Events & Exchanges
Our events team is constantly cooking up all kinds of innovative ways to make sure our partners have access to the tools, skills, people, and experience they need to do their work and advocate their cause. Every year about 1,000 activists, journalists, and changemakers take part in our various events and fellowships.
Unlock is back and better than ever before!
The post-Cold War order cannot be taken for granted anymore. With Russia spearheading brutal alliances of convenience, all pretence of following the rules has evaporated. The global geopolitical landscape has changed dramatically and democracies have so far been unable to stand against the tide. Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia are in the crosshairs of a revanchist Russia, and civil society in these countries is under unprecedented pressure.
Future Lands: Call for short documentary film ideas
The Prague Civil Society Centre, in cooperation with WATCH DOCS IFF and Current Time TV, is launching a call for story ideas to be developed into short documentary films by young documentary and video makers from Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. Story ideas should offer reflections and perspectives of societies as they are today and how they could be tomorrow in the context of post-imperialism: the discoveries, re-discoveries, transformations, and imagination of identities of those societies.
Innovation and cooperation: Unlocking the potential of the possible in times of war and repression
In a region marked by violence, escalating repression and closing civic space, and where civil society and independent voices continue to be suppressed, cooperation and innovation remain of the utmost importance for democratic changemakers, thinkers and activists of all kinds.
Leadership accelerator Grow2Gather
The Prague Civil Society Centre is happy to invite representatives of organisations and initiatives with experience attracting, empowering, and coaching new leaders to apply for a fully-funded three-day gathering. Are you ready to share your knowledge, learn from...
Examples
Types of activities we organise
Events
We don’t have a set list of events or workshops, rather we develop methodologies and formats that respond to the needs of the activists, journalists, and changemakers in the countries we work.
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This often means workshops focused on campaigning and communicating, using and harnessing technology to work securely, and crowdfunding in repressive contexts. Our events range from large gatherings such as our annual Unlock civic summit in Prague to hosting small groups for secure discussions. Often the in-person part of a workshop or accelerator is supplemented by a month or two of online mentorship and support. Where possible, we look to bring people together and harness the power of cross-border cooperation.
Exchanges
The Prague Civil Society Centre believes that fostering connections and cross-border cooperation is vital in an era of alliances of convenience between the region’s autocrats and attempts to quash and constrain efforts for a more democratic future.
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We bring together people from the 12 countries we work to learn and share from each other. This provides opportunities for journalists, decision makers, artists, and influencers from other countries to meet their peers and advocate their causes back home. The bedrock of our exchanges remains our Fellowship programme that brings some 25 people to Prague every year to work on their projects.
Events in Prague
As well as our events for our partners in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, the Prague Civil Society Centre frequently hosts events in Prague, for both the expert community here, and for the public.
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We are proud to partner with Forum 2000, Czechia’s most prestigious human rights conference. You can often find us at the Václav Havel Library and other venues in Prague where we bring people from all over our region to share their stories. At Prague Pride, we fly the flag for rights in our region. Follow our social media to find out more.
Get involved
Apply to our events through our open calls. The application process varies depending on event but in general we’ll be asking you to fill out a form with a few questions to get to know you, your focus and how you will benefit from participating.
Options
Some of our popular events and exchanges
Unlock
The Prague Civil Society Centre launched Unlock in 2017 as an antidote to narratives of doom and gloom that permeated the region’s civil society. The annual event has since become something of a civic summit that brings together hundreds of activists and journalists to Prague to share their work and inspire each other. Whilst Unlock doesn’t diminish the enormity of the challenges faced by pro-democratic actors in our region, it seeks to identify and celebrate those that are succeeding and foster a spirit of possibility rather than gloom.
Retreats
Many of our partners are working in high pressure and volatile environments. We support various retreats and opportunities for people to have some time out, connect with their team, or otherwise take the time and space they need. Just one example: in the summer following Russia’s full scale-invasion of Ukraine, in cooperation with the Lviv Media Forum, we gathered 140 journalists from across Ukraine for a several-day retreat in the Carpathians to rest, recuperate, and recover from burnout.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is hard enough in open societies and can seem impossible in closed contexts. Not so. Our workshops for activists and media are carefully designed to share and develop secure and creative ways for our partners to raise money from their audiences in even the most difficult environments.
Working with content creators
Social media content creators are vital and authentic communicators in all the countries we work. Our BumpUp! events bring creators with growing or significant audiences together for networking, experience sharing, workshops, and discussions. Some of the influencers we work with focus on issues such as ecology, education, rule of law, culture, science, and socio-political themes.
Working with filmmakers
The Prague Civil Society Centre’s Future Lands film programme, in cooperation with WATCH DOCS IFF and Current Time TV, works to develop short documentary films by young filmmakers from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Future Lands aspires to become a collection of short documentary stories that offers diverse narratives and understanding from a new generation of filmmakers examining the current and future state of their societies, challenges, and visions for the future, as seen through the post-imperial lens.
Investing in leadership
In tandem with our grantmaking team, we incubated the NextGen Leadership Academy in Armenia together with the Armenian NGO Restart. This has since evolved into an established initiative that is helping develop the next generation of Armenian leaders in all sectors of public life. Alumni are working on all kinds of issues from local democracy and environmental protection to youth and student projects.
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