The Heinrich Böll Foundation aims through its actions to advocate democracy and human rights, to oppose destruction of the environment, to guarantee social participation for all, to resolve conflicts through civil means, and to defend the freedom of the individual.

Our namesake, the writer and Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll, personifies the values we stand for: defence of freedom, civic courage, tolerance, open debate, and the appreciation of art and culture as independent spheres of thought and action. To achieve our goals, we seek strategic partnerships with others who share our values. We are an independent organisation headquartered in the Federal Republic of Germany, yet we are an international actor. We cooperate with 160 project partners in over 60 countries and maintain offices in more than 30 countries, including ten in Europe and one in the United States. We regard ourselves as a European organisation. We support the process of European integration and promote good transatlantic relations.

The Prague Office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation was established on 21 August 1990 – exactly 22 years after the Prague Spring was crushed by Warsaw Pact forces – and was the foundation’s first-ever office abroad. Until 2004, it was located in a solar-powered house with an organic garden in Prague’s Barrandov district. Since 2005, we have been located in the city centre.
Our regional offices in Prague and Warsaw conduct their activities in close cooperation and in support of civil-society organisations. The Prague office coordinates the foundation’s regional activities in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. We work on the challenges of European integration, the future of the EU and European democracy, energy policy and climate protection, foreign and security policy, as well as on gender democracy. We aim to strengthen our network of partner organisations across the region, and to foster political and professional dialogue within the region and at the EU level.