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Description
For over 20 years, People in Need and its educational program OWIS has been striving for a civil society that is actively interested in respecting human rights and in which cultural, ethnic, racial and other differences are a source of enrichment, not conflict. We are engaged in educational activities aimed primarily at elementary and high schools, with an awareness-raising overlap towards the public.
Our experience and research show that prejudice against minorities, xenophobic and racist acts or gender stereotypes persist among young people and represent a serious social problem. A large proportion of young people consider racism to be one of the biggest problems in the Czech Republic.
Through this project we aim at strengthening education in human rights issues, incl. racism, extremism, discrimination and social inequality. Using innovative educational methods such as teaching with documentary films, we will offer elementary and high school teachers a unique opportunity to bring these topics to the classroom, involve students through interactive activities and open a discussion. We will create a new set of educational audiovisual tools for educators, which will cover the topics of extremism, racism and xenophobia, prejudice and minorities, inequality, and the situation in undemocratic regimes. We will train teachers in how to use these resources through a series of full-day seminars and follow-up online meetings. We will support student involvement in the field of human rights by helping them organize their own projects, thus contributing to building a community of multiplicators. A weeklong nationwide educational campaign in schools will be the culmination of the involvement of teachers and students in the project. To ensure the media response to the project, we will add a new prestigious human rights category to the Gratias Tibi Awards, which will enable us to draw attention to the topic as well as to individuals or groups who are active in the field.