On Thursday, June 15 started the second Czech-Germans Young Professionals Program (CGYPP) seminar of the year 2023 in Prague. The programme also included a public event at the Representation of the European Commission in the Czech Republic and a number of visits to various organisations around Prague.
On Thursday we kicked off the second CGYPP 2023 seminar with a public debate “Fit For 2024? Central Europe & Upcoming European Parliament Election.” The opening speech was given by Monika Ladmanová (Head of European Commission Representation in the Czech Republic) and the discussion was joined by Nikola Hořejš (Analyst of STEM) and Vít Dostál (Executive Director of AMO). The debate was hosted by Zuzana Lizcová (AMO).
On Friday morning, after the opening remarks from representatives of the CGYPP partners – Stefan Gehrke from the Czech-German Fund for the Future and Markus Ehm from the Hanns Seidel Stiftung the first guest was Tomáš Kopečný – Governmental Envoy for the Reconstruction of Ukraine. Then the group moved to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Prague HQ to discuss the role of journalists and the media in efforts to strengthen democracies. In the afternoon we continued to the Prague office of the UNHCR to discuss the Czech Republic’s response to the arrival of refugees from Ukraine. The day ended with a fact-finding mission. Participants divided into two groups and met with representatives of People in Need and the Pod svícnem initiative. In the case of the first one, they discussed social programmes focused on the Czech Republic, while in the case of the second one, they discussed domestic violence and efforts for legislative change.
The third day of the CGYPP 2023 seminar was opened by a lecture by Tomáš Čech (České priority) on AI and its impact on democracy. Then, during an internal workshop, participants shared their experiences of what made them personally stronger. We ended the day at the food bank, first with a discussion about its mission and then with a team building workshop where participants cooked for themselves using surplus food.
The whole seminar ended with an evaluation on Sunday and clarification of further tasks related mainly to the preparation of podcasts. The next seminar will take place in October in Plzeň.
CGYPP is initiated and financed by the Czech-German Fund for the Future. The seminar was organized with the support of the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung
