The ákóRákóczi Association () is a Budapest-based non-governmental organization operating in the form of a civil society association established in 1989. The Association's founders were of Upper Hungarian ancestry or committed to the Hungarian community of the historical region, located in modern-day Slovakia. Between 1990 and 2018, Dr. József Halzl served as the Chairman of the Association; subsequently, he was elected Honorary Chairman by the General Assembly's unanimous vote. Dr Halzl, whose work and personality shaped the Association simultaneously during its three-decade history, served in this capacity until his death in November 2020.
Objectives
Serving the Hungarian people in the Carpathian Basin and the wider world, the organization seeks to promote the cause of Hungarian culture, the Hungarian language and Hungarian communities. The Association's activities are directed primarily at Hungarian youth.
Membership and organizational network
The Association boasts close to 30 000 members and over 500 local branch organizations throughout the Carpathian Basin, of which some 320 operate within secondary school institutions, close to 200 are tied to localities and approximately 30 are active within universities.
The organization's head office in Budapest operatives with 15 full-time, young members of staff and a number of committed volunteers. In the year 2019, the close to 80 activities held by the Rákóczi Association reached over 100 000, mostly juvenile participants.
Leadership bodies
Honorary Chairman – Dr. József Halzl
Presidential board
Chairman – Csongor Csáky
Vice Chairmen – Ferencz Kun, Csaba Makláry-Szalontai, Árpád Martényi, Zsolt Németh, Péter Őry, Dr. Barnabás Ősi, Dr. Balázs Tárnok
Supervisory Committee: Dr Sándor Csaba Ambrus (chairman), Rudolf Gabri, Csaba Nagy, Tibor Tóth
Advisory Committee: Fülöp Benedek, Albert Biró, Dr. Zoltán Kántor, Zoltán Szilágyi, Dr. Katalin Szili, Mihály Takaró
Operative leaders: Csongor Csáky – Chairman; Csilla Katona – Director of Finance; Domonkos István Nagy – Director for Organizational Development and IT; László Petrovay – Director responsible for Hungarian School Choice; Anna Csizmadia – Head of Chairman's Secretariat; Flóra Katona – Communications Manager
Activities
Hungarian School Choice Programme
Promoting Hungarian-language school choice among ethnic Hungarian families living outside of the country's borders is a priority on the Association's agenda owing to the fact that those not enrolled by their parents on a Hungarian-language educational institution are at a high risk of being lost by the Hungarian community . In the interest of this, the organization reaches out to newborns, children in nursery school and those entering primary education. Up to 9000 newborns are welcomed annually by the Association with an infant diary under the "Gólyahír" Programme. During the Advent period, the organization routinely sends a present, together with thoughts encouraging parents to choose a Hungarian-language educational institution for their child, to over 20 000 kindergarten-age Hungarian-speaking youngsters living outside of the country's borders. During the spring, children enrolled to Hungarian-language schools are provided with a schoolbag, followed by a scholarship symbolizing Hungarian unity handed over personally to some 10 000 Hungarian first-graders at over 400 locations following the start of the curricular year in September. The recognition of nursery and primary school teachers, who play a key role in school choice, also commands an important position on the Association's agenda. The wide-scale social collaboration established in favour of the Hungarian School Choice Programme has seen five hundred Hungarian municipalities, as well as several private individuals and public figures, join forces to promote the cause.