People in Need has been helping people in the Czech Republic and abroad for more than 25 years. We build schools, fresh water sources and medical facilities in Africa. We help victims of armed conflicts and defend human rights. We have been there to lend a hand during every flood in the Czech Republic, and often abroad as well. We created an international One World film festival that focuses on human rights documentaries. At home, we provide social services and help students and teachers in more than 3,300 Czech schools. In November 2014, we launched A Better School for Everyone campaign, with which we want to show Czech and foreign donors that supporting educational programs in the Czech Republic simply makes sense.
People in Need has partnerships with more than half of all Czech schools, in areas that lack sufficient support from the state and other institutions. We help make school a place that develops children’s potential and individual abilities and where students learn to orient themselves in the modern world through modern methodology. We want today’s children to remember their school as a place full of knowledge and respect. And we also want for today’s schools to be able to raise active, respectable and self-confident citizens, who can change our society for the better.
To achieve these goals, we strive to bring important topics into schools with the use of audiovisual teaching materials, experiential learning, discussions with eyewitnesses of historical events and documentary films. We cover a wide range of topics, including human rights, global problems, modern Czech and Czechoslovak history, social issues, equal opportunities in education, stereotypes and negative social biases.
Many children who attend regular schools do not receive adequate support, and as a result, some of them fall behind or do not complete their education at all. We try to prevent this from happening. We provide advice and training for teachers on how to work better with students’ needs, we provide tutoring for children from socially weaker families, we also provide pre-school education and career counseling.
The teacher is an incredibly important figure for students. Teachers help create the environment in which our children achieve success and also experience failure, where their opinions are formed and where they prepare for an independent life. This is why we provide support for teachers in their own development as well. People in Need organizes seminars, provides consultations and training, offers innovative teaching materials and documentary films.
The educational programs are created by 85 employees of People in Need from three different sections of the organization: One World in Schools, Varianty a Social Integration Programmes.