About Civipolis

Civipolis is a public benefit non-profit corporation founded in 2011 in Olomouc with the aim of opening of the public space. We promote dialogue between all actors involved in public affairs and try to enhance citizens' participation in decision-making. The organization focuses on organisation of conferences, seminars, training, meetings, professional courses, internships and other educational activities including lectures; conducting public opinion surveys and other research; providing cultural, social and educational activities; publishing, educational and training activities including publishing periodical and non-periodical publications and promotional materials etc. 

Civipolis was founded by academics and alumni of the Department of Politics and European Studies at the Palacký University in Olomouc. People involved in the activities of the NGO have thus broad experiences in carrying out research in various fields and teaching. In recent years they participated in a number of expert studies in the field of electoral behaviour, political marketing, or the research of local elites (e.g. Municipal Assemblies in European Local Governance, Olomouc Region 2011, Rural Needs Analysis, Public opinion poll of the citizens of Valašské Meziříčí, Comprehensive analysis of the funding of regional education, Democratic innovations at the local level in Central Europe etc.). We also participated in the project Sblíženi politikou (Policy convergence - Education for active citizenship and local democracy), which was focused on the political literacy. (www.sblizenipolitikou.cz)

Civipolis' biggest projects in the last five years were focused on public space and its development. In 2014 we organised the international conference New Visions of Urban Politics. Medium-sized European cities in 21st century in Olomouc (Czech Republic). The conference was the part of the project funded by the International Visegrad Fund. The aim of the project was to create a space for an exchange of experience among representatives of European cities and universities and other experts in the development of medium-sized cities similar to Olomouc. Our intention was to present successful projects from European cities that could be an inspiration for urban governance in Central and Eastern Europe. The conference focused on new trends in urban development, building relationship between the university and the city. The very important part of the conference was also meetings and workshops of NGOs representatives, who presented examples of good practice in involving the citizens in decision-making in their cities. (See more on www.cityvision.cz). In 2014 Civipolis participated also in project Kavárna Evropa (Coffee house Europe) which was supported by the European Commission and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. The aim of the panel discussions and debates was to increase the knowledge of secondary school students on the rights of EU citizens and to stimulate their active participation in democratic life in the EU. 

In 2016 our organisation managed the project Equal Opportunities and Women's Involvement in Rural Development Problems. The project was focused on women's involvement in the activities and development of the Local Action Groups in the Czech Republic (LAGs) and provided a comprehensive analysis of the status of women in the countryside which could help to create the measures for gender equality policy in this area. The project was supported by Norway grand. 

Recently we have been participating as a partner in the project Education 2.0 - Development of key competences by supporting the training focused on the objective. The project is focused on current and future teachers of social science disciplines at the primary and secondary schools. We provide the teachers the appropriate methodological tools for teaching so that they would lead their pupils more effectively to the acquisition of key competencies (social and personal and civic). Civipolis has been currently also a partner of the Georgian NGO Information and Socio-Economic Problems Research Center from Gori in the project Civil Society Development for Participatory Democracy in Shida Kartli Region funded by the International Visegrad Fund. The goal of the project is to build governance and management capacities of the local CSOs and NGOs by transferring from the EU countries context-sensitive good governance practices and models for effective civil society development. (https://www.iseprc.org/visegradproject/)