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Description
Single parents are a group which is most at risk of social exclusion and working poverty in the Czech Republic. This impacts negatively especially the future prospects of their children, but also leads to poverty in old age. As a result of their role overload, single parents find it difficult to engage in civic society and thus bring about positive changes for themselves. Moreover, they suffer from lack of social capital. The project leverages their interest in networking to support the formation and operation of eight regional informal networks that will work with local stakeholders to bring about meaningful positive change in their localities to contribute to the reduction of single parent overload. In doing so, they will be supported by a team of mentors and Aperio specialists, who will provide assistance on the basis of a new methodology created within the project. Their stories will appear in regional media to increase the number of their supporters and promote their cause. We will also reach out to the national media and politicians/officials at government level to maximise the impact on the discourse on supporting solo parents.
Summary of project results
By combining education and peer mentoring, we increased the confidence and competencies of single parents to expand their network.
We developed a program methodology into which pairs of single parents from all over the Czech Republic enrolled. From these, we selected eight pairs,
each of which, during the course of their work, attracted additional single parents and supporters. We helped them define and achieve goals that brought
significant positive change to them and their community and increased their civic engagement (safer crossings on the way to school, extended operating
hours of kindergartens/after-school clubs, improved conditions for work-life balance, etc.). In education and mentoring, we focused particularly
on supporting key skills, including the ability to timely identify potential obstacles and limitations and ask for help promptly, followed by providing
quick intervention. By doing this, we increased the responsiveness and confidence of single parents. Individual networks met regularly, thus inspiring
each other. Network members also collaborated on solving everyday challenges and demands of common issues, providing each other with social support.
Additionally, we supported them with regional publicity (social media, local press/radio), which increased the visibility and support of the network, and we encouraged them to put pressure on local key players to achieve change. Synergistically, we worked with the media and politicians at the national level to raise awareness among the public and key players about the necessity to support single parents.
We were addressing the problem of single parents (SP) isolation, their overload and low social capital. We sought to improve their situation by increasing
their competences, which would reduce their role overload. We focused on their broader relationships in the community, so we supported the implementation
of their projects improving life for them and their surroundings. At the same time, we were addressing the problem of low awareness of SP issues in society.
The most important output is the creation of 9 regional single parents´ networks and their projects, supported by partial outputs, ei. the methodology of the educational-mentoring program.
The biggest success is the fact that the networks are stable and active, achieved concrete positive changes, gained more local supporters, expanded their teams, and eight out of nine will remain active after our project ends. Another success is a small follow-up project, as part of which a trip to Norway will take place in April, where we will share the good practice with local organizations, together with 4 selected participants.
Thanks to our advisory roles at the Ministry of Labour and the Office of the Government we have commented on draft laws and methodological recommendations regarding single parents and families in general. The output with significant impact is a "policy paper" summarizing the current situation of SP in society and recommendations for changes. There was a lot of media interest in the project and the SP topic (e.g. a report in the main TV news). Internal outputs are updates to HR processes and the setting up of the Salesforce module for PR in the organization.
19 participants/nothing initially formed 9 regional networks. Over time, the teams were rotated, with the network leaders remaining. In total, 31 people went through the networks and gained skills to implement community projects.1 network withdrew during the project, 8 networks achieved all or part of their objectives.16 solo parents received final certificates. These graduates increased their social capital, gained skills in advocacy work and community planning, learned tools for networking, communication and problem solving, collaborated with local actors and achieved positive change at the local level. The evaluation questionnaires showed a shift in CSs'' assessment of their own competencies, especially in their ability to network and communicate externally.
Public (indirect)
The public needs information about the specific situation of solo parents, through the project we tried to provide information to the public. In particular, the stories of the individual networks, both the medallions on the Aperia website and articles in the regional media, have been successful. There was also a considerable response to a video that presents the stories of two selected project participants with powerful stories. In March we issued a second press release dedicated to a summary of the project, the needs of solo parents, the need for support for them and examples of good practice. Throughout the project we reached out to the public mainly through online media. We gave interviews on the topic of solo parents and their needs, sent newsletters and were active on social media (see project publicity overview).
Key players (indirect)
In the second part of the project we continued to work with the identified key players. We invited two MPs and senior advisors of the MoLSA to the final meeting, from which they excused themselves, but expressed interest in the policy paper that was sent to them.
The final meeting was eventually attended by a representative of the MoLSA''s senior advisors, who found the meeting very useful and suggested ways to continue the cooperation with the MoLSA.
We also passed it on to the Prague 2 Councillor for Housing Policy, with whom we have newly established cooperation.
Overall, we contributed to raising awareness among key players about how the current setup of family support impacts solo parents and how their situation can be positively influenced, both at the state and municipal level.