Organizations kick off campaign against poverty

Organizations helping the poor and people on the fringes of society in the Czech Republic are organizing a series of actions entitled “Stop Social Exclusion”. They plan to bring regional-level politicians into the discussion on the impact of the new law on social services.

In addition, they are preparing specific projects for groups of people in financial distress; in North Moravia the projects will assist the unemployed, in South Moravia the projects will focus on Roma, and in Prague they will focus on the homeless, according to Milena Černá, president of the Czech headquarters of the European Network Against Poverty (EAPN ČR).

8 % of the population in the Czech Republic lives below the poverty line; most often these people are single retirees, the long-term unemployed, and people dependent on social support. The poverty line in the Czech Republic is set at 60% of the average wage; according to Černá this is too rough of a criteria and is about three years out of date. "We don’t have new numbers, but at European level there are efforts to find new criteria," she said.