- Program Civil Society
- Program Area Strengthening Civic Space
- Grant Amount $200,000
- Grant Period January 1, 2005–March 31, 2007
- Location Brussels, Belgium
- Geographic Focus Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia
About this grant
This grant will provide continued support to the Euro Citizen Action Service’s (ECAS) Information and Training Program. In 2002, ECAS launched the program to provide current information and training opportunities regarding EU accession to organizations in Central/Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. To date, ECAS has organized activities in each of the candidate countries.Multiyear funding will enable the program to expand to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Western Balkans and the former Soviet Union, specifically Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Ukraine. Objectives include promoting partnerships among NGOs in the recently enlarged EU and their counterparts in the Western Balkans and former Soviet Union; encouraging NGOs to share experiences related to EU policies, legislation and funding procedures; and strengthen the capacity of NGOs in the region to access various types of EU funding and advocate for relevant EU and national policies.Recent accomplishments included organizing training sessions in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia on fundraising and advocacy connected to the EU decisionmaking process; conducting study visits for groups of Czech, Hungarian, Latvian and Slovenian NGOs to Brussels; and providing information about EU funding opportunities and policies to NGOs in candidate countries.