To alleviate the impacts of COVID-19 policies, many initiatives have been developed by civil society organisations – NGOs, local governments, or citizens. A team of national researchers from the RESISTIRÉ project has collected and highlighted a set of particularly relevant initiatives in 27 European countries and in Iceland, Serbia, the United Kingdom and Turkey. These Better Stories cover eight specific domains: gender-based violence, the labour market, the economy, gender-pay and pension gaps, gender care gaps, decision-making and politics, environmental justice, human and fundamental rights. 

This Better Story was collected by Vanda Maufras Černohorská 

The high risk of a spread of the COVID-19 disease and the lack of staff caused the regular winter dormitories in Prague to shut down in March 2020. The city of Prague, together with the social service providers, launched a brilliant initiative,” The City’s”, to cope with the issue of epidemiologically suitable accommodation facilities for homeless people. This ambitious project aimed to provide suitable accommodation facilities for homeless people. 

Delivering vital support to those most in need 

The City’s initiative was established partially in response to NGOs and other civil society actors’ lobbying efforts which advocated for securing several hotels/hostels for homeless people. The approach was inclusive, targeting the most vulnerable groups in the homeless community: people with disabilities, the elderly, and women were prioritized. The highest priority was given to people who showed symptoms of Covid-19 but had not yet been tested positive. The method of prioritizing clients placed in humanitarian hotels was inspired by a solution scheme used in London. 

A long-term solution in mind 

The initiative had a more sustainable and long-term plan which aimed for social stabilization of the accommodated clients, as well as transitioning them into more permanent housing (Magistrát HMP, 2021).

When the initiative was launched (Spring 2020), the hotels had a capacity of 353 beds which was later decreased to 220 beds (Summer 2020). However, as the people residing in the hotels changed over time, the initiative’s creator estimates it impacted (between 3/2020-10/2022) “higher hundreds of people,” i.e. around 700 – 900.

Find out more about the initiative

Photo by Shobhit Sharma on Unsplash 

To alleviate the impacts of COVID-19 policies, many initiatives have been developed by civil society organisations – NGOs, local governments, or citizens. A team of national researchers from the RESISTIRÉ project has collected and highlighted a set of particularly relevant initiatives in 27 European countries and in Iceland, Serbia, the United Kingdom and Turkey. These Better Stories currently cover eight specific domains: gender-based violence, the labour market, the economy, gender-pay and pension gaps, gender care gaps, decision-making and politics, environmental justice, human and fundamental rights.

This Better Story was collected by Vanda Maufras Cernohorska.

SYPO, standing for the System of Support for the Professional Development of Teachers and School Heads, was launched in 2018 by the National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic. When lockdowns were instituted in the Czech Republic, this already existing project provided useful tools to teachers who suddenly found themselves in a (mostly) digital work environment.

An existing system to support teachers

The SYPO Project is an EU- and Czech-funded project that provides support to teachers and principals of kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools, and higher vocational schools. It assists educators in the development of various personal and professional skills through the use of trainings and, increasingly so during the pandemic, virtual support tools like webinars, a dedicated forum and other online resources.

A useful resource in times of pandemic

When the first state of emergency was instituted in the Czech Republic in March 2020, the project focused on online teaching and online communication, which allowed teachers to keep connecting with their students in both a digital and an interpersonal sense despite the sudden and widespread adoption of digital education. Moreover, it offers support related to various other digital issues, like digital infrastructure and using ICT for the management of schools.

The SYPO website also offers webinars in specific subjects for teachers to brush up their knowledge and skills, available after registering. These topics range from Czech literature and language to (applied) mathematics to special topics for beginning teachers that allow them to start their careers more smoothly.

By 2021, the tool proved successful, with the webinars having been watched more than 150,000 times and with the forum for teachers being used frequently.

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

To alleviate the impacts of COVID-19 policies, many initiatives have been developed by civil society organisations – NGOs, local governments, or citizens. A team of national researchers from the RESISTIRÉ project has collected and highlighted a set of particularly relevant initiatives in 27 European countries and in Iceland, Serbia, the United Kingdom and Turkey. These Better Stories currently cover eight specific domains: gender-based violence, the labour market, the economy, gender-pay and pension gaps, gender care gaps, decision-making and politics, environmental justice, human and fundamental rights.

This Better Story was collected by Vanda Maufras Cernohorska.

The adverse effects of long-lasting school closures

On March 11, 2020, the Czech government issued a full stop of in-person lessons in primary and secondary school institutions. Schoolchildren (elementary and kindergarten) first started to come back towards the end of May 2020, though the operation of schools was again reduced from mid-October 2020 onwards and they only reopened at the end of November/beginning of December 2020. Another closure came at the beginning of January 2021, with youths and children only starting to come back in mid-April and an overall reopening at the end of May 2021. The long-lasting school closure impacted not only children (and potentially widened existing inequalities related to education and class/socio-economic background) but also meant additional stress and workload for parents (mainly women), who had to support and oversee their children’s education, and teachers.

A series of interactive school lessons broadcast live throughout most of the pandemic

Czech Television created a series of live interactive school classes called TV Teacher [UčíTelka]. These were broadcast to children at an elementary school level every day between 9.00 – 12.00, while the afternoon programme targeted older pupils. The initiative was launched right after the first closure of schools in March 2020, reacting quickly to the unfolding crisis and compensating for the initial lack of government-issued materials, guidelines or programmes that could have assisted parents and schools with remote learning. The offered classes included mathematics, Czech language and social sciences, while other subjects like foreign languages and PE were added later. The project was reintroduced every time the schools were closed down again, effectively broadcasting during most of the pandemic (with the exception of summer and early fall 2020). The show’s content was created in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Czech Television later launched a dedicated website with additional educational materials, videos, etc. The initiative received lots of praise from both parents as well as teachers of elementary school pupils, who during the first COVID-19 wave received little to no guidance from the Ministry of Education. This type of initiative could feasibly be adapted to other national contexts in crisis situations.  

Photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash

To alleviate the impacts of COVID-19 policies, many initiatives have been developed by civil society organisations – NGOs, local governments, or citizens. A team of national researchers from the RESISTIRÉ project has collected and highlighted a set of particularly relevant initiatives in 27 European countries and in Iceland, Serbia, the United Kingdom and Turkey. The initiatives currently cover eight specific domains: gender-based violence, the labour market, the economy, gender-pay and pension gaps, gender care gaps, decision-making and politics, environmental justice, human and fundamental rights.

This societal initiative has been collected by: Vanda Maufras Cernohorska.

Nora Fridrichová, a journalist and philanthropist, had been focusing on supporting single parents for approximately two years prior to the pandemic. She intensified her efforts in 2020, started to collaborate more with businesses and created two initiatives to support single-parent families during the COVID-19 crisis.

Two campaigns to alleviate the pandemic’s impact on single-parent families

Single parents, in majority single mothers, are one of the most socially and economically disadvantaged groups in the Czech Republic. Their situation is a result of the intersection of several inequalities – gender, economic, social, and care-related. The initiative responds to the long-term precarious situation of single parents in the Czech Republic and the fact they have been hit especially hard by the pandemic, finding themselves in an extremely vulnerable position and at risk of economic and social exclusion.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the initiative organiser started a crowdfunding campaign providing single-parent families with food assistance (Spring 2020 – ongoing). A year later, she followed up with a clothes-oriented collection which distributes clothes, shoes, books and other items to single parents and their children.

Both activities have proved to be successful: the campaign has raised over CZK 10 million (approximately 393,000€) so far and the clothes distribution is being carried out in seven Czech cities. They are also being promoted by public figures as well as businesses which provide further financial support or other services (municipal offices are getting involved e.g . with providing free-off-rent spaces).

More is still needed to create a lasting change

Despite its success, the initiative still works on an immediate-relief basis and does not represent a sustainable change that could improve single parents’ precarious situation as a group in the long-term; when in need of state support, they are often being directed by the administrative workers themselves to this (and similar) initiatives rather than being offered systematic support from the state.

However, these campaigns have raised awareness about the vulnerability of single-parent families and have the potential to contribute to future policy changes that might lead to the improvement of the group’s position.

Clothes collection website