While laws exist to protect those who speak up, the gap between legal theory and lived reality remains.
At VoiceGuard, we didn’t just look at the paragraphs of the EU Directive; we sat down with the people who experienced it. What are the real-life experiences of people who decide to speak up about corruption, abuse of power, or other wrongdoing? And where does the whistleblower protection system most often fail today?
The VoiceGuard project is currently finalising a Whistleblower Needs Analysis and a Skills Assessment based on testimonies from whistleblowers and practitioners across Europe:
- Czech Republic
- Spain
- Bulgaria
- Romania
- Greece
- Luxembourg
Key insights coming in March. What can you look forward to?
Whistleblowers play a crucial role, yet they still too often encounter systems that are meant to protect them but instead fail to do so. This is precisely why the VoiceGuard: Whistleblower Empowerment & Support Initiative was created.
One of the analytical pillars of the project consists of two closely linked activities: the Needs Analysis studying needs of whistleblowers throughout the whistleblowing experience and the Skills Assessment analyzing the skills and competencies of organizations, mainly persons responsible for receiving and handling reports. Each project partner played a crucial role in these activities – ensuring data collection in their country, communication with respondents, conducting interviews, organizing focus groups, and translating local contexts. Thanks to this cooperation, a unique international comparative resource is being created.
“ Our preliminary findings indicate that whistleblowers require legal and psychosocial support throughout every stage of their journey. This support must be constant—before, during, and after they come forward. Because there are numerous points where the system fails them, this support is vital while we undertake the slow, painstaking work of shifting the culture, one disclosure at a time.” says Tomáš Münzberger from Oživení (Czech republic), the project partner responsible for the research activities.
Both the Needs Analysis and Skills Assessment will be published in March 2026.
What did the Needs Analysis include?
- In-depth interviews with whistleblowers: Mapping the entire whistleblowing journey of 16 whistleblowers — from the initial decision to the final professional and psychological impacts.
- Expert focus groups: Discussions with 32 whistleblower protection experts: lawyers, psychologists, national whistleblower authority representatives, NGO experts and compliance specialists to identify systemic barriers and legislative blind spots.
- Structured questionnaires: Qualitative data to complement the quantitative perspective.
Skills Assessment: Closing the gap
Building on the Needs Analysis, the Skills Assessment focused on the other side of the equation – those who are responsible for protecting whistleblowers and guiding them through the reporting process. We evaluated not only their skills but also their institutional mandate and practical capacity to serve as effective guardians of the reporting process.
With 150 responding organizations from 6 member states we examined where does the current support system fail due to a lack of specialized know-how, underestimated workload of persons responsible for handling reports or insufficient communication towards potential whistleblowers.
Together, the Needs Analysis and Skills Assessment form a solid foundation for the next phases of the VoiceGuard project – including the development of training programmes, the mapping of good practices, and the formulation of concrete recommendations for policy and practice. The findings of the Needs Analysis and Skills Assessment, will follow the subsequent activities focused on the analysis of best practices and the development of policy recommendations.
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Written by Lenka Ježková, Oživení z.s