Carpathian Foundation Slovakia

We work towards a thriving eastern Slovakia where people want to live. Our mission is to help individuals and organizations, especially in Eastern Slovakia, to actively improve the world around them, respect each other, cooperate, and create a better future together. At the same time, we support various innovative educational programs and introduce new ones because we are aware that quality education and care for children and youth are crucial for the whole future of our society. The vulnerability of people in need and the need to help them systematically are at the core of our work. In 29 years, we have supported more than 1,400 projects with over €6.6 million, helping more than 325,000 people. Our core themes are (1) the development of local communities and civil society, (2) education and life-long learning (incl. innovation & inclusion in education, non-formal education), (3) the development of marginalized Roma communities (focusing on early childhood development and women economic empowerment) and (4) philanthropy development. We implement our goals within the core themes through grant programs, our own non/formal education and capacity development programs, networking activities, donor engagement, research, and advocacy. Owing to our history, our focus remains on the development of eastern Slovakia; however, over the past years, we have scaled up a number of our initiatives nationally – strengthening the position of eastern Slovakia as a cradle of social innovation, “exporting” our know-how, tested social innovations. We also work across the borders, mainly with Hungary and Ukraine, and also react to crisis situations (COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the related refugee crisis). Since 2017, the Carpathian Foundation has been continually building its capacity and expertise in early childhood development through programs focusing on Roma children living in generational poverty, refugee children, and children with health disabilities, as well as inclusive provision of ECD / ECEC services. We have been building the sphere of ECD in Slovakia through capacity building, grant/giving, and advocacy, and we are forming the only ECD platform in the country.