The last few years have brought along a series of crises that have shaken not only global politics and economy but also public trust in international organizations, state institutions, and democratic values. The negative effects of these crises, from the Covid pandemic to Russian aggression against Ukraine, have been amplified by new waves of disinformation and conspiracy theories spread by domestic and foreign actors. Against this backdrop, Adapt Institute in cooperation with Czech and Polish partners and with the support of European Union will work in 2023 and 2024 on a project „Strengthening the Resilience of Czech, Slovak, and Polish Societies Prior to the 2024 European Parliament Elections“.
The project focuses on improving social resilience to internal and external information threats and strengthening the Czech, Slovak, and Polish information space before the upcoming elections to the European Parliament. Project activities will focus on the general public, students and graduates of journalism, international relations and related fields, and representatives of state and European institutions. The main objectives include raising awareness of the threat posed by disinformation, propaganda campaigns, and foreign malign influence, strengthening the public’s ability to detect such efforts, finding ways to counter them, and expand media coverage of topics related to information threats and European elections. To achieve these goals, the project team will organize workshops at universities and public debates, publish commentaries in the media, hold specialized workshops for representatives of civil society and the media, and produce a final report with recommendations for public officials. All outputs are described in more detail in the following paragraphs.
WORKSHOPS AT UNIVERSITIES
Project partners in all three countries will organize a series of educational workshops at universities for students of journalism, international relations, and related fields. The workshops will mainly focus on raising awareness of the dangers lurking in the information space, providing practical tips on how to detect mis/disinformation and how to counter it, and increasing the coverage of topics related to the upcoming European elections.
PUBLIC DEBATES
Raising awareness about information threats and elections to the European Parliament will be also pursued through public debates in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland.
MEDIA OUTPUTS
Throughout the project, analysts from Adapt Institute and partner organizations will contribute to the public debate on societal resilience and the threats it faces through media commentaries and podcast and television appearances.
FINAL EXPERT TRAINING
In the final stages of the project, a specialized workshop for representatives of the media and civil society will be held in Prague, which will evaluate the state of societal resilience prior to the elections to the European Parliament. The discussion will contribute to the exchange of information, the sharing of proven and new means of increasing societal resilience.
FINAL REPORT WITH RECOMMENDATIONS
To conclude the project, a final report will be prepared summarizing the project outputs, main findings, and recommendations for public officials and European institutions with suggestions on how to face foreign influence and build social resilience in the context of the European Parliament elections and beyond.
The project „Strengthening the Resilience of Czech, Slovak, and Polish Societies Prior to the 2024 European Parliament Elections“ is supported by the European Union. It is a joint effort of five partners from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland: the Association for International Affairs (AMO, Czech Republic); Charles University (Czech Republic); the Student Section of the International Political Science Institute of Masaryk University (IIPS, Czech Republic); the ADAPT Institute (Slovakia); and the EAST Center (Poland).
