Grants Database

The goal of the project is to reinforce capacity and financial sustainability of NGOs from V4 countries that face the change of funding flow in 2014.

The objectives are:

• Developing partnerships of NGOs from the V4 region countries to benefit from joining efforts in tackling problems from similar environments.
• Forming the common supranational strategy of reinforcing financial sustainability of NGOs in V4 region countries in a moment of change in funding flow in 2014.
• Campaigning for mainstreaming best measures reinforcing sustainability of the civil society based on lessons learned from those who already have experience using them.

The aim of the forthcoming conference is thus to identify those responses, considered from the perspective of the human rights protection.

The main objective of the 6th National Forum of Non-Governmental Initiatives is to strengthen the potential of NGOs and individuals working for them by providing them with an opportunity to participate in a meeting of an educational, integration and cross-linking nature.

The objectives are:

to strengthen the organizations through:

• improving their knowledge;
• integrating the NGOs;
• bringing their activists together and enable them to discuss the issues that are important for them.

to give an opportunity for a dialogue, exchange of experiences and reflections on the development of civil society as well as the place and role that conscious and willing to engage citizens should play in such a society.

to demonstrate achievements and wide diversity of non-governmental organizations as well as citizens involved in their activities:

• to the Polish Forum participants;
• to foreign participants, formally invited or joining on their own will;
• by the open formula of the Civic Week: to the residents of Warsaw;
• to the general public in Poland through cooperation wil national media.

The main purpose of the Course is to educate young people in human rights at the academic level and help them to develop skills to act in the human rights field. Since 2007, the Course has undergone a process of specialization. The Course is dedicated to young activists in the field of human rights, NGO workers and volunteers, lawyers, researchers and advanced students from all over the world. A law degree is not required, however all candidates must prove deep interest in human rights issues.

Goals: 1. Creating a platform for advocacy on sexual and reproductive rights; 2. Enhancing the capacity of civil society in combating religious-based intolerance affecting human rights, including sexual and reproductive rights. Objectives: 1. Building regional partnerships in combating intolerance and promoting SRHR; 2. Tranfer of expertise in combating religious-based intolerace affecting SRHR. Activities: 1. Preparation of the structure of the national reports; 2. two-days meetings in Bucharest of the project team and consultants; 3. preparing national reports on the situation of SRHR; 4. Selection of the participants; 5. Regional workshop in Timisoara; 6. Preparation of the advocacy booklet; 7. Publishing of the advocacy booklet; 8. Distribution and presentation of the booklet; 9. Evaluation.

We would like to identify regional challenges of civil societies of the Central Eastern European countries by drawing a dynamic picture on civil society which can reveal the real developments and trends that so far has not been examined by either international and national surveys based on top down statistical and quantitative methodologies. We are aiming at carrying out a large scale comparative research project to identify country specific economic, social and legal context and also the regional characteristics of civil societies in Central and Eastern Europe. We use public participation as one of the major indicators of the state of a civil society, in line with recent civic participation theory, e.g. John Gaventa. We intend to explore the current status of civil societies in the region, using the methodology of a double comparison. On the one hand, we would like to compare what the elite expected in the beginning of the 1990s to become of civil societies and what has actually happened; and what the current expectations of the young civic activists are (time-axis). On the other hand, on the basis of country studies we can identify the common features and also the differences among the countries involved (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Romania – regional axis).

The goal of the project is to stimulate cross-border, high quality debate to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism – reflecting on the transformation of the Central European countries and generating a more comprehensive picture of the changes in societies across the region. Aiming to explain the effects of the 1989 revolutions and the subsequent transformations, only a multi-disciplinary approach can capture the variety of experiences, difficulties and obstacles to re-constituting democratic politics. The initiative will look back at the varied course of individual countries and try to understand the processes of change as Central Europe re-claimed its European societal and political tradition. Four aspects of pivotal importance will serve as the main themes of the discussion: 1. Rebuilding society 2. Rebuilding political institutions 3. Democracy – meaning and practice in Central Europe 4. Comparative analysis of Central European transformations The closed format international conference Twenty years after – Central Europe in 2009, is to be organized in November 2009 at the European Conference Centre of Kamień Śląski Castle, Poland. It will gather high-profile scholars from across Europe, bringing together experts from political science, sociology and philosophy, in particular those specialized in the democratization after 1989 and engaged in empirical research on Central Europe. Participants will be invited to contribute to a rare cross-disciplinary debate on the path of Central Europe towards democracy, with the aim of influencing the wider public discussion through media coverage. Direct outcome of the debate will be a publication in English, including presented papers, published by a respectable publisher after the conference in 2010.

The goal of the project is to develop solidarity and promote tolerance among young people in order to foster social cohesion in the European Union and mutual understanding between young people in different countries by: • identifying and presenting the causes for conflicts in different regions • discussing and presenting options for reconciliation process in different conflicts • contributing to better mutual understanding and encouraging development of tolerance among conflicting parties • contributing to the development of cooperation among youth from conflict areas and regions • promoting multiculturalism in a way to get participants from different cultural backgrounds to share their opinions and views on specific topic.

The goal of the project is better human rights protection for people with disabilities in Hungary, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. In order to achieve this goal, this project will: 1. To secure judgments by domestic courts and the European Court of Human Rights which challenge laws and practices violating the rights of persons with disabilities. 2. Advocate and lobby for legislative and policy reform in the disability field. 3. Provide evidence of effective use of international human rights law to effectuate social change. 4. Strengthen international human rights mechanisms. More specifically, the solutions in terms of legislative reforms can be grouped within MDAC’s strategic goals: A: People with intellectual or mental health disabilities enjoy, and have assistance in exercising legal capacity on an equal basis with others. B: People with intellectual or mental health disabilities enjoy the right to live in the community. Institutions are open to public scrutiny, and people are provided with safeguards when detained. C: People with intellectual or mental health disabilities enjoy physical and mental integrity.

The goal of the project is to promote bottom-up civic initiatives as an instrument for local and regional development in front of regional, national and EU authorities and institutions. The objectives are: • To promote nationally and Europe-wide art and culture as a powerful instrument for urban and regional development; • To catalyze the process of re-considering of the concept “regional development” • To create a European platform for dialogue on regional development between EU institutions, national and local authorities and the local civil society.

The project aims to link local and private recollections on the end of totalitarianism with a critical analysis done by today’s young Europeans and to develop the capacity of DRIFI to turn into a regional coordination center in East-Central and South-Eastern Europe for their partner, EUSTORY. Objectives: – to determine a significant number of young Europeans to think about the significance of change in European history and to undertake a short research in the history of their communities during the years 1980-1991; – to experiment a new format of history research competitions at European level, building thus the capacity of EUSTORY to use its extensive experience of organizing national historical research competitions for running on a regular basis also European-wide competitions. – to increase public awareness on European history and to gain a broad support for the projects of EUSTORY; – to demonstrate the capacity of DRIFI to run international projects; – to strengthen the sustainability of DRIFI by enhancing the electronic abilities of its staff/members, including the abilities to run an electronic platform and to update the webpage.

The project objectives are: • create a connection platform between Romanian top companies representatives, future business and civil society leaders from Europe and Romanian Students; • Improve Romania’s image abroad; • Offer the opportunity for Romanian students to be in touch with internationalism and trends in the context of globalization; • Offer the delegates the opportunity to benefit of relevant activities from the aria of non-formal education and gained information in what concerns strategic management of an organization, key focus points in a leadership position.

Trust for CEE invited Civil Europe Association (CEA) to develop a proposal aiming at carrying out a large scale comparative research project to explore the development trends, status and challenges of the civil society in the Central and Eastern European region. Main goal of the project is to compare what the elite expected to become of civil societies in the beginning of the 1990s. Also, on the basis of country studies the common features and also the differences among the countries involved can be identified. The countries are the following: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania. Realizing that the project should be more carefully prepared and designed, Trust for CEE asked CEA to rewrite the proposal which should be more detailed and focused and it should contain more developed methodological description. In order to reflect the above listed requirements, CEA is planning to organize a two day workshop in Budapest for the participant researchers. During the workshop, researchers will identify the clear goals and objectives of the research project, the content and focus of the research and finally select the methodology that fits into the goals and content of the research. As a result of the workshop, a complete, detailed research plan will be developed by the participants. The plan will include the goals, objectives, methodology, timeline and budget of the research project.

This European conference introduces and compares the most successful blueprints for sustainability of the not-for-profit sector in EU member states. It is being organized within the framework of the Czech EU Presidency under the auspices of political leaders of the Czech Republic and of the EU Commissionaire Margot Wallström. It will take place in Brno on 4th and 5th of May 2009. For the future of Europe, to ensure its competitiveness, quality of life, and to continuously improve the standard of living it is important not only to remove barriers to free movement of people, services, goods and capital. We need an open, socially coherent society of responsible and pro-active citizens, who do not rely only on paternalistic state structures, but instead organise themselves in order to solve social and other public benefit needs in areas where the government does not reach or it does not do it in effective way. The aims of the conference are: – Use the opportunity of the Czech Presidency and introduce most successful tools proven in the EU countries as strategic sources for sustainable financing of the non for profit sector and its complementary role in the development of Europe’s democracy. – Compare advantages and feasibility of the major tools in the broader context of the EU and USA – Prepare recommendation for the EU Commission, as well as for the national governments to implement best available models on their levels. – For the Czech environment: expose Czech policy makers and social partners to most successful tools proven in other EU countries and make them available for the Czech legislative reforms. CEE Trust is organizing one of the panels of the conference concentrating on privatization models for the NGO endowments and role of the European foundations for sustainability of the NGO sector in Europe.

The recommended grant will support the second seminar within the joint project by the Association of Leaders of Local Civic Groups and Stefan Batory Foundation entitled “Civic Watch: Citizens on guard of public interest”. A similar travel grant was given for the first seminar in the series, and assessed as successful and important contribution to the discussion about and among watchdog organizations in the CEE region. Entitled Watchdogs – Working Out Credibility, the agenda of the seminar will focus on issues like conflict of interest in citizen’s control activities, accountability of individuals and organizations, ethical approach and credibility of the result of watchdog organizations’ work. Based on the feedback from the first seminar – in which participants found it extremely useful to exchange ideas with people working in other CEE countries – the organizers wish to include participants from other countries in developing the agenda, as well as contribute to and share this important discussion.

The establishment of an independent mechanism and body for investigating complaints against the police is essential for the right of complaint to become effective, meaningful and capable of fulfilling its important role of providing a safeguard against excessive use of police powers. The project’s objective is to contribute to establishing such mechanisms in CEE countries. Hungary was the first among the CEE countries to introduce an independent police complaints body and the experiences of the reform process could be useful for the stakeholders of other CEE countries. An international conference (also attended by experts from Western countries with a longer experience in the functioning of such bodies) will contribute to raising awareness of the need to make complaints mechanisms more effective, provide an overview of available models and solutions, and will at the same time provide an opportunity for relevant Hungarian stakeholders to discuss the experiences gathered during the first year of the Hungarian complaints board’s operation. Through project supported by CEE Trust to Hungarian Helsinki Committee later contributed to establishment of Hungarian independent police complaints body. This is one of the most successful projects supported by CEE Trust in Hungary and as such it is worth spreading this best practice to other countries of our region.

The main problem project addresses is the sever damage of Slovak-Hungarian relations caused by the activities of radical nationalists and extremists and by inability of mainstream political forces to keep relations in the mode corresponding to their status of EU and NATO member states. The project will continue expert debate on Slovak Hungarian relations between Slovak and Hungarian academics and public. Such a round table was already organized in November in Budapest with wide media coverage. Applicant believes that continuation of this debate will help in metallization of alternative point of views on Slovak – Hungarian relationships to those presented by current politicians.

International Seminar of Central and Eastern Europe NGOs on Strategic Litigation will be an opportunity to promote the idea of strategic litigation and to share the opinions and experiences. Our goal is to present strategic litigation as one of the most powerful tools to strengthen the human rights protection and to encourage CEE NGOs to successfully select and litigate strategic cases in their own countries. Implementation of the project would be the responsibility of the Strategic Litigation Program of Helsinki Foundation For Human Rights. The Program (www.hfhr.org.pl/precedens) started to operate in October 2004. Within the Strategic Litigation Program, the HFHR initiates or joins court and administrative proceedings of strategic importance. Through its participation in those proceedings, the HFHR strives to obtain breakthrough judgments that will change the practice or legal regulations concerning particular legal issues, which raise serious doubts from the point of view of human rights protection. The HFHR achieved a number of significant successes within the above Program, including precedent judgments of the Polish Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. The Strategic Litigation Program is currently sponsored by the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe. It also collaborates on a permanent basis with 7 law firms located in Warsaw.

Public scrutiny of authorities by independent institutions is an indispensable element of efficient democracy. In countries with developed democratic traditions, numerous specialized watchdog organizations monitor and react to abuses committed by social institutions. In Central and Eastern Europe such initiatives are gradually developed by the civil society organizations. The starting point to organize such event is the identification that the lack of experience and insufficient level of knowledge and skills make the fundamental barriers to the development of watchdog organizations in CEE countries. This is why the applicant wants to create the opportunity of common meeting of those who persistently develop their level of expertise in this area. Second, the applicant wants to see to what extent such activities are dependant on the legal regulation existing in a given country. Third, the applicant plans to find out what is the situation and experience in the Central and Eastern European countries and how they can use the Western experience. Therefore, the goal of the seminar is to gather the organizations committed to watch dogging in several fields, to create opportunity for peer learning and to identify which solutions helping in development of civic watch are worth promoting in participants’ own countries. We hope that the seminar will be a begging of better cooperation and becomes a platform for international informational network. The Applicant will also invite experts from abroad, watchdogs from CEE countries and specialized journalists.

4th European Resource Bank Meeting, Bucarest in Sept. 13-16, 2007

Promoting Gender Equity in Secondary and University Education in CEE

to support the development of the Grantmakers East Group (GEG)

Participation in the European Foundation Center Annual Conference in Madrid, June, 2007

Participation in the European Foundation Center Annual Conference in Madrid, June, 2007

Participation in the European Foundation Center Annual Conference in Madrid, June, 2007

project "Populism and Liberal Democracy in Central Eastern Europe"

Meeting of National Donors» Association

CIVICUS Civil Society Index Regional Workshop:

Sharing Lessons and Comparing the State of Civil Society in Post Communist Europe

Cross Border Project with the Czech Donors» Forum

Central and Eastern Europe Network for Responsible Giving (CEENERGI)

Partnership Brokers Accreditation Project

10 ^th Central and Eastern European Fundrasing Workshop

Grantmakers East Group (GEG)

Sustainability of the Civil Society in the Post-Accession ECA Region

Meetings of National Associations of Donors in Budapest in Kiev

Meeting of the Five Donors» Fora to discuss and prepare regional action plan on development of corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility by Donors Fora

Seminar on Governance and Board Development in Warsaw

EU Structural Funds Seminar

Participation in the European Donors» Fora meeting