In 2019, Slovakia is celebrating a 15-year anniversary of its membership in NATO. While the membership in the alliance is of immense importance to the national security of Slovakia, the ordinary citizen knows very little about NATO’s activities or functioning and the overall interest in security topics remains low.
We seek to increase understanding of the history, role, and purpose of NATO through personal stories of ordinary Slovak soldiers and officers serving in NATO operations, stories of allied soldiers serving as NATO representatives in Slovakia and memories of decision-makers and politicians who were and are personally involved our story in NATO. Through the individual faces of NATO in Slovakia and Slovaks in NATO, we aim to overcome the image of the Alliance as a distant and disembodied organisation.
The project is to be conducted on different platforms and through several formats. Online audiences will be approached by a combination of attractive and professional videos, podcasts, infographics, and regularly published brief NATO news. Offline audiences will be targeted with public lectures, information leaflets at various public events and displays and special publication. We plan to offer a complete package – planned outputs and activities are covering spectre from simple informational leaflets, videos and infographics to attract ordinary Slovak with no special interest in matters of security or politics, to more demanding audiences as university students, young professionals and expert public with podcasts, public lectures or expert publication on the past and future of the Alliance in an ever-changing world.
We believe the project will initiate a public debate on the impact of NATO membership, its historical meaning for Slovakia, the contribution of Slovaks for our collective security and the reasons why there is no alternative to being a part of the alliance for Slovakia’s security.
Activities
- Series of six short video clippings presenting relations between Slovakia and NATO.
- Series of four video explainers focusing on changing security environment, enhanced Forward Presence, individual stories of Slovak in NATO, Alliance presence in Slovakia etc.
- Five videopodcasts realized within .glóbus program of .týždeň magazine.
- Two interviews with Mr. gen. Petr Pavel, former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.
- Public lectures in Slovakia by high-ranking former and current NATO personnel: Mr. Jamie Patrick Shea, former Deputy Assistant to Secretary General for Emerging Security Threats and Mr. gen. Manfred Hofmann, former commander of Multinational Corps North East.
- Leaflets and Research publication “NATO at 70: The Outline of the Alliance Today and Tomorrow.”
Supported by:
Realized with NATO Public Diplomacy Division support.