Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia (PDCS)

PDCS stands for Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia.
PDCS is independent non-governmental nonprofit organization.
PDCS provides professional education and consultation-advisory services and issues publications.
PDCS is part of a network of similar institutions in 13 countries Partners for Democratic Change International.

The mission of PDCS is to help develop and promote culture of democracy, expand democratic approaches and mechanisms for dialogue and conflict prevention.

We fulfil PDCS mission by working with nonprofit organizations, public administration institutions and cross-sector partnerships in development programs and by arranging cultured dialogue among various interest groups.

The training courses given by PDCS have so far been attended by over 15,000 participants in Slovakia and 32 other countries. PDCS published 15 books.

In recent years, PDCS‘s services have been used by over 800 nonprofit organizations, state and local government institutions, cross-sector groups, communities, and international organizations. Examples include:

• Courses for consultants, trainers and practitioners for international organizations such as UNDP, OSCE and UNIFEM and as a part of long-term programs (e.g. the Development School) for participants from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
• One-week training courses for numerous groups of leaders from foreign NGOs and public institutions. These combined practical training with the opportunity to visit institutions and programs in Slovakia and formulate action plans on their basis for programs in other countries (These groups were from countries such as Croatia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Hungary, Serbia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, etc.)
• Evaluation of the program "Strengthening Local Democracy in the Stability Pact Region." The purpose was to provide an external assessment of the training program for trainers of local governments and its impact. The program was realized in nine countries/provinces of the Balkan region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia).
• Training and long-term consultation abroad in 32 countries undergoing transformation, on such topics as prevention of conflicts, organizational development, citizens participation and community development, coalitions and advocacy, and strategic planning. Training was provided in partnership with major international institutions (e.g. Freedom House, Counterpart, IREX, Amnesty International, World Learning, ABA CEELI, ICNL, NDI, OSI, etc.) and very often in cooperation with local trainers and consultants.
• In programs supported by EU pre-entry and structural funds, PDCS worked as a partner on several long-term projects with various foreign consultation firms and institutions such as DHV, GET, CEEN, EKO, P-E International, IPP, etc.

As to the programmes focused on conflict prevention and conflict transformation (examples):

In August-November 2005, Dušan Ondrušek conducted a series of trainings focused on conflict management in Sana’a, Yemen. The trainings were performed under the “Yemeni Consensus Building” program funded through a grant from the Middle East Presidential Initiative and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In October 2004 in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan PDCS realized T4T training on "Conflict transformation in the pre-election period" for 18 trainers from different Tajik regions and for 19 government and opposition political parties and representatives of governing structure from different Kyrgyz regions. Training was organized and funded by UN secretariat from N.Y. and UNDP.

In 2003, PDCS repeatedly worked in Central Asia. The longest training was provided in cooperation with UN Peace University in Costa Rica, along with UN TOP peace mission in Tajikistan – three one-week training courses Conciliation in Post-Conflict Conditions in Varzob, Tajikistan for three groups of 30 participants – top leaders of two opposing sides in the past wars.
The training was attended by leaders of political parties of both, ruling coalition and the opposition, religious leaders, journalists, officials of state law enforcement institutions (police and army) as well as scientists and analysts interpreting the conflict in Tajikistan. To many representatives of the opposing sides, it was one of the few opportunities to clarify their attitudes in a direct dialogue.

In July 2003 and in July 2005, Dušan Ondrušek and Karolína Miková led a training block on “Conflict Transformation” for 2 x 45 future leaders from 5 Central Asian countries, 3 Caucasus countries and Afghanistan under the frame of CELA II project organized by East West Institute (Istanbul, Koc University).

Programmes related to minorities and tolerance (examples):

We mostly help solve the problem of unconstructive conflicts between the majority population and minorities by provision of training for both the majority and minorities, designed to develop tolerance, understanding of minority rights and of mechanisms for transformation of ethnic and value-based conflicts. Currently, we expand our work to include also cooperative planning involving representatives of various sectors, minority and majority which helps find solutions to local problems. In Slovakia, we focus primarily on helping ethnic groups and minorities (Roma, Hungarians). Yet, we also provide this kind of work in other mostly post-conflict countries in the Balkans area, in Central Asia and the Caucasus region.

In long-term training series we have worked primarily with Roma leaders and managers of Roma projects, representatives of local governments, state administration, Roma representatives of non-profit organizations as well as journalists involved in projects related to co-existence of Roma and non-Roma (current flagship international programme is a four-year Roma Integration Program implemented in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia).

More information on www.pdcs.sk/en