Help me foster connections across cultures! My message to Czech citizens ahead of the 2025 National Election is simple but powerful: people with migrant backgrounds care about the election’s outcome and impact too. Will you help to send as many postcards as possible?
Three years ago, I arrived in Czechia from the Netherlands and discovered a beautiful country filled with inspiring and ambitious people. As a migrant, I’ve been working hard to find my place in Czech society—learning the language and history, embracing Czech culture, and savoring the country’s beer. Along the way, I’ve made wonderful Czech friends and received even more warm smiles!
Like every country in Europe and the West, Czechia faces political challenges. The pressures of globalization and the technological revolution are reshaping our assumptions about identity and the future. Sadly, these uncertain times often create fertile ground for discrimination and racism, with migrants becoming easy targets. I find this deeply painful.
I believe that diversity and civic engagement—regardless of where someone was born—are essential pillars of a thriving society. This belief is reinforced by my daily experiences. My volunteering efforts focus on building bridges across cultures, particularly in areas like sustainable mobility and political dialogue.
I’m thrilled to have been offered the opportunity to join MigAct’s leadership program in Spring 2025. This program will provide me with practical skills in organizing community events, neighborhood mapping, communication, leadership, and fundraising. It also includes funding for my own mini-project aimed at fostering greater cultural understanding and encouraging political participation here in Czechia. I hope you’ll consider supporting me in making this program a reality.
My project, titled ‘Postcards from Foreign Czechs / Pohlednice od cizích Čechů’, invites both Czechs and foreigners to send postcards encouraging voting to Czech friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. Many residents in Czechia with migrant backgrounds lack voting rights, leaving their voices and concerns underrepresented. Yet, election outcomes—especially in the upcoming Sněmovna elections in October 2025—affect their lives just as much. My goal is to create a simple and friendly way to motivate others to vote, with the added reminder to consider migrants’ perspectives. This project is inspired by U.S. postcard campaigns like Blue Wave Postcard Movement a Markers for Democracy encouraging voter turnout.
Funds raised will support the leadership training workshops, the messaging and postcard design workshop(s) and professional design and printing. As a campaign supporter, if you leave your email, I will send you a set of the finished postcards as a token of appreciation.
Be part of the change! Help me bridge cultures, elevate voices, and build a more inclusive society—one postcard at a time.
On Friday I pitched my project at MigAct's Networking Party.
Summary: Next year's Czech elections will impact everyone, including people with a migration background, but many of those people do not have the right to vote. I am worried about the current portrayal of migrants and I want to fight that negative stereotyping, not by sharing the facts, but by connecting hearts. I am going to create a range of postcards that people with migration backgrounds can send to their Czech friends, colleagues, neighbours and strangers, where they can express how they feel about Czechia and our common future.
Postcard activism is easy:
you don't need the right to vote,
you do not have to confront people face-to-face about politics,
and it doesn't cost much time.
Research in the US has shown that it has an impact. I want to use postcards to connect Czechs and people with a migration background, encourage Czechs to vote, and maybe even to vote with us at the back of their minds.
Looking forward to creating more pleasant connections!
Help bridge cultures! Support active individuals with migration backgrounds living in Prague by giving them the opportunity to become influential community leaders.
Rita, Suzanne, Raquel, Yury, Leslie, Mia and others have a great idea to connect the local community. Won’t you support them and others who want to become community leaders? Their ideas are worth it - and with your help, they will have a big impact!
👉Who Your Donation Will Help:
Your donation will support active individuals with migration backgrounds living in Prague, giving them the opportunity to become influential community leaders. By donating, you are supporting those who strive for an inclusive and interconnected Prague.
👉How Your Support Will Help:
Thanks to your support Rita, Suzanne, Raquel, Yury, Leslie, Mia and others with migrant backgrounds will receive targeted training in areas such as organizing community events, community mapping, communication, leadership, and fundraising. These skills will help them to break down barriers between different communities, lead mini-projects funded by this campaign, and energize their communities.
😍 PLUS, if we manage to raise 50 000 Kč, the OSF Foundation will match this amount with an additional 50 000 Kč, allowing us to bring the entire project to life!
"I would like to create welcoming space for young mothers of diverse backgrounds, especially Ukrainian refugees, to come together, learn Czech, and gain skills needed for the Czech job market. With activities tailored for both mothers and children, the program will empower women to build connections and pursue sustainable careers in their new home."
💪This project addresses the low level of civic engagement among residents with a migration background, who make up a quarter of Prague's population. Since most of these residents lack voting rights, their perspectives, voices, and needs remain underrepresented at the political level. Civic engagement thus becomes one of the few ways for individuals and groups to actively contribute to shaping public opinion and influence social issues that affect all city residents.
👀 As part of the crowdfunding campaign several participants created their own challenges – individual undraising campaigns. This helps us in raising donations. Any donation made to their campaign will be automatically credited to this MigAct campaign.
The funds raised will be used to conduct a series of workshops, provide mini-grants for participants, cover instructors' fees, and support additional program expenses.
