Foreigners
Strengthening Intercultural Competencies
Better communication is the key to fewer misunderstandings. We help public administration and security personnel improve their communication skills when working with third-country nationals. Our training allows them to view certain situations from the perspective of a foreigner, which fosters greater understanding.
• We plan to train a total of 800 people between March 1, 2024, and August 31, 2026.
• The two-day workshop has been accredited by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
• Slovo 21 has been working with civil servants since 2011. Since then, we have trained a total of 1,300 people.
• The workshop is designed for employees of the Police of the Czech Republic, the Foreign Police, the Municipal Police, the Fire Rescue Service, the Labour Office of the Czech Republic, the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy (OAMP), and the State Labour Inspection Office.
Why is it necessary to train civil servants?
According to Ministry of the Interior data, there were 836,000 people from different cultural backgrounds in the Czech Republic at the end of 2023. Sooner or later, all of these people will come into contact with Czech authorities. However, many employees have never received adequate training in intercultural and communication skills, which can negatively impact their work and their approach to foreigners. That is why we developed a two-day interactive training concept to make working with foreigners easier for state and local government employees. Our goal is to show officials that, sometimes, a foreigner's behavior is simply a result of their different cultural background.
What does the training look like?
We don't want to lecture officials on the theory of migration. We focus primarily on experiential and interactive activities that place participants in the position a foreigner might face in everyday life. By role-playing, they have the opportunity to experience model situations through the eyes of migrants. At the same time, each training session is tailored to the participants, whose needs vary depending on their specific jobs. They actively participate at the beginning of the workshop, helping to shape the final content of the individual activities based on their expectations.
Guest-foreigner
Public administration and security personnel often have a distorted view of foreigners living in the Czech Republic because they simply do not have the opportunity to meet and talk with them outside of their workplace. That is why the workshop includes a "guest chair" session. This gives participants the chance to have personal contact with someone who came to the Czech Republic as a foreigner and shares what they found difficult, as well as what pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised them. The foreign guests we work with come from Ukraine, Russia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Syria, and Belarus.
The project "Strengthening Intercultural Competencies 2024-2026" is co-financed by the European Union.
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"We should approach foreigners with empathy." A police officer on our training that is changing perspectives on migrants
How should public officials communicate with people from completely different cultural backgrounds? And what can help police officers, for example, better understand the situations they encounter in the field? They can find out at our two-day Strengthening Intercultural Competencies training. Jiří Janoštík from the Jeseník District Police Department is one of those who have completed it. What did he take away from the training?
When empathy helps: hundreds of officials, police officers, and firefighters are learning to communicate more effectively with foreigners thanks to Slovo 21
Less tension, more understanding. Sooner or later, every migrant in a new country encounters officials – at the foreign police, the labor office, or municipal authorities. However, the barrier between an official and a foreigner is not just the counter. It is often created by language barriers and cultural differences.
Finding common ground, even when it’s not easy: A course helping officials communicate with foreigners with an open mind
The Strengthening Intercultural Competencies project aims to help public administration and security personnel improve their communication skills. During a two-day workshop, attendees have the opportunity to learn how to better perceive the needs of third-country nationals.
"To pause for a moment and look at the other person without stereotypes." – with Mónica Márquez on a project changing Czech authorities
The Intercultural Competence Strengthening Project has set itself a challenging goal: to change the complex reality faced by people arriving in the Czech Republic. During two-day courses, representatives from public administration and security forces learn how to interact with foreigners more effectively and without prejudice.