USAID: Czech NGO sector’s public image deteriorates

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has ranked the Czech Republic second among the post-communist nations in the sustainability of the civil society sector for 2018, along with Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, the Czech News Agency reported on Thursday.

The USAID annual report, which compares the situation in 24 former Eastern Bloc countries, suggests that Czech NGOs have improved the offer and the quality of their services over the past year, but the sector’s public image has deteriorated for the second consecutive year.

The growing distrust in NGOs is caused by the activist approach of some NGOs in face of the migrant crisis as well as fake news, which portray the sector as unreliable and incompetent, says Marek Šedivý, president of the Association of public benefit organisation in the Czech Republic.

Author: Ruth Fraňková