SEED Assistance Summary 2002
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Political Overview
The year 2002 saw continued economic and political progress in the Czech Republic, with high expectations for early accession to the European Union. Structural reforms related to the country’s EU aspirations, including reform of the criminal code, judicial code, and privatization, continued apace. The development of civil society remained on track, with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) taking a more active role during the year. Some problems, however, remain. The country’s Roma minority still suffered from persistent discrimination.
Most observers view the Czech Republic as a leader among EU candidate states, and the country received an invitation to join at the December 2002 Copenhagen Summit. By year’s end, the Czechs had closed the last of 29 chapters of the acquis communautaire. It is expected that the Czech Republic will join the EU in time to participate in the 2004 European Parliamentary elections.
The Czechs’ EU aspirations have been a driving force behind many of the structural reforms undertaken in 2002, and can be expected to provide future impetus for such reform. Legislation aimed at improving the criminal code and bringing it more in line with EU norms became effective January 1, 2002. Judicial reform measures also took effect early in 2002. Civil service reform, identified by the EU as an area for future concentration, is under discussion.
Civil society continues to develop positively in the Czech Republic, although it has not yet reached the level found in other EU countries. Czech NGOs played a more visible role during the year, with a number of high-profile campaigns. And although there are some weak points -- media development and legal reform, for example -- the Czech third sector represents a range of areas of social need, including education, human rights, culture, and environmental protection.
Areas of concern remain, however. Widespread discrimination against minorities, mainly Roma, continued to be a problem. A number of Roma were victims of racially motivated violence. The government and NGOs work in conjunction with foreign donors such as the U.S. and the EU to implement programs to promote racial tolerance and understanding. Nevertheless, most polls indicate that a large majority of Czechs retain negative opinions about the Roma and other minority groups. The government also took steps during the year to increase cooperation with Roma groups and to prosecute racially motivated crimes.
Economic Overview
Overall, 13 years of post-communist economic reform have brought growth and stability, leading the European Commission to state in its annual report that the Czech Republic has “a fully functioning market economy.” The standard of living has risen considerably, although it does not yet meet EU standards. Reflecting the slowdown in Western Europe, economic growth for 2002 was projected to be about 2 percent. Foreign investment continues to flow in and has contributed to a strong Czech crown vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar. Unemployment increased at the end of the year to almost 10 percent, as weakness in European demand began to affect Czech exports. The declining coal and steel-producing regions of the country experienced unemployment rates of up to 20 percent.
While privatization of the energy sector continued, full privatization of the telecom sector has been delayed. The government repeatedly exercised an exception to normal contracting procedures found in the relevant legislation, allowing it to offer contracts in privatization processes without public tenders. Critics asserted that this practice jeopardized the integrity of the process, while the government countered that the public tenders were too slow and cumbersome to complete the privatizations expeditiously.
Overview of SEED Assistance
Given the Czech Republic’s membership in NATO, its relative economic progress, and imminent EU membership, SEED assistance is concentrated in cross-sector programs focused on facilitating the democratization process in four key areas: Civic Education and Civil Society; Ethnic Equality and Minority Rights; Free Flow of Information; and Rule of Law and Legal Reform. The Czech Republic also benefits from regional SEED-funded programs under USAID’s Partnership for Financial Stability (PFS).
Category-by-Category Overview and Assessment
Civic Education and Civil Society: The teaching of democratic and civic institutions and concepts was nonexistent in the communist era, and that contributed to the inveterate sense of political apathy and low esteem for government among the Czech people. Even after more than a decade of difficult transition, this legacy of political indifference persists. As a result, there is a great need for civic education curricula to convey the concepts of tolerance, equality, respect for authority, and personal responsibility. While interest in the integration of such materials into educational programs is on the rise, and several independent groups are now dedicated to this cause, there are limited EU and other resources focused on the development of civic education. SEED support in this area, therefore, has remained crucial.
The more broadly conceived support for civil society under this rubric is aimed at strengthening independent and group NGO projects, often comprising training, networking, and institution-building aspects. While progress has been made in some areas of NGO development over the last few years -- evidenced most clearly in the ratification of new laws for NGOs and foundations -- the sector remains in a critical transition phase. EU funding mechanisms are as yet inaccessible and unwieldy for many new NGOs. Foreign aid from outside the EU has largely diminished. And while indigenous philanthropy has been bolstered through improved legislation impacting the governance and management of foundations and also through state financial support for the establishment of endowments, the sector is still neither fully mature nor financially viable. SEED support aimed at increasing management and organizational competence through training and strengthening networks and cooperative work among Czech NGOs has continued to reinforce efforts toward the sector’s long-term sustainability.
Ethnic Equality and Minority Rights: Discrimination against ethnic minorities, especially the Roma, remains a major point of contention in the Czech Republic. Studies have shown that Czech prejudices are widespread and deep-rooted. The League of Ethnic Minorities (LEM), a SEED grantee, cited several surveys that identify lack of information as one of the main causes of racial prejudice and ethnically motivated violence. LEM's Promoting Tolerance project, funded by SEED, helped to combat this insufficiency through a campaign of compelling and thought-provoking radio and TV spots.
While the legal status of women is better in the Czech Republic than in some other Central European countries, women encounter discrimination by unsympathetic, under-trained police in cases of domestic abuse and rape. Abuse victims often are unaware of their rights and available resources, while legal help groups suffer the from lack of funding and professional staff. The issue was addressed this year through a SEED grant to the NGO Prague Mothers (Association of Mother Centers) aimed at bolstering the organizational and networking capacities of the NGO and its 130 countrywide centers. The NGO has since become an advisor to the UN Commission for Women, Families and Communities.
Other minority groups, such as the mentally and physically disabled, suffer from poorly administered assistance programs and haphazardly applied protection laws. Czech society also displays an historically entrenched ambivalence toward the mentally and physically disabled, and few intermediary support organizations exist to advocate on their behalf. A SEED-funded project with the NGO DUHA focused upon improving the skills of those who work directly with the mentally disabled by introducing new (Information Technology) methodologies and technologies to the caregivers, with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of patient-caregiver relations.
Free Flow of Information: More than 10 years since the Velvet Revolution that brought an end to four decades of communist repression, the Czech media lag behind their counterparts in Western Europe and the U.S. Current laws provide for freedom of speech and of the press. Yet while these rights ostensibly are respected, there are numerous recent examples of journalists being targeted by politicians. In one case, a lawsuit was brought against a journalist for slander, and most recently a senior politician was apprehended for ordering the contract killing, fortunately thwarted, of an investigative journalist.
Czech NGOs active in journalism and free press issues are few in number. American know-how in this area is still welcomed by independent Czech journalists and magazines, and support continues to be important in the areas of media management, professional ethics, and fostering those few NGOs and associations that safeguard press freedom.
Several web-based NGO projects have been initiated in recent months in the areas of consumer advocacy, environmental awareness, and legal advocacy that are directly targeted at increasing and fostering the free flow of information and citizen awareness. Educating people about their legal rights and responsibilities as citizens remains critically important -- this not only improves access to reliable information, but also covers other SEED goals of supporting judicial reform and citizen awareness.
Rule of Law and Judicial Reform: Aspects of the Czech legal system requiring attention are commercial law (bankruptcy reform, investor protection, consumer rights), judicial/prosecutorial reform, and the need to develop an involved citizenry aware of its legal rights and responsibilities. Commercial law is applied unevenly and often unfairly. Well-publicized examples of major financial crimes and corruption go unpunished. Organized crime -- particularly gangs from Eastern Europe -- have a disturbing foothold in the Czech Republic. Moreover, the Czech courts are often bogged down by a backlog of cases, only contributing to their inefficiency, which in turn further depresses public confidence in the law enforcement and judicial systems. And this situation only exacerbates the cynicism Czechs already feel toward their politicians and political institutions.
The EU is active in this area, but SEED assistance continues to be meaningful through its support of projects that help to institutionalize the advocacy capacity of NGOs, bolster community development efforts, and aim to facilitate the change of attitudes -- toward minorities, violence against women, and public indifference toward civic involvement.
In addition to the SEED program highlights mentioned above, some success stories from FY 01-02 follow.
The Next Ten Years -- NGO: Center for Democracy and Free Enterprise. The Center for Democracy and Free Enterprise (CDFE) promotes philanthropy and democratic development in the Czech Republic through civic education, training, and information programs. With its SEED grant (Civic Education and Civil Society rubric), CDFE published 20,000 “responsible citizen” handbooks, including the names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of elected representatives, along with real-life examples of politician/voter interactions and their outcomes. The handbooks were distributed at regional town meetings (organized by CDFE and regional NGO partners), universities, and libraries. The project was a great success and was applauded by prominent politicians, NGOs, and civic organizations.
Strengthening Regional Foundations -- NGO: Czech Donors Forum. Established in 1995, the Czech Donors Forum is a nonprofit association for foundations and corporate grant-makers in the Czech Republic. It is membership-driven and promotes cooperative strategic thinking and good practices in the Foundation community. Its two key program areas are Services to Foundations (educational seminars, information and other support services to foundations) and Development of Philanthropy (policy work focused on legislative change and other external processes like the development of a common investment strategy for Czech foundations).
This SEED-funded project (Civic Education and Civil Society rubric) focused on capacity building for small regional foundations in the Czech Republic. Seven training workshops and five discussion seminars on essential skills such as fundraising, grant making, and endowment administration were held for foundations across the country.
The training seminars included subjects such as Foundation Governance; Financial Management, Endowment Growth, and Audit; Communications with the Public; Annual Reports; Grant-making Basics; and Preparation for the Foundation Investment Fund. More than 180 representatives of foundations attended the seminars, that were also used as networking platforms for building links between representatives from the larger grant-making organizations and smaller regional foundations that often depend fully upon volunteers. The discussion seminars on such topics as the Role of the Foundation in the Community and Raising Local Funds also were successful, with representatives of more than 80 organizations from across the country participating.
One World Film Festival -- NGO: People in Need. The People in Need organization was established as a foundation in 1992. Based upon the premise that Czech citizens should share responsibility in international affairs with their neighbors, its ambitious mission is to “inspire a largeness of spirit in Czech society by helping others in need, and to promote democratic freedoms for all.”
The purpose of the One World Film Festival, supported through SEED (Ethnic Equality and Minority Rights rubric), was to “expose abuses, encourage dignity, inspire solidarity and foster mutual understanding.” The Festival and related events took place under the joint auspices of Czech President Vaclav Havel and UNHCHR Mary Robinson. The widely popular and well-attended festival screened 89 documentaries from 36 countries in nine cities throughout the country.
Stand Up Broumov! -- NGO: Cultural Center Broumov. Established in 1998 in the Czech border region (Northern Bohemia) of Broumov, Cultural Center Broumov offers programs aimed at bridging the social rifts in this ethnically diverse community, made up of Roma, ethnic Germans, and Poles, and marked by high unemployment and other social ills such as alcoholism and drug abuse. It organizes public events, lectures, training, and workshops, promotes volunteer work, and cooperates closely with the local and regional governments.
With SEED funds (Ethnic Equality and Minority Rights rubric), the NGO set up a program of regular activities and communications for its Social and Cultural Center that serves as a drug and alcohol-free environment for Roma, other ethnic minorities, and Czechs. Its activities program includes theater, music, exercise, crafts, art, and educational programs that focus on those most at-risk, such as young people caught up in drug and alcohol abuse. With its growing volunteer base, the Center has quickly emerged as a regional catalyst for change and a model for regional NGO work.
Public Participation and Access to Justice -- NGO: Environmental Law Service. Founded in 1995, the Environmental Law Service (ELS) is the largest public interest law organization in the Czech Republic. With six lawyers and three law students on its staff, ELS deals with the proper execution of environment and human rights-related laws. It provides legal consultations in those areas; cooperates with other NGOs; and publishes and distributes informational pamphlets on topics such as “State, Municipality and Citizens” and “Expropriation and Protection of Property.”
The SEED (Rule of Law and Legal Reform rubric) project conducted by this NGO included educational seminars for lawyers on environmental law and pro-bono work opportunities, and training sessions on how to support public participation in the decision-making processes of local municipalities and administrative units. It also improved its distribution channels of the legal publication, Via Iuris, to include a much wider net of individuals and organizations throughout the country.
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