The campaign is personally supported by our colleagues and management. With a symbolic banner in hand, they stand for the areas they are professionally involved in and care about also in their private lives.
We organized the event called Woman’s World on March 10, 2024, in the beautiful premises of the Eastern Slovakia Gallery in Košice to celebrate International Women's Day, women's uniqueness, and their strength to overcome challenges. Successful women who have the ability to influence the lives of others and inspire those around them gathered at the event. Which well and lesser known personalities have shared their stories?
At the International Conference on Inclusive Education, "A Way Forward In Slovakia," experts from Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Greece, the USA, Serbia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia shared many important experiences, inspirations, and lessons from inclusive education. Recordings of insightful lectures, presentations, or workshops can be viewed in the videos in this article.
Why are foreign volunteers considered "silly"? What helps people stay calm even when war rages around them? And is good confined by borders? These questions are answered in the short documentary Good Knows No Boundaries, filmed during a humanitarian trip to Ukraine.
Mishko needs medication to strengthen his heart, which is not available in Slovakia. Dashka needs crucial rehabilitation to help her with the after-effects of cerebral palsy. Tikhon is troubled by diabetes, and Nasťa suffers from stress-induced tics due to her experience fleeing from Ukraine. These are children seeking a safe home in Slovakia because the war in Ukraine took theirs away. Their mothers face daily challenges familiar to all parents of differently-gifted children. But they must also cope with finding themselves in a foreign country, without home, family, or acquaintances. Who and how helps them manage such demanding situations?
We take great care and carefully prepare both the textual and visual parts of the Annual Report every year so that you like it and understand it well. We have been doing this since our inception because we want to be transparent and clear.
At the Carpathian Foundation, we have zero tolerance for any form of sexual exploitation and abuse. It is important for us to collectively create a safe environment for people in vulnerable situations whom we help, and to prevent any forms of abuse, including sexual.
The Together for Children, in partnership with UNICEF, has been the largest grant programme of our foundation to date. In 2023, it supported 25 projects across Slovakia with a total sum exceeding 1,000,000 euros. Simultaneously, it reinforced inclusive approaches in working with children (not only) within supported organizations but also through various educational activities.
The program will support projects that ensure fair access to inclusive education and care for children in their early childhood. Projects will particularly help children fleeing the war in Ukraine, but also other children in need in Slovakia. 106 projects applied for the programme, the expert committee selected 25 of them, we will redistribute a total of 1,001,248 euro.
The self-defense course showed women how to avoid conflict, manage stress, and find their inner strength. It also taught them how to defend themselves in situations when they couldn't avoid an attack.
When we were visiting Wellington, where Slovak families work and live, we saw how in one top-class art class, British children drew a detailed human spine and Roma children from Sabinov drew a simple butterfly. The school headmaster said that it is completely fine for students of the same age in one class to draw different things because they have different skills.
We have teamed up with UNICEF to help children in Slovakia. Our joint Together for Children programme will support local governments, schools, kindergartens, nurseries and NGOs, and others, to ensure fair and inclusive access to early care and education for young children. It is mainly targeted at children who have fled the war in Ukraine and other children in need.
The unique study UPre ženy (UFor Women): the status and empowerment of women in selected marginalised Roma communities map what, who and especially how to help Roma women to improve their status and living conditions. In doing so, the researchers also focused on empowerment, a tool used in community development around the world. Simply put teach people to catch fish and not give it to them.
Managing a refugee crisis of this magnitude is only possible thanks to volunteers, NGOs, local governments, and a few passionate people in government. That's also why we launched the campaign Máme radi Ukrajinu (We Love Ukraine). The donated money will be redistributed among NGOs, non-profit organisations, local governments, and schools in Eastern Slovakia that help refugees. Organisations working with Roma refugees and the issue of human trafficking will receive special attention.
On Saturday, April 23rd2022 the chairman of Košice’s self-governing region Rasťo Trnka presented us with an honorary award for our long-standing work in the territory of Eastern Slovakia and our contribution to innovative programmes in the field of marginalised Roma communities. It was received by director Laura Dittel at a gala evening at the State Theatre Košice.
The international online conference entitled How to make the labour market accessible to women from marginalised Roma communities? Was organised on April 4th in the virtual studio of the agency in Košice Promiseo. 1/4 hour stimulating programme focused on the challenges or solutions to achieve higher employability of women from Roma marginalised communities.
The Carpathian Foundation has teamed up with Prešov-based civic associations Podaj ďalej (Pass It On) and Minoritas, to deliver humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Four vans were full of essentials set off on the morning of March 24th. The crew was joined by our director Laura Dittel and photographer Róbert Németi. Who did they deliver the goods to, what is happening with Ukrainian orphans, and what does it look like in Uzhhorod now?
On January 12, we started with the grant call "School Despite Covid," which supports the ideas of non-governmental organizations, individuals, and schools from the Prešov, Košice, and Banská Bystrica regions which will help address the acute needs of the interrupted educational process.
We bring the call results in the "Teacher of the Future" and "School of the Future" programs. In cooperation with Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia, we have opened these two programs to provide active teachers and schools with the opportunity to implement projects focusing on an innovative and unconventional approach to teaching.
The Carpathian Foundation Scholarship Program provided financial support for the study of English for students under the age of 30. The scholarship in 2019 was financially supported by Palo Richvalský - an artist, teacher, salesman and one of the first scholarship holders of the Carpathian Foundation.
"Taking care of yourself is not selfish, but responsible," is the motto of the Magna grant program for the region. Thanks to the grant program, this year will be redistributed up to EUR 10 000 to innovative projects of non-profit organisations and active municipalities.
The Carpathian Foundation opens the 10th Call of the Carpathian hiking fund ‘MÁME RADI VÝCHOD’, which aims to support active people from eastern Slovakia and their good ideas.
The Carpathian Foundation opens the first call of the ‘Let’s Wake Up the East’ programme, which aims to support active individuals from Eastern Slovakia and awaken the dormant valleys — peripheral and rural parts of the region with low civic engagement participation.
This memorandum is a framework document for closer relations, especially in education and its reforms in the Košice region. It opens up opportunities for closer communication and cooperation. It will be the basis for new initiatives and projects that will improve the situation of children, young people, educators, and teachers
Yesterday, February 12, was a special day for teachers and schools that received a grant in the "Teacher of the Future" and "School of the Future" programs. In cooperation with T-Systems Slovakia, we have opened these 2 programs to provide active teachers and schools with the opportunity to implement projects focusing on an innovative and non-traditional approach to teaching.
Since January 2020, two foundation: Kárpátok Alapítvány - Magyarország Foundations, as a lead partner together with the Carpathian Foundation in Slovakia, have been implementing the project "Chance for Children from Disadvantaged Background".
The project has brought a number of new inspirations and improved early care services in both Slovakia and Hungary.
Proper communication is important for good relationships. To communicate well is even more important in times of conflict. Conflicts are present in every society; in communities permanently marked by generational poverty the conflicts can arise more easily and can have worse impact on interested parties. Therefore, The Carpathian Foundation organized a two-days seminar on "Communication in conflict" for representatives of organizations and school teachers who are working with children from marginalized Roma communities.
