We are hap­py to sha­re the the Civil Kol­lé­gi­um Ala­pít­vány with its este­emed part­ners, the Plat­form of Fami­li­es of Child­ren with Disa­bi­li­ti­es from Slo­va­kia, and the Soci­ety for All, z. s. from the Czech Repub­lic have the honor to run a com­mon pro­ject in 2026 sup­port­ed by the Viseg­rad Funds.

The aim of the pro­ject is to enab­le parents and tea­chers in the V4 regi­on to work more effec­ti­vely at local and nati­o­nal level to pro­vi­de bet­ter scho­ol sup­port for stu­dents with lear­ning dif­fi­cul­ti­es and spe­ci­al edu­ca­ti­o­nal needs (SEN). The part­ners are deve­lop­ing a com­mu­nity-bas­ed advo­cacy model that promo­tes a needs-bas­ed tea­ch­ing assis­tant sys­tem and a more inc­lu­sive app­ro­ach in schools

In order to ensure that child­ren with SEN rece­ive high-qua­lity, inc­lu­sive and diver­si­fi­ed edu­ca­ti­on, more – the exact num­ber sho­uld be bas­ed on local need – tea­ch­ing assis­tants and spe­ci­a­lists to assist with tea­ch­ing and edu­ca­ti­o­nal work are nee­ded in ins­ti­tu­tions, as requ­i­red. We beli­eve that coope­ra­ti­on bet­ween local com­mu­ni­ti­es, advo­cacy gro­ups and sta­te ins­ti­tu­tions has the poten­ti­al to chan­ge this situation.

As mem­bers of sup­por­tive com­mu­ni­ti­es, citi­zens can iden­ti­fy prob­lems that are direct con­se­qu­en­ces of ine­qu­a­li­ti­es, raise the­se issues pub­licly, and demand ins­ti­tu­ti­o­nal changes. new poli­ci­es, and bet­ter soci­al ser­vi­ces in edu­ca­ti­on. We help people to iden­ti­fy the­ir prob­lems and issues, see the sys­te­mic prob­lems behind them, and work with com­mu­ni­ti­es and other orga­ni­sa­tions and ins­ti­tu­tions to deter­mi­ne exactly what changes need to be made to sol­ve the­se prob­lems. In this pro­cess, parent gro­ups learn abo­ut inter­na­ti­o­nal best prac­ti­ces and incor­pora­te them into the­ir local advo­cacy work.

The­se expe­ri­en­ces enab­le parent gro­ups to rep­re­sent the­ir child­ren’s inte­rests more effec­ti­vely in the­ir own scho­ols and bring posit­ive chan­ge. They also work toget­her to pro­po­se sys­te­mic changes in education

During this pro­ject with the sup­port of the Viseg­rad Grant the three part­ner orga­ni­za­tions will orga­ni­ze study-visits to each-other to learn abo­ut the dif­fe­rent expe­ri­en­ces, prob­lems, met­hods and solu­tions and also will orga­ni­ze a joint-con­fe­ren­ce at Buda­pest in the autumn.

The pro­ject is co-finan­ced by the govern­ments of Czechia, Hun­gary, Poland and Slo­va­kia thro­ugh Viseg­rad Grants from the Inter­na­ti­o­nal Viseg­rad Fund. The mis­si­on of the fund is to advance ide­as for sus­ta­in­ab­le regi­o­nal coope­ra­ti­on in Cent­ral Europe.