June 28, 2022
News
Would you like to know more about the Humanitarian Aid and Development Cooperation department in Caritas Czech Republic? We launched a series of interviews with our colleagues who will tell you more about our work across the world. This time we interviewed Jan Líska, our Institutional Funding coordinator.
How long have you been working at Caritas Czech Republic and how did you end up here?
I started in October last year, so it has been more than 8 months now since I joined Caritas Czech Republic. I studied social work and worked in different non-governmental organisations in Czech Republic before. I also lived and worked in Switzerland. I spent 10 years of my life there, and upon my return, I was not only looking for a new job but also a fresh professional start.
As good things often happen in life, I stumbled upon the job ad by chance. Working in the sphere of humanitarian aid and development cooperation sounded very interesting. As for the job itself, there was a lot about networking which I liked. Social work, my previous job, was also a lot about connecting different people… thus this ad was very attractive to me and now I really enjoy doing my job.
Can you tell us what your job consists of?
My job is a lot about networking. I work on establishing relationships with new institutional donors and maintaining relationships with existing ones. Caritas Czech Republic aims to diversify and stabilise its funding platform over the long term. This is my role as an institutional funding coordinator. I am looking for funds that come mainly from the European Union and other big donors.
A good example can be the ECHO-funded project that we launched recently in Moldova. The DG ECHO, which stands for the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, is the EU’s Directorate-General in charge of the humanitarian funding. After many years of trying, we managed to secure funds from this donor and our interest is to build a good working relationship on the local as well as headquarters levels. The latter one is my responsibility.
What do you enjoy the most about working at Caritas Czech Republic?
I enjoy many different things here. The first one is the networking part. Establishing relationships with new donor organisations pushes me a lot to keep learning new things and widen my horizons. Each new donor organisation is a new story. I also enjoy being a kind of bridge between institutional funding and our country offices. I am spreading the word about the good work Caritas Czech Republic is doing in the field, in humanitarian aid and development cooperation. Last but not least, working in this department with very young and dynamic people is really enriching. I learn a lot from the exchanges we have here as well.
What challenges do you encounter in your position?
The first thing that comes to my mind is that since this is still kind of a new and fresh position for me, I am of course not immune to making mistakes. As I am still learning, it is important for me not to take it as a fatality but as a lesson I can learn from. Obviously, there is also the Covid-19 and the networking situation. Nothing can really replace personal contact. Of course, I keep working and meeting people online, but it is not nearly as fruitful as face-to-face contact.
How does your typical workday look like?
What has become part of my routine now is working partially from home and coming to the office couple of days per week. When I am at the office, the first thing I like to do is meet people and talk with them, share a conversation, get news… Then I would attend to my emails and set the priorities for the day. Meeting donors is not just about the meeting itself. I have to prepare carefully, I need to know the portfolio of the donor organisation. I sometimes speak on behalf of different countries and country offices so I need to know what kind of expertise Caritas Czech Republic has that matches the portfolio of that specific donor organisation.
For the moment, most of the meetings are online; we will see how it goes in the future. It is actually good to have a mix. Online meetings are sometimes convenient, to save time and be a bit more environment friendly, especially when it is about flying to Brussel for a two-hours meeting.
Do you sometimes travel abroad to visit the country offices?
I would love to! I have not been able to visit any country office yet but I hope I will have this opportunity. I know so much about our country offices from various online discussions, articles, and from what I prepare for my meetings… but I have not been able to see them in person.
What would you say is your greatest achievement so far in this position?
I think it is too early to talk about achievement so far, but what I can say is that I really appreciate the diversity of our country's offices. Each country is different; because of course, the needs in Zambia are different from the ones in Georgia for example. Nevertheless, working with a wide range of my colleagues from different countries and operations and different priorities is really fulfilling. Just the scope of Caritas Czech Republic's expertise from one country office to another is amazing. That is an achievement of Caritas Czech Republic, not my own.
What do you do when you are not at work? What are your hobbies?
I used to play volleyball and did a lot of sports until I got injured too often. I started practising yoga, which became my new hobby and passion. I enjoy it a lot. It is a great exercise because everything comes to yoga: the physical part but also the spiritual and the mental part. Just the fact that yoga pushes you to concentrate on the present moment, on your breathing, is great and it helps me a lot to relax and recharge my batteries.
Interested in interviews like this? Read more:
- Behind the scenes of Caritas Czech Republic: Meet our Senior Livelihoods Advisor, George Jend
- Behind the scenes of Caritas Czech Republic: Meet Delgermaa, our project manager from Mongolia
- Behind the scenes of Caritas Czech Republic: Meet Noemi Seregi, our Desk officer for Zambia
