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.
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.
