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The People in Need Foundation (PINF) is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization whose mission statement is "to inspire a largeness of spirit in Czech society by helping others in need, and to promote democratic freedoms for all." The core of PINF's thinking is that newly democratic states of Central Europe should assume their share of responsibility in international affairs. Thanks to the support of hundreds of thousands of ordinary Czech citizens and numerous Czech institutions, PINF has consistently mobilized Czech society to play an active role in promoting peace, human rights and democracy worldwide. Since being established in 1992, it has provided more than US$ 15 million in relief, rehabilitation and other assistance to 22 countries, including US$4.5 million to Bosnia-Herzegovina, US$4 million to Kosovo and most recently US$ 900.000 to Chechnya.
PINF has been repeatedly cited for its achievements over the years. In 1997 PINF received the Czech Foreign Ministry's "Gratias Agit" award for outstanding contributions to the Czech Republic's image abroad, and the "Democracy and Civil Society" award from the United States and European Union in 1998. In 1999 it received a special award from the Czech Film and TV Union and the Czech Literary Fund for a regular series of documentary films that PINF produces for Czech television. PINF was also awarded by the VIA Foundation and United Nations Development Program for its participation in their joint "Support of local activities in 1998-2000" project. PINF routinely collaborates with a broad spectrum of local and international partners in its project activities. These include UN agencies such as UNICEF, the UNHCR and WFP; private relief organizations such as Mercy Corps, CRS and Pharmaciens sans Frontieres; civic and cultural associations; and independent media. PINF’s activities are funded by private and corporate donors via fundraising campaigns in the Czech Republic, as well as by the Czech Government's foreign aid program and a variety of U.S. and European institutions. People in Need is particularly grateful for the longstanding support of its co-founder, Czech Television, as well as the City of Prague, Open Society Fund, Civil Society Development Foundation (funded by the EU Phare program), the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the National Endowment for Democracy. All PINF projects are supervised by its Board of Directors. Financial and legal aspects of PINF operations are controlled by a Supervisory Board and annually audited by an external firm.
A hallmark of PINF's work is close cooperation with the Czech media. Its "SOS Bosnia", "SOS Morava", "SOS Kosovo" and "SOS Chechnya" campaigns have been supported with free airtime from Czech TV, Czech Radio and 25 private radio stations across the country, and with free ad spots in 15 national and regional newspapers. PINF´s current "SOS Chechnya" campaign, launched in early January 2000 has thus far generated US$ 700.000 in donations from the Czech government, City of Prague, the Czech public and foreign donors. PINF was the first non-Russian agency to get relief aid into Chechnya in the year 2000 and has provided assistance to more than 100.000 Chechen refugees (PINF Chechnya reports). In response to the mass exodus of refugees from Kosovo in early 1999, the Foundation launched a nationwide "SOS Kosovo" campaign which raised more than US$ 2.5 million and provided 700 tonnes of emergency supplies for refugee camps in Albania, Montenegro and Macedonia. Its post-conflict activities in Kosovo include construction of a new central warehouse for the Mother Theresa Society in Pristina; construction of three new schools and 100 private homes; re-equipping of hospitals in Pristina and Peja (Pec); operation of two special trucking units for secondary aid distribution in Prizren and Peja (Pec); management of five refugee transit centers in Peja (Pec) and Klina; and support to the Faik Konica school of journalism and three leading Kosovo NGOs. Total value of PINF assistance for Kosovo has reached US$ 4 million. In 1997, PINF’s “SOS Moravia“ campaign raised $660,000 that provided assistance to more than 100 communities affected by massive flooding in the Moravia region of the Czech Republic.
PINF complements and supports its relief work with vigorous advocacy for human rights and democratic freedoms, in close partnership with cultural and civic organizations. In recent years PINF has moved actively into the production of print and video materials for media in the Czech Republic. As part of this efford in year 2000 PINF launched InfoService, an Internet-based service focussing on international humanitarian and human rights issues Since 1998, PINF has produced a series of bimonthly special supplements on areas in crisis for Respekt, the Czech Republic's leading political journal, including issues on Belarus, Burma, Chechnya, Cuba, East Timor, Kosovo and foreigners in the Czech Republic. Since 1999, PINF has also produced a monthly series of documentary films for Czech Television. So far its camera has been a witness to the current war in Chechnya, the exodus and return of Kosovo Albanians, the extinction of Tibetan culture, the persecution of independent journalists in Belarus, the life of Afghan refugees in Iran, street children in Vietnam, the experiences of political prisoners in Burma and lives of Cuban dissidents. (See PINF documentaries)
The One World Film Festival was created with the aim of using the powerful media of film and video to foster understanding among cultures, promote global responsibility, advance public awareness of international affairs, and mobilize concern about human rights violations. Although only in its third year, One World has quickly become one of the largest and most important human rights film festivals in Europe. One World is now widely regarded as one of Prague's premier cultural and media events, and stands in the vanguard of the movement to screen documentary films to mass audiences. The Festival has already catalyzed the launch of similar events in Slovakia, Poland, Kosovo and Serbia. One World 2001 will be held under the joint auspices of Czech President Václav Havel and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.
PINF also sponsors regular visits to the Czech Republic by prominent international personalities to discuss contemporary issues of democracy and human rights with government officials, parliamentarians, diplomats and the public at large. Its guests have included U.S. philanthropist George Soros, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdic, EU Human Rights Commissioner Emma Bonino, Belarusian opposition leaders Zyanon Pazniak and Vincuk Viachorka, Montenegro President Milo Djukanovic and others. A recent visit by Chechen Foreign Minister Ilias Akhmadov led to an unusually strong response by the Russian Foreign Ministry, which sent a protest note to the Czech Foreign Ministry threatening to break diplomatic ties.
In 1998 PINF received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (U.S.A.) for activities in support of pro-democracy forces in Belarus. The program organizes visits for Belarusian activists to the Czech Republic; provides material support to independent media, NGOs and youth groups; and arranges trainings and seminars for Belarusian journalists, teachers and university students. The program has been re-funded by the NED for 2001.
To highlight its support for peace, democracy and human rights, the foundation awards an annual "Homo Homini" prize for individuals who display exceptional courage in defense of these values. The prize-winners to date have been:
Since September 1998 PINF has been implementing a nationwide pilot project to ameliorate the oppressive conditions of the Roma minority in the Czech Republic, and to address social problems such as low school attendance by Roma children and drug addiction among Roma youths. PINF is currently operating seven community centers for Romas in Chomutov, Jirkov, Brno, Nové Město pod Smrkem, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, Most and Ústí nad Labem. The Roma project is supported by the EU Phare program, the Civil Society Development Foundation, the Open Society Fund, the Nadace Via Foundation, Know How Fund, Westminster Foundation for Democracy and privat U.S. donors.
The foundation operates a number of programs on behalf of Czechs in the diaspora. From 1995-98 it implemented a US$ 2 million project to improve the infrastructure of a cluster of six ethnic Czech villages in the Banat region of Romania. Since 1994 it has managed an ongoing program which has repatriated nearly 650 ethnic Czechs from Kazakhstan to the Czech Republic. Beginning in October 1997, it has provided teams of social workers to Kent County in the UK to assist local authorities in providing services to Roma immigrants from Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
During the war in Bosnia from 1993-95, PINF supplied hospitals in Sarajevo, Mostar, Zenica and other frontline areas with ambulances, medicines and field surgeons, and operated a special transport unit to deliver UNICEF supplies to Gorazde and other cities under siege. In 1995 it delivered emergency medical supplies to dozens of health centers in Chechnya at a time when only a handful of agencies were able to operate inside the conflict zone. In the midst of the chaos in Albania in 1997, PINF again proved one of the few agencies able to move food and medicines into the country. In 1995 the Foundation managed to smuggle 180 artists out of Sarajevo during the siege by Bosnian Serb forces to participate in PINF's "Month of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Czech Republic," which encompassed 90 events in 40 municipalities and was staged in cooperation with more than 100 cultural organizations. Massive flooding in Moravia during the summer of 1997 provided the occasion for PINF's first relief operations in the Czech Republic. Its "SOS Moravia" campaign raised US$500,000 from Czech donors and US$150,000 from abroad, which the Foundation converted into direct assistance for more than 100 affected communities, including water and sanitation rehabilitation work that continued throughout 1998. Elsewhere in the region of Central Europe and the Balkans, in 1997-98 PINF provided reconstruction materials to flood-stricken villages in Moldova and Romania, assistance to a national NGO working with Roma (gypsy) victims of flooding in Slovakia, and special food shipments to 35 orphanages in Bulgaria. Miscellaneous actions: Afghanistan (2000), Albania (1993, 97), Bulgaria (1997), Colombia (1999), Croatia (1993), Cuba (1998-99), Moldova (1998), Mongolia (1993), Nagorno-Karabach (1993-94), Romania (1998), Slovakia (1998), Somalia (1993), Tajikistan (1998), Ukraine (1993, 97)
Člověk v tísni - Společnost při České televizi o.p.s. Executive Director: Tomáš Pojar tel: 00420 - 2 - 410 11 550 |
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2000 Min Ko Naing,
a student leader and political prisoner from Burma