The submitted project is implemented by RUBIKON Centrum (RC) – an NGO that has been implementing programs to reduce recidivism for more than 26 years, and has applied many innovations from foreign good practice to the conditions of the Czech Republic. RC provides its services to app. 1500 people with a criminal record per year.
The project is a response to the insufficient capacity, continuity and interconnectedness of services for convicts leaving prison, and the accumulation of disadvantages and barriers to their integration.
The purpose of the project is to improve the conditions for 150 people in the process of leaving the custodial sentence in 5 prisons.
To accomplish this aim, we will create and verify in practice the methodology of the Mentoring Program, which will serve for the use in practice by other subjects. We will also train 8 mentors who will receive support and training throughout the project, and they will provide support to clients under the guidance of professional counsellors. The project will transfer good practice in the area of mentoring from the Norwegian organization Wayback to the conditions of the Czech Republic.
Work with the target group will take place in close cooperation with the professional team of the project, employees of the Prison Service and other subjects involved in post-penitentiary care in the Czech Republic. We will start cooperating with clients in prison and support will continue fluently after their release. Activities are focused on addressing key areas that have a demonstrable impact on the success rate in integration and recidivism of people released from prison:
- assistance in securing housing and other basic material needs
- assistance in finding a job, including retraining
- development of functional family relationships and other supportive social contacts
- solving the financial situation
- care for physical and mental health
- leisure and personal development.
Project schedule: 11/21-4/24.
Summary of bilateral results
The project greatly benefited from the expertise and know-how of the Norwegian partner Wayback, whose work with clients in prisons and after release is based on mentoring and the use of lived experience from imprisonment. Wayback participated in the creation of a manual for training mentors and the methodology of the mentoring programme. The partner's representatives participated in the training of mentors, led a workshop for mentors and counselors, and provided regular online and in-person consultations during the project. The cooperation was mutually beneficial; during visits, for example, the Norwegians visited the Czech participating prisons in Příbram and Světlá nad Sázavou. The project greatly contributed to the development of cooperation with Wayback in other areas of our activities such as the use of lived experience from serving a sentence, the topic of convicted women, and the development of community prisons within the European RESCALED network, in which both organizations participated. This cooperation takes concrete form in the implementation of other joint projects, including the follow-up bilateral initiative Mentoring: sharing experiences between practitioners. It enabled participation in the European Symposium on Community Prisons in Brussels, with a positive impact beyond the scope of the project. About 150 experts from 30 countries shared their experiences with the development of small, community-integrated prison facilities. This led to a strengthening of cooperation between these actors and networking with other organizations from across Europe.
Project details
Project info
Period
2014-2021
Approval date
Project grant
Grant financing
210075.00€
Final project cost
210075.00€