Partnership for Sustainable Development in Central Europe
National Society of Conservationists
- Program Civil Society
- Program Area Special Initiatives
- Grant Amount $175,000
- Grant Period July 1, 2005–June 30, 2007
- Location Budapest, Hungary
- Geographic Focus Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia
About this grant
This grant will enable the National Society of Conservationists (NSC) to promote sustainable development in Central/Eastern Europe. As new member states receive billions of euros for regional development when they join the European Union (EU), it is critical that program planning and implementation are carried out responsibly. Multiyear funding will support objectives that include disseminating the experiences of program partners in developing local projects based on the principles of sustainability and in accessing EU structural funds; strengthening the influence of national non-governmental organization (NGO) coalitions on the planning processes of EU structural funds in order to incorporate principles of sustainability at all levels of implementation; and advocating for the sustainable use of EU funds at the EU level.During the past two years, achievements for NSC and its partners encompassed anticorruption measures being included in the Slovak government’s official guidelines for public institutions in charge of managing EU structural funds; developing a community-based, microregional coalition of local governments, NGOs and businesses that received five grants for the EU-funded rural development program of the Czech Ministry of Agriculture; and being asked by the Hungarian government to act as environmental sustainability experts in the EU-funded Regional Development Operation Program.