News from the Institute

International Symposium "Democracy in the 21st Century: Challenges and New Frontiers" in the Senate

16/09/2019

On September 15, the Wallenstein palace welcomed politicians, academics, journalists and other personalities from the Czech Republic and abroad at the Symposium “Democracy in the 21st century: Challenges and new horizons”. The event that symbolically took place on the International Day of Democracy was instigated by Senate Vice-President Jan Horník together with mathematician and founder of the Institute H21 Karel Janeček.

FCC Partners with UNESCO-MGIEP for #KindnessMatters Campaign

10/09/2019

The Foundation for Community Consensus (FCC) has been working primarily with young people in India, running fellowships and workshops for young students to promote values of participation and active citizenship. In recognition of this work, UNESCO-MGIEP has made FCC a partner in its #KindnessMatters Campaign, which aims to mobilize youth all over the world to fulfil the SDGs.

Active Citizenship Workshops with Indian Youth

29/04/2019

The first few months of our branch in India - Foundation for Community Consensus - have been very productive. We formed partnerships with different educational institutions to impact maximum numbers of youth in India through workshops and fellowship programs in active citizenship and participation.

Janecek Method (D21) helped to find the regional winner of the Startup World Cup & Summit 2019

25/04/2019

Startup World Cup & Summit is the biggest startup competition in Europe. This year’s edition which was held in Prague on 10th April was also attended by representatives of our Institute. They were some of the recognised mentors and speakers that presented at the summit. The jurors decided on the winning startup from the Visegrád four using the Janecek Method (D21).

Vote about Brexit options

12/04/2019

Join experimental poll

How to BREXIT?

08/04/2019

Did you vote in the D21 platform about possibilities of how to deal with Brexit? Complete analysis and results will be published on 30 April on our blog. Meanwhile read more why it is good to vote with multiple votes and how to find a consensus in complex situations.

First international intern completed program

29/03/2019

The Institute H21’s first international intern, Anna Terekhova, an undergraduate business student from the American University of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), completed her internship programme in October 30.

We’ve changed our name! Introducing: Institute H21

15.03.2019

The first months of 2019 have marked a period of significant change for our Institute. We have merged forces with the civic participation experts from our former sister-company D21, who work with cities, schools and non-profits to give citizens a voice in decision making. Following the merge, we also decided to change our name. Why?

Students, join us for a Summer Fellowship!

15.03.2019

Topic: Governance, Public Policy & Leadership 2.1

How to make the development sector more attractive for the youth?

08/03/2019

Our branch in India Foundation for Community Consensus will be debating this topic above. In partnership with the SBI Foundation and United Nations Global Compact Network India (GCNI), we are organising the Youth Conclave 2019.

IFD21 at conferences in Ghana and Texas, USA

28/02/2019

We attend interesting conferences all around the world. During the first months of 2019 we’ve already participated in the 17th International Electoral Affairs Symposium in Ghana and “The Future of Liberal Democracy” conference held at the University of Texas - Austin.

Become part of our team

14/02/2019

Are you analytical, numbers and statistics are your friends? Into our Research team, we are looking for Data Research Analyst. Is that you? Read more.

Intern in Research wanted

14/02/2019

Are you interested in politics, you are responsible, and you have outstanding skills in writing? Come and join us for 3 or 4 months and contribute to our Research team.

Looking for part-time? We are hiring

14/02/2019

If you have strong organisational skills, you might be interested in our new position in Research as an Administrative Assistant.

Freiraum at CAMP: The role of ethnic markets for city development

07/02/2019

Cultural diversity, social connections and atmosphere from Marseille’s flea market to the Vietnamese marketplace SAPA in Prague. What do these places mean for the local communities and how do we experience freedom in them? How important are they for city development? We will discuss these issues on 19 February at 19:00 at the Prague Center for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning (CAMP).

Social audit of an Indian village

27/11/2018

The Indian government had launched the Gram Panchayat (Village Council) Development Planning (GPDP) guidelines a few years ago. The objective was to streamline local planning decisions and to promote citizen participation in rural governance.

IFD21 making a mark at UNESCO-MGIEP

19/11/2018

Engaging youth for a more sustainable, inclusive and engaged global community is a goal that is shared by both the IFD21 as well as UNESCO-MGIEP, the only research institution of UNESCO in Asia.

What makes European Citizens’ Initiative successful?

06/11/2018

The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is a European Union mechanism aimed at increasing direct democracy by enabling ‘EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies’, introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007 (Article 11, Section 4).

Freiraum: Marseille fieldwork reflections

26/10/2018

The Freiraum project, by Goethe-Institut, connects 38 civil society organisations from different European cities. Under Freiraum, these organisations have formed 19 tandem-pairs to explore the idea of European space in terms of freedom, through projects of local relevance. What questions arise when citizens, scientists and cultural practitioners think of the term "freedom" in a way that is specific to a place? For our local Freiraum project, tandem-partners IFD21 from Prague and publisher Hors d'Atteinte from Marseille, are focusing on questions of democratic participation in the planning and re-making of European cities through large-scale urban development interventions. A research study, a series of film workshops, and 3 short-films developed through participatory art methods, make-up the deliverables of our collaboration.

“Let's vote together and feel alright”: IFD21 was part of Jamaica's greatest conference on cannabis industry

23/10/2018

We were thrilled to attend 3th year of a annual conference CanEx Jamaica, a unique business-to-business event that brings together top cannabis industry experts from the U.S., Canada, South and Central America, Europe, Australia and the Caribbean. Our founder and visionaire, Karel Janeček, was among the invited top speakers and we were pleased to organise an Opinion Poll with the attendees.

New way to reach (global) consensus: IFD21 at Ethfinex Governance Summit

22/10/2018

IFD21 was invited to Lugano in Switzerland for the first ever Ethfinex Governance Summit. Our contribution was about the Janecek method and its advantages in finding consensus in decentralised communities, such as the blockchain community, that met at the Summit. The participants were really interested in the topic, despite the fact that it was a bit outside of the blockchain oriented scope of the Summit but closely linked with the Governance element. We have met new interesting partners and are looking forward to new ventures with them.

Indian footprint at D21 Interconnected City conference

10/10/2018

There needs to be a change in the growing trend world-wide for engaging citizens in politics more often than in local-level decision-making. More than 200 representatives from 40 Czech towns and cities, developers, civil society organisations and business representatives attended the D21 conference titled “Interconnected City” held on March 27, 2018 at the Prague Centre for Architecture and Urban Planning (CAMP). The international conference was dedicated to the latest trends in the field of participation and best practices and guidelines for effective engagement.

What we did at ECOSOC

09/10/2018

Our Indian branch, the Foundation for Community Consensus was represented through Ankitha Cheerakathil, who spoke about the School Participatory Budgeting project that was implemented successfully at Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RPVV) School (Hari Nagar) in West Delhi. The presentation was met with tremendously positive feedback and interest.

Corruption: What’s its worth?

12/09/2018

The Czech state saved two billion CZK – or almost 80 million GBP – thanks to the activities of the Anticorruption Endowment (NFPK). This is (partly) the price the Czech Republic loses to corruption. A sum the participants of the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime found impossible to believe.

IFD21 poll at the Human-Level AI Conference

29/08/2018

The development of general Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most important themes for society and the world of tech, because of its potential to disrupt many areas of human activity, and to define the future of humankind itself.

Q21 Symposium - Let’s open the discussion about global voting

28/06/2018

If you could ask all the people in the world one question, what would it be? It is nice to think about, but seems unrealistic to make it happen. Well, with modern technologies and the Internet, it is not so unrealistic anymore. In the Institute for Democracy 21, we are developing a think tank focused on the possibility of global voting and discussion about important issues in near future.

Ready, steady, accelerate!

26/06/2018

We competed among ten organizations aimed at supporting democracy and civil society development and were invited to join the new EVZ Lab for Civil Society acceleration program, which is organised by the Impact Hub network of coworking centers in close cooperation with the German EVZ Foundation.

Time to celebrate! We have already received four awards for Prezident 21

20/06/2018

We are happy that our last year’s project Prezident 21 has been so successful. The expert jury of Fénix content marketing competition rewarded our efforts to engage 327 000 Czechs in the voting game with Special prize for activating the target group.

Will Janecek method be the voting system used in the Czech Senate Elections?

05/06/2018

Senator Jiří Dienstbier has drafted a bill to amend the voting system for the Czech Senate involving a single-round system based on the Australian voting system. The bill has passed the first reading and right now it is being discussed by expert committees. Elections to the Senate traditionally register low participation, in the second round, it drops to an average of 17 %. Introducing a single-round election is definitely desirable, however, the Australian system has certain key disadvantages.

Results of the poll: How to Brexit

08/05/2019

Did you vote in the D21 platform about possibilities of how to deal with Brexit? Complete analysis and results will be ready on 30 April!