Crossborder

Agora Central Europe – Association for Democracy and Culture
$24,500
To continue a civic education project to increase youth activism and leader­ship skills in Georgia. In partnership with the Tbilisi-based Civitas Georgica, Agora will organize 34 civic education trainings and hold a debate competi­tion. Up to 350 students and teach­ers will participate in the program.

Association “Workshop of Solutions”
$39,725
To increase the civic activism and ad­vocacy skills of students in Moldova. The Riga-based Association will work with the Moldovan Students’ Alliance to share effective models and experiences developed with Latvian student groups. Working with 10 universities in Moldova, the partners will establish a crossborder network, conduct a training seminar in Moldova, prepare case studies, organize a study visit to Latvia, bring together a regional roundtable and develop con­crete action plans for civic campaigns.

Center for International Private Enterprise
$145,928
To strengthen the capacity of business organizations in the Balkans and Caucasus to engage effectively in the democratic reform process and to enhance the abilities of local experts in democratic governance and grassroots advocacy to support busi­ness organizations and networks. CIPE and local experts will assist business-support organizations and business advocacy net­works in four countries to become strong and effective democratic institutions.

East European Democratic Center
$142,410
To continue assisting the local press in Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine. The program will include two trainers’ and experts’ meetings, eight journalism training seminars, 10-15 newspaper consultations by Polish experts, and three equipment and small grants com­petitions that will assist 15-20 local journal­ists and newspapers in the two countries.

East European Democratic Center (EEDC)
$52,008
To strengthen nascent civil society in southern Ukraine. The Warsaw-based EEDC will provide a series of three train­ings for approximately 40 civic activists in two regions and one advanced training for 20 participants from previous trainings. The EEDC will then assist them in imple­menting local civil society projects through a small grants competition. Approximately ten grants totaling $7,000 will be awarded. Study trips to Ukraine and Poland will be organized for approximately 24 activists.

East European Democratic Center (EEDC)
$62,940
To strengthen civil society in Russia’s eastern regions of Buryatia and Yakutia. The project will consist of two, three-day training seminars for 50 local NGO rep­resentatives, a 10-day study trip to Poland for three young lawyers, and a mini-grant competition for four civic initiatives.

Education for Democracy Foundation (FED)
$77,757
To continue and expand civic education programs in two regions in Russia. The Warsaw-based FED will organize four workshops to train 64 teachers in civic engagement skills, assist the teachers in overseeing at least 50 civic projects involving approximately 400 students from 30 schools in the Rostov-on-Don and Samara regions, and produce and distribute 1,000 copies of “how to” brochures on civic education.

European Institute for Democracy (EID)
$49,500
To help strengthen the youth dimension of the Community of Democracies (CoD). In cooperation with the Atlantic Council, EID will organize a symposium that will bring together 100 young diplomats and demo­cratic activists at the CoD’s 10th anniversa­ry meeting in Krakow, Poland. The resulting meetings, networking and web resources will assist young diplomats in promoting democracy and help them to better support the civil society development efforts of young activists, particularly in the states of the EU’s Eastern Partnership program.

European Partnership for Democracy (EPD)
$51,254
To strengthen civil society in Armenia. The Brussels-based EPD will organize a con­ference with 60 to 80 NGO representatives from Europe and Armenia. The conference will facilitate the exchange of best practices and lessons learned from the democratic transition processes that took place in Central and Eastern Europe. The event will also raise the profile of Armenia’s third sector and encourage European NGOs to play more of a role in the country’s democratic transition. The EPD will also conduct two assessment meetings for up to 40 members of Armenian civil society.

Foundation for Enterprise Promotion POGEZANIA
$31,725
To continue fostering civil society in Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast. With its local partner, the Kaliningrad Youth Organization “Tsunami,” the Foundation will continue to operate a resource center, conduct three seminars and organize a study trip to Po­land for six Russian NGO representatives.

Institute of Democratic Politics
$54,530
To help strengthen the youth dimension of and young activists’ contribution to the Community of Democracies (CoD). In June, the Institute will organize a four-day “Days of Democracy” event which will include lectures, workshops, debates, films, cultural events and meetings with well-known democratic leaders for 70 young democratic activists from around the world. NED funding will be used to cover the costs of 40 participants from Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. The event will generate a youth plan and resolution for the CoD’s 10th anni­versary meeting in Krakow in July 2010.

The Institute of Public Affairs
$29,900
To continue a crossborder fellowship program for young Russian think tank analysts and NGO activists. The Warsaw-based Institute will collaborate with the St. Petersburg Center for Humanities and Political Studies “Strategia” (Strategy) to select six fellows, who will participate in a 12-day training and study visit to Poland and produce and publish a policy paper.

International Republican Institute
$263,000
To support the ability of the newly elected Moldovan Parliament in developing policy that responds to constituent needs, op­erating efficiently and governing justly. IRI will provide trainings to parliamentar­ians in partnership with the Lithuanian Seimas through study exchanges.

Latvian-Georgian Foundation for Mutual Cooperation
$43,534
To increase the participation and impact of civil society in local decision mak­ing processes in Kutaisi, Georgia. With a local partner, the Riga-based Latvian-Georgian Foundation for Mutual Coopera­tion will organize a “Population Forum,” a form of town meeting, at which 100 citizens and officials will work together to address local challenges. To trans­fer this successful Latvian model to Georgia, the Foundation will organize a series of trainings and study visits.

Lion Society
$87,973
To continue a crossborder democracy-building and networking program with Russia. The Lviv-based Lion Society will organize two meetings of Ukrainian and Russian NGOs to plan joint programs, support 60 short-term travel grants to promote crossborder partnerships, award 10 small grants averaging $2,000 for joint programs, publish a brochure on crossborder programs, and expand its website promoting crossborder initiatives.

Medium Orient Information Agency
$40,112
To carry out and publicize a series of independent public opinion polls in the troubled region of the North Caucasus. The Agency will conduct fourteen surveys on important social, political, economic and religious issues in seven republics. Two booklets with the polling results will be published and distributed in Moscow and the North Caucasus. The Agency will also publish fifteen articles on developments in South Ossetia and Abkhazia for its website.

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
$157,300
To strengthen the advocacy skills of political and civic activists as well as the capacity of government to operate ef­ficiently, NDI and the European Institute for Democracy will organize two study missions to Poland for Eurasian civic and political organizers. The missions will address political party development in Kyrgyzstan and civic advocacy in Belarus.

People in Need (PIN)
$42,835
To assist Russian human rights organiza­tions by strengthening their advocacy capacity. The Czech Republic-based PIN will organize a five-day training program on video advocacy for 10 activists from leading human rights NGOs. PIN will provide consultations and mentoring to assist participants in developing their own human rights films, as well as help them to distribute the films and raise awareness about human rights violations in Russia.

Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation
$83,267
To increase the capacity of independent journalists and editors from Eurasia. The Warsaw-based Foundation will organize study trips for 34 media practitioners from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and the Caucasus. Participants will spend two weeks in Poland, training at selected newspapers, publishing houses, and radio and television stations, receiving practical training in accordance with their specialties and the work they are performing. A series of media-related meetings will also introduce the participants to important Polish organizations, activists and events, such as the October local elections.

Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation
$67,620
To continue a desktop publishing train­ing and equipment support program for representatives of prodemocracy NGOs and independent newspapers in Eurasia. The Warsaw-based Foundation will train at least 28 activists and equip at least 14 organizations from Russia, Belarus, Moldova and the Caucasus.

Polish Ukrainian Cooperation Foundation – Kyiv
$29,792
To strengthen the capacity of NGOs from Belarus, Moldova, and Georgia. The project will give 20 NGO repre­sentatives an opportunity to participate in a two-week study visit to one of the three participating countries as well as Ukraine. The study visits will strengthen crossborder cooperation and allow participants to gain knowledge and skills from their NGO counterparts in the EU’s Eastern Partnership Initiative.

Polish Ukrainian Cooperation Foundation (PAUCI) - Warsaw
$65,226
To promote civil society and crossbor­der connections in eight of the regions on the Ukrainian-Russian border. Five small grants supporting crossborder NGO cooperation will be awarded, with special attention given to projects from cities with populations below 100,000 inhabitants. PAUCI will also provide training and technical support, as well as monitor and evaluate the projects.

Public Foundation “Institute for Development Cooperation”
$24,790
To organize a two-day conference in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Alternative OSCE Civil Society Summit, to be held immediately prior to the OSCE Ministe­rial Summit in Astana, will bring together up to fifty regional and international civil society activists to discuss the human dimension commitments of OSCE member states. At the end of the conference, a set of specific recommendations on how to promote security and coopera­tion while strengthening human rights and democracy in the region will be presented at the Ministerial Summit.

Prague Watchdog
$9,196
To support a crossborder informa­tion program which promotes human rights and freedom of information in the North Caucasus. NED funding will be used to continue operating the Prague Watchdog website (www.watchdog.cz), a leading source of information on the political, military, economic and humani­tarian situation in Chechnya, Ingushetia and other North Caucasus republics.

Slovene Philanthropy
$113,371
To promote civil society in the North Caucasus. Slovene Philanthropy will continue conducting civic education programs in North Ossetia-Alania, Chechnya and Ingushetia that focus on promoting volunteerism among youth. Together with its local NGO partners Denal and Dostizhenia, Slovene Phi­lanthropy will prepare and distribute informational and training materials, conduct four trainings for 45 mentors, train 850 student volunteers, hold impact and evaluation seminars in each region, and organize a joint camp for 30 vol­unteers and a joint conference that will bring together 100 participants from all the republics of the North Caucasus.

Transitions Online (TOL)
$37,860
To expand the use of blogging and new media in both independent journalism and civic activism in Georgia. In part­nership with the Caucasus School of Journalism and Media Management at the Georgian Institute of Public Af­fairs (GIPA), the Prague-based TOL will organize four two-day workshops on new media and five media clinics, hold a small grants competition for new media innovators, as well as administer a travel fund. Additionally, TOL will award two scholarships to its new media sum­mer school and compile a handbook on the use of new media for journalists.

Transitions Online (TOL)
$34,443
To continue fostering new media in Azerbaijan. TOL and an Azeri team will organize a Social Innovation Camp, two roundtables, and a university-level new media course to promote the use of internet technologies that foster civic activism and freedom of information. To continue developing Azerbaijan's new media community, TOL will sup­port two internet media start-up proj­ects and localize various online media tools to Azerbaijani conditions.

Transitions Online
$66,280
To continue a training program to expand and improve Internet reporting in Tajiki­stan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. TOL will conduct a training workshop in Prague for 14 Uzbek and Turkmen journalists, establish an online new media “clinic” that will pro­vide free technical consulting to Central Asian NGOs, offer two distance learn­ing programs for 40 media profession­als, and send two participants to TOL’s annual New Media School in Prague.

 

The grant listings posted here are from the 2010 Annual Report, published in August 2011.