In the next cycle of the Stronger Roots Program, we will support 21 networks of civil society organizations from the Visegrad Four countries. After a six-month, two-round selection process, evaluation committees of the consortium chose the best applicants out of 117 submissions. The result is a diverse group of new grantees who, thanks to financial support and an educational program, will be able to fully immerse themselves in transversal collaboration with diverse actors and in more effective cooperation with their members.
In Czechia, grants were awarded to the following networks: Association of the Organizations of the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Their Friends,Alliance for Individualised Support, Czech Climate Coalition, Consortium of Migrant Assisting Organisations, Association of Social Farming.
In Hungary, support will go to these platforms: Roots and Wings Foundation – Network of Community Foundations in Hungary, HAND - International Humanitarian and Development Civil Alliance, Hungarian Nature Conservationists' Association - Hungarian Energy Communities Alliance, Hungarian Coalition of Social Enterprises.
In Poland, the following advanced: Federation of Social Organizations of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship FOSa - Warmia-Masuria Coalition for the Support of Foreign Nationals, Empowering Children Foundation - Network of Children's Help Centres, Habitat for Humanity Poland - “Empty Houses” Coalition, Forests and Citizens Foundation - Forest Alliance, Foundation for Social Diversity - Coalition for strengthening the role of intercultural and Roma assistants, It's Simple Foundation - Map Help cross-sectoral information network, Homo Faber Association - Coalition of Community Patronage, Association for Legal Intervention - Migration Lawyers Network.
And in Slovakia, we will support: Association of Community Foundations in Slovakia, Independent platform SocioForum, Platform for Early Childhood Development, Inclucoalition represented by Platform of Families of Children with Disabilities.
The selected networks from all four countries most often work on topics such as social inclusion and support for vulnerable groups, integration of foreigners, climate and environmental protection, and community development as well as civic engagement. The group includes large networks with dozens of member organizations as well as smaller platforms, and networks connecting actors operating at national as well as local levels.
The finalists will be supported by financial grants that will help them take essential steps toward achieving their strategic goals. In addition, the Glopolis team will prepare a capacity building program for the networks worth 40,000 EUR. It will focus on expert training, peer support, experience sharing among grantees, and individual consultations with experts. We will work on developing competencies for transversal collaboration with diverse actors, as well as strengthening internal network functioning and cooperation with member organizations.
We will offer similar topics in the form of expert webinars to other civil society organizations and their networks in Czechia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland through what we call the academy. It is open also to organizations and platforms that were not selected as grantees.
At Glopolis, we have been supporting the strategic development of civil society networks since 2019. We help them strengthen their resilience, overcome challenges in building partnerships despite distrust or differing views on problems and solutions, and increase their influence on systemic change.
Program Stronger Roots is funded by the European Union from the CERV programme and implemented by a consortium composed of Glopolis and the Open Society Fund Prague in Czechia, the Open Society Foundation Bratislava in Slovakia, and the NIOK Foundation in Hungary and Stefan Batory Foundation in Poland.
