An unfamiliar environment, traumatic experiences. Project Your New Home in the Czech Republic will help 300 holders of international protection find their way in a new country.

They often arrive in the Czech Republic from countries where they have experienced traumatic events, and leaving their homeland was rarely a voluntary choice. Holders of international protection are a specific group among foreigners in the Czech Republic who require additional support. Through our new project, Your New Home in the Czech Republic, we have been working since March to make their start in a new country easier, primarily by providing them with essential information.

At a special seminar, we will provide holders of international protection with a package of information to facilitate their integration into Czech society. Over the next two years, 300 people will attend these sessions. "It is an eight-hour meeting led by two trained instructors and two interpreters. During the session, participants primarily learn about their rights and obligations in the Czech Republic. They also gain a basic overview of life in their new country—including information on residency legislation, employment, business, the social and educational systems, healthcare, and even Czech customs and traditions," explains project methodologist Veronika Slavíková.

The seminars and all accompanying materials are interpreted and translated into four languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic, and English. If necessary, it will be possible to provide interpretation for the seminar in other languages as well, such as Belarusian or Chinese. All topics are also comprehensively covered in the publication *The Czech Republic – Your New Home*, which will be available online in five languages.

International protection is granted to individuals who cannot safely return to their home country due to the threat of persecution, violence, or armed conflict. Holders of this status face many challenges. "These individuals are required to completely sever contact with their country of origin; they cannot travel there for vacations or to visit friends. This is a condition of being granted international protection, and violating it risks the loss of that status," adds Veronika Slavíková.

Slovo 21 has been working with holders of international protection since 2018. As part of a similar project back then, we provided them with basic information about life in the Czech Republic through comparable information seminars. According to Veronika Slavíková, the new project responds to current social circumstances: "During this period, we will have people from different countries at our seminars than before; for example, a larger group of Ukrainians has emerged. There will be some differences there, if only because of the relatively large Ukrainian community that has formed in the Czech Republic due to the conflict in Ukraine," she adds.