The Czech Republic has a historical experience of what it means to lose freedom. Supporting civil society beyond our borders is not charity – it is an investment in the stability of the entire region, and therefore in our own security. If destabilization spreads further westward, we will all pay the price: through waves of refugees, energy dependence, and the weakening of the democratic world around us. Every crown invested in this region helps protect our freedom too.

We support initiatives in southern Ukraine that help people in areas threatened by war on a daily basis. We work with organizations that help people in the Kherson region live and work within the bounds of what is possible – they organize first aid courses for locals, run training on safe movement in mined territory for farmers (Kherson is an agricultural region whose fields were heavily mined by the Russian army during its retreat), and help de-occupied communities cope with the immediate challenges of daily drone strikes. At the same time, people still need access to medical care, electricity, and other infrastructure. We also work with municipalities and organizations addressing the acute shortage of drinking water across the entire Kirovohrad region, where residents have lost access to clean water – a long-term, systemic problem that the Ukrainian state has neither the funds nor the capacity to solve, so communities have begun tackling it themselves.

Without continued funding, we must end our cooperation with partners who have nowhere else to turn for support.

⚠️ What will stop: Field cooperation with 6 de-occupied municipalities,
4 Ukrainian community organizations, and 2 regional independent newsrooms.

Local Initiatives.
We collaborate with 15 organizations in the South Caucasus. We share experiences, strengthen local initiatives, and connect activists across borders so they can work together to address challenges that transcend national boundaries. The initiatives we support help people in remote and often overlooked regions of Armenia and Georgia address specific everyday problems—from water scarcity and quality to the development of basic infrastructure and the search for alternative livelihoods in areas affected by mining. At the same time, they focus on assisting victims of domestic violence and help promote the right to a safe and healthy environment, human dignity, and freedom. Yet it is precisely in these regions that no other systematic support often exists—state institutions fail or are absent, and large international organizations do not reach small, peripheral communities. Without the support of these initiatives, many people would be left entirely on their own with their problems, without a voice and without a real chance for change.

⚠️ What will stop: If the work of local initiatives—which today defend the public interest and bring about tangible changes in communities—were to cease, cooperation and the sharing of experiences would also come to a halt, and the space for a free and active civil society would be significantly reduced.

Thank you 🙏🏼