The Next Ten Years Project

TNTY is a project that was begun in May of 1999 to increase the participation of citizens in the democratic process. The goal of TNTY is to introduce the idea that the individual has an important and influential role to play in the daily workings of the democratic process. In the decade following the collapse of the Communist regime in the Czech Republic, little has been done to increase the activity that the average citizen has in the democratic process. Aside from voting, most Czechs do little to influence their elected officials. Lobby groups in the Czech Republic are limited to business interests and there is little communication between average people and the officials that represent them. TNTY will introduce the democratic tools that are at the disposal of every Czech citizen and will take the first step to put politicians in touch with citizens on a local level.

In 40 cities around the Czech Republic, TNTY is organizing informal meetings with local and national politicians. With the help of Prague based foundations and information centers around the country TNTY selected 40 cities in which to develop the project. TNTY consists of meetings held in an informal setting that bring together local citizens and their elected officials, the development of these types of meetings in the future and the printing of a citizens handbook that puts all the relevant information in one publication. TNTY staff works with the non-profit community in selected cities to cultivate interest on the local level, and ensure that the project will continue with the help of these local partners. The project also includes the printing of a handbook that contains an explanation of the rights and duties of a citizen in a democracy. The handbook (Czech version) explains what an elected official is responsible for and what the citizen may ask of an elected official. The handbook will also contain local contact information for all nationally elected officials and success stories of individual Czechs who have made an impact in their communities. The handbook is of vital importance becasue it is not easy to locate contact information for elected officals in the Czech Republic. TNTY handbook has contact information for local and all national elected officals in one place.

The success of TNTY lies in its decentralized approch. In each of the 40 cities in which TNTY is active a local non-profit organization is responsible for all TNTY activites. The roots of the project are these 40 partners that are working to pull active member of local communites into non-partisan coalitions.

For more information please contact CDFE Deputy Director Megan King meganking@cdfe.cz