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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.
Summary of project results
The project promoter focused the project on educational activities for primary and secondary schools and the general public throughout the Czech Republic. The activities were implemented both physically and online. This enabled young people to access educational materials on racism, prejudice, life in undemocratic regimes and other important topics in the field of human rights even after the end of the project. The project promoter successfully dealt with all the challenges, especially the Covid-19 epidemic.
Throughout the project, the project promoter emphasized the importance of protecting human rights and activated young people to organize projects for the protection of human rights. At the same time, teachers from primary and secondary schools from all over the Czech Republic were supported to teach about human rights at seminars held in Prague, Liberec and Ústí nad Labem. The project promoter created 6 new audiovisual lessons with documentary films and teaching materials. The project promoter also organized 2 years of the educational campaign on the occasion of Human Rights Day in December, 2 gala evenings of the Gratias Tibi Awards, where a special prize for active work in the field of human rights promotion was awarded. An inspiring platform for the cooperation of young people in the field of human rights was also created.
The project promoter created 6 new audiovisual lessons and 2 sets of educational materials about human rights. All materials were published on the website https://www.jsns.cz/projekty/lidska-prava, where they will be available even after the end of the project. During the implementation of the project, the project promoter registered 2025 launches of newly created audiovisual lessons. Lecturers, teachers and human rights experts participated in the outputs. The project contributed to the elimination of prejudice, racial and national intolerance, increased awareness of basic democratic values and strengthened the active participation of young people in the protection of human rights and multiculturalism through the creation of a comprehensive educational set focused on human rights issues.