundation is to support a vibrant civil society and, through it, to develop a state where everyone has equal opportunities and is involved in events in his/her surroundings. The organization focuses on the current needs of the non-profit sector and is not afraid of controversial and neglected topics, promotes equal opportunities in education as well as in seizing the chances offered by the world of today. Together with the Committee of Good Will and the Scout Institute, it is part of a consortium which manages the Active Citizens Fund. We talked to the OSF Foundation Programme Director, Barbora Hořavová, about why it is important to support an active and courageous civil society in the Czech Republic.

The motto of the Active Citizens Fund is “With Courage”. What do you think takes courage in today’s society?
For me, courage means a personal decision to step outside my comfort zone, based on the belief that overcoming my natural fear or even taking a little or more risk makes a difference. And whether it is a decision in a personal, work or civic matter, it always deserves our recognition and respect. Many of us need a certain amount of courage in moments or in life situations where it is necessary to take on responsibility – be it for our family, the electoral vote or a work project.

How does the Active Citizens Fund program contribute to an increase in courage in Czech society?
The programme supports active citizenship, local and regional initiatives and enables a number of organizations to build up their internal capacities. In this way, it contributes fundamentally to greater stability of the civil society, which results in an increase of its ability to act, cooperate and of its courage to speak out where the voice and needs of citizens are somewhat forgotten.

Can you recall a story or situation where someone in your organization (or the organization as a whole) had to show courage?
I feel that in today’s society, NGOs must show courage every day, facing, over and over again, doubts whether their work is useful at all. (Paradoxically, the current crisis around Covid19 helps to dispel at least some of these doubts.) As for the OSF, we’ve been manifesting courage throughout our existence, especially whenever we bring new concepts and topics in the Czech society – like palliative care, watchdogs, open data, or the current topic of constituency building, to name a few.

Whose bold civic act has captured your attention recently?
Personally, I am more fascinated by bold personal decisions, such as a decision of a 20-year-old to adopt his younger siblings. Those not afraid to admit a mistake deserve admiration too. And lately, to a certain extent, also people who decide to go into politics. All these small – from the society perspective – personal actions, may also shape the general mood of the society significantly.

What does the work on this programme bring to you personally?
A possibility to support things and projects that would not find support elsewhere. An opportunity to work in a great team, in which teamwork and mutual support are a natural thing.

How do you perceive the role of civic activism in today’s society?
As a crucial one, which does not necessarily mean activism in the sense that I initiate something myself, but in the sense that I want to get involved in something or support someone’s idea. That I’m simply interested in what’s going on around me.

How does your organization’s target group manifest courage?
NGOs do so by not letting themselves be discouraged and keep going, despite the fact that they often don’t get the recognition and respect of those they help. Our donors then by supporting a, for some people, too abstract topic of democracy and the development of a free society, without seeing the results in a few month time, as they only become apparent in a much longer term.

Why do we need active citizens in the Czech Republic who are interested in public affairs?
Because I/we believe that democracy is the best system so far that allows us to develop and make full use of our potential, but also to meet the needs of us all.

The mission of the Committee of Good Will –  The Olga Havel Foundation is to help people who, due to their unfavourable health and social condition, find it difficult to integrate into society and cannot take care of themselves without the help of others. Together with the OSF Foundation and the Scout Institute, the organization is part of a consortium that manages the Active Citizens Fund. Thanks to the programme, it has been able to expand the scope of ​​support for the widest possible impact and for societal changes which will help many disadvantaged citizens to better integrate into society. We talked about courage, active citizenship and overcoming barriers with the Director of the Committee of Good Will, Monika Granja.

The motto of the Active Citizens Fund is “With Courage”. What do you think takes courage in today’s society?
Courage does not mean that we do not know fear, but that we are willing to overcome it. I think we need courage not only for great deeds, but also, very often, to take small steps in our daily lives, such as finding the courage to offer someone help, to ask a question, not to be discouraged by rejection or to be open to feedback. I believe that in today’s society, we need courage to articulate moral values ​​and fulfil them. And that is not popular or attractive from the marketing perspective.

How does the Active Citizens Fund program contribute to an increase in courage in Czech society?
The Active Citizens Fund programme wants to promote active citizenship. Being an active citizen is not a matter of course today, it takes a great deal of courage – to ask questions, to get involved and change things for the better. And we try to give these people courage, to strengthen non-profit organizations through which they can fulfil themselves, share their experience and multiply their strength.

Can you recall a story or situation where someone in your organization (or the organization as a whole) had to show courage?
We joined the Active Citizens Fund consortium with courage :) We knew that it meant not only an increase in the volume of work compared to our previous agenda, but also a willingness to change things within our organization. The programme has affected our day-to-day operations significantly, we have introduced new systems to help the foundation’s activities, and we are facing new and new challenges that move us forward.

Whose bold civic act has captured your attention?
Every year, I am fascinated by the stories of brave people nominated for the Olga Havel Award (an award for personalities who, despite their disability, help others). I can’t help remembering the stories of the last two laureates of the award, Martina Půtová and Tereza Nagyová. Martina Půtová became a victim of a crime in which she was extensively burned and lost her sight. Tereza Nagyová endured a serious illness and had to learn to live with a stoma. It is admirable how bravely both young women have come to terms with their fate, they managed to overcome not only a serious health disadvantage, but also face a great psychological burden. Martina and Tereza have decided to pass on their experience, they communicate openly about what they have to overcome on a daily basis and offer help to other people affected by a similar fate.

What does the work on this programme bring to you personally?
The programme expands my horizons. I have got to know a number of new organizations, met very inspiring people and learned a lot of new things.

How do you perceive the role of civic activism in today’s society?
The current coronavirus crisis illustrates what an important role the civil society and active citizens play. It is only thanks to the involvement of citizens that it’s possible to offer help where the state does not fulfill its role. Unsurprisingly, social services have been only of peripheral interest to the state, both last spring and now. However, it is the elderly, the long-term or terminally ill, people with disabilities or people at the margins of society that are most at risk from the crisis. Thanks to active citizens who approach us with an offer of help, both financial, material or through volunteering, we have been able to establish a foundation for the second time already that assists non-profit organizations in overcoming the crisis and protecting the most vulnerable.

How does your organization’s target group manifest courage?
I think that our target group, people with health or social disadvantages, have to show twice as much courage as the majority society. In their personal lives, they have to find a great deal of bravery to be able to fight their fate, as well as the courage to overcome the, often huge, barriers in society on top of that.

Why do we need active citizens in the Czech Republic who are interested in public affairs?
Let me quote Václav Havel here: “Indifference to others and indifference to the fate of the whole is exactly what opens the door to evil.” Active citizenship is one of the safeguards of democracy, which, as evidenced by current events in society, is not automatically guaranteed and needs to be protected on a daily basis.

Eliminate sexual gender-based violence and cyber-violence and improve the quality of sexual education in the Czech Republic – that is the goal of the project implemented by the Konsent organization with the support of the Active Citizens Fund programme. The project is also preparing an awareness campaign on the issue of sexual violence and calling for a reform of sex education in the Czech Republic. We spoke with the Executive Director of the Konsent organization, Johanna Nejedlová, about what the implementation of a project of this focus in the Czech environment entails.

The motto of the Active Citizens Fund is “With Courage”. What do you think takes courage in today’s society?
To strive for social change, to promote procedures on which there is no majority agreement yet.

How does the Active Citizens Fund program contribute to an increase in courage in Czech society?
We try to make sure that students have enough information about sex. That they are self-confident in this area and have the courage to refuse anything they don’t feel comfortable with.

Can you recall a story or situation where someone in your organization (or the organization as a whole) had to show courage?
We show courage with every public appearance which we know will make people send us hateful emails and messages. Still, the work is worth it.

Whose bold civic act has captured your attention recently?
For us in Konsent, of course, those Czech women have been very interesting and inspiring, who shared their experience with sexual violence in the #promluvilyjsme (#we have spoken out) series. And journalists Jana Ustohalová and Jana Ciglerová, who worked on the topic and prepared the series for publication in the Deník N daily newspaper.

What does the work on this programme bring to you personally?
Joys and worries, plenty of both.

How do you perceive the role of civic activism in today’s society?
I consider civil society and activism to be a necessary control component of every democratic society.

How is the motto “With Courage” reflected in your project?
For the time being, given the available materials and preparedness, teachers need a lot of courage to teach sex education. But we want to change that. We want it to be a normal thing.

Why do we need active citizens in the Czech Republic who are interested in public affairs?
To make life better for all of us here.

How will your project help make life better in the Czech Republic?
For most of us, sex is an important part of life. And adolescents deserve to get enough of objective and accurate information about it, as is the case in other modern and liberal states.

“If we don’t have open discussions with children, if we don’t lead them to be able to form their own opinions and, subsequently, defend their attitudes and values responsibly, we can say goodbye to the fragile democracy in the Czech Republic soon,” Zuzana Demlová says, the coordinator of the City as a Space for Creative Learning project, which is implemented with the support of the Active Citizens Fund programme. Its goal is to create partnerships between cultural actors and primary and secondary school teachers from Jihlava and the surrounding area. The main value of the programme is a specific environment, a personality, an exhibit or equipment that could not be provided in school, or a working method that pupils do not normally experience in the school environment. We bring you an interview with Zuzana Demlová on how to teach children the abilities of discussing, forming opinions and defending their attitudes and values responsibly.

How do you perceive the role of civic activism in today’s society?
Unfortunately, I think that activism and with it the perception of NGOs still have a rather negative connotation in the Czech Republic. These attitudes towards civil society have been present here for a long time, largely due to the position taken and endorsed by our last two presidents. However, I believe that there is something even more deep-rooted than the political debate behind this feeling of distrust in the non-profit sector. It is a profound fear of change, a fear of challenging authority, institutions or the “good old days”. Activists are mostly perceived as rebels, unfortunately, only rarely as heroes who act out of responsibility for a situation and whose personal engagement is driven by the desire to shift things for the better, to look for new solutions, or the need to express compassion for others, etc. Most people see order, life certainty and trust in strong institutions as a fundamental need. I do not want to down play this need. Still, I cannot view it as blind obedience and barter it for freedom and democratic values. So speaking of civic activism, for me it is a matter of finding a balance between the stability of the current situation and the instability that change brings.

How does your organization’s target group manifest courage?
Resisting a system, challenging certain order of things requires healthy self-confidence and courage. In our project we work with primary and secondary school children. It is very difficult for this target group to break out of the image of an obedient pupil, which practically most of society expects the children to be. Unfortunately, most of our children are raised primarily to fit in the society as well as possible, not only at school, but also through their parents expectations. For example, a recent survey of the Czech society’s view of the Fridays for Future strikes further developments has shown that although almost 90% of people in the Czech Republic consider it important for young people to be interested in environmental issues and climate change, more than 70% of respondents don’t think that striking for climate is important enough for young people to skip school. In our City as a Space for Creative Learning project, we want to strengthen children’s action competencies, i.e. such abilities and skills that will enable them to influence and co-create things around them. We want to give children tools that will help them express themselves in a way that will also affect the environment outside their own school and will be heard in public at least within their own   city.

How will your project help make life better in the Czech Republic?
We want to highlight that even children and young people have their own opinions and that they can hold up a mirror to society. We want to prove that inviting children to a meaningful debate is beneficial for everyone in the long run. The world that schoolchildren wake up to in the morning is different every day, no one can predict what the world will be like when these students become voters, employees, entrepreneurs and parents. We can no longer pretend life in an academic world of science behind the school walls displaying the few children’s own statements in the school corridors and present them at Christmas shows. Children who will grow up in a few years will need to critically evaluate a vast amount of information so that they can make decisions based upon it. If our children don’t learn to negotiate agreements, listen to others, take their own views and defend them, then they will not be able to survive without conflict in an increasingly differentiated and unstable society.

Why do we need active citizens in the Czech Republic who are interested in public affairs?
Let me rely on the data published by the Institute of Sociology of the ASCR again. About the relatively general statement that democracy is better than any other form of government, almost 60% of secondary school students are positive. However, the data is rather alarming when students are confronted with much more specific issues of governance. More than half (52%) of young people agree with the statement that “instead of all possible civil rights and freedoms, there’s only one thing our country needs – law and order.” Obedience and respect for authority are considered the most important values which children should learn by six out of ten (61%) secondary school students. And nearly three quarters of secondary school students (73%) agreed with the need for a strong government which secures order and leads us to the right path! I see this 2017 survey as clear evidence that if we don’t have open discussions with children, don’t encourage them to form their own opinions and then defend their attitudes and values ​​responsibly, we can soon say goodbye to the fragile democracy in the Czech Republic.

What does the work on this programme bring to you personally?
In the City as a Space for Creative Learning project we cooperate with local artists and cultural actors, they are passionate people with great ideas, willing to take risks and step out of their own comfort zone. In art, it is perfectly natural to constantly question things, look for new solutions, ask questions, call for the motivation of everyone involved and work with joy, zeal and enthusiasm. This way of creative work has long been lacking in the Czech educational system. There’s no way I’m saying there are no schools and teachers in the Czech Republic who can engage children in discovering, exploring or draw on children’s natural curiosity. Unfortunately, these great educators are an exception. Thus for me, the comments of teachers on their collaboration with artists in the classroom are a great satisfaction: “The children were looking forward to the classes on Mondays because that’s when the project was on.” Or: “Pupils were working on the project even after classes, because they really cared about the quality of their work.”