Kwartalnik o tematyce społeczeństwa obywatelskiego

Non-governmental, Non-profit Organisations in the Czech Republic and the Deinstitutionalisation of Services for People with Disabilities

Abstract

The article discusses the status of non-governmental organisations since the creation of Czechoslovakia until present. In the first part the authors focus on NGOs that were forming a new democratic society. Their areas of interest primarily included: equality, charity and health, environment protection and organisation of leisure time. The next chapter describes the totalitarian regime era: fascism and communism. These two periods strongly influenced peoples’ thinking and behaviour. All organisations were under control of the totalitarian regime and their activities were imposed by the communist dictatorship. The last part depicts problems of the new democratic  society. NGOs play a major role in human rights protection and the development of civil society. In addition, the underlying principle of volunteer work, and conditions of  financial support of NGOs by private donors are described as well. Finally, authors present the contribution of NGOs to the employment and deinstitutionalisation of care for handicapped people. This picture of the Czech non-profit sector is completed with the presentation of various efforts undertaken by the state to control the development of the third sector.