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Czech NGO Activists Seek Travel Grant To Promote Development Of Information Highway

Region: Central and Eastern Europe, Czech Republic
Author: Jan Haverkamp and Adela Kubickova, Econnect; The Peace Centre of the Czech Republic
Consortium Member: EPCE Czech Republic
Status: Completed - Final Report Budget: $5500 Collected: $5500 Needs: $0
Result: Two activists working in the Czech Republic traveled to an international conference and to the United States in order to exchange information concerning uses of the Internet in NGO work.
Donors: The Association for Progressive Communicators with matching funds from the Trust For Mutual Understanding [August 1998]
Comment: This travel grant increased the level of cooperation between NGOs in Latin America and Central Europe. NGOs in these regions have much in common. These commonalities have been explored very little as both regions have primarily focused upon contacts with the US and western Europe.

Project need:

Co-operation between organisations in the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, and organisations from the South is very rare. Still many of the experiences on both sides show strong parallels. Parallels in sustainable development and development of democracy, NGOs and a civic society are often stronger than those between Central and Eastern Europe on one hand and Western Europe, the USA, Japan on the other. Between 9 and 11 September, the capital San Salvador of El Salvador hosts the International Forum on Communication and Citizenship. On this conference, the role of communication in the democratisation of society, and more specifically for the civic sector will be analysed. Jan Haverkamp (as former staff-member of the NGO support organisation Milieukontakt Oost-Europa and current staff-member of the Czech Association for Progressive Communication (APC) member Econnect) and Adela Kubickova(as active member of several NGOs in the area of environment, women, social issues and human rights) have been invited to participate as representatives of the APC PSU programme. They are asked to share their experiences from Central and Eastern Europe and participate actively in the establishment of a world-wide support network for the development of communication structures in emerging democracies. After this conference, both applicants intend to visit the headquarters of the Promotion of Strategic Use (PSU) programme of the world-wide NGO computer network Association for Progressive Communication (APC) in Quito, Ecuador. There they will receive training in newly developed facilitation techniques and train Ecuadorian facilitators in training methods developed in Central Europe. They will furthermore improve the international co-operation within the PSU programme in the areas of environment, women's issues and social issues. On their way back they intend to visit Ecologia and the Virtual Foundation in the United States of America, for a one-week traineeship in strategic communication and the use of modern communication technique for fundraising purposes. They also are invited to exchange their experiences with Ecologia staff and discuss the further development of the Virtual Foundation, especially in Central Europe.

Overall goals of the visits are:

Expected results from the working-visit to ECOLOGIA and the Virtual Foundation: Adela Kubickova on the prospects of this trip: "The Czech Republic has been struggling with itself over the last years. It is so important for this country to open up for what is happening elswhere. We have been using training techniques originating from Latin America already for years - against the current of formal and conventional training. This trip will bring new ideas and inputs to improve my training work in the area of harm-reduction amongst drug-users, environmental work and women's organizations."

Jan Haverkamp ads: " Integrating strategic computer and Internet use in successful campaigning is so important for our NGOs. Exchanging experiences with our Latin American and North American collegues will definetely bear fruit. We can learn a lot from the democratisation struggles in Latin America, and from the technical experiences within The Virtual Foundation. But they will also be able to learn from us - in the last ten years in Central Europe, we have learned to find flexible and cheap sollutions to many practical problems. In training, in content development and in linking people."

Time-frame:

28 August - 5 September: Travel to El Salvador over New York
5 - 9 September: Preparation Forum with the organisers
9 - 11 September: Forum on Communication and Citizenship 12 September Travel to Quito
13 September - 6 October: Exchange and workshops APC PSU Programme
7 - 9 October: Travel via El Salvador to New York
10 - 21 October: Fellowship, exchange programme and development work with ECOLOGIA / Virtual Foundation
22 - 23 October: Travel back to Prague
24 October - 1 November: Reporting and start implementation

Input from the participants themselves: Both participants work in the Czech Republic for Czech salaries. Jan Haverkamp earns at Econnect currently USD 550 per month and Adéla Kubickova USD 180 per month at Drop-In (Centre for prevention of drug-abuse and AIDS). They will both take unpaid holiday for this travel, in order to enable their home-organisations to organise temporary replacement for the time of their absence. Food and accommodation in the United States will be covered by ECOLOGIA / Virtual Foundation on an in-kind basis.

Budget

Air travel:
Prague-New York $1200
New York-San Slavador $1200
San Salvador-Quito $1400
Local travel $400
Health insurance $300
Visa costs $360
Unforeseen $140
VF Administrative Cost (10%) $500
Total $5500

Coverage:
APC PSU programme (requested) - $3000
The Virtual Foundation (requested) - $2500