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Annual Report 2007

Citizens in Action

The program aims to support democratic changes and the development of civil society in Belarus and Ukraine. We cooperate with non-governmental organizations from Belarus and Ukraine that support grass-root initiatives, engage in building partnership between non-governmental organizations and public administration sectors and undertake civic education activities. The program involves grant making to Belarusian and Ukrainian organizations, selected on the basis of open competitions or individually invited to apply for grants. Our grantees are also invited to participate in study visits, meetings and trainings organized in Belarus, Ukraine, Poland and other countries.

Regional partner organizations

We support a network of 55 regional partnership organizations (41 from Ukraine and 14 from Belarus) selected during three open grant competitions held in 2004-2006 in various regions of Belarus and Ukraine. We provide these organizations with grants designated for activities that involve, i.a., legal education and legal counseling for citizens, protection of civic rights, civic education for young people, establishing local civic activity centers, securing transparency of governance and access to information, development of philanthropy. A part of these grants is used to institutional strengthening and capacity building (improve staff, board and volunteers’ skills, streamline organization’s management and operations, diversify funding sources, etc.). We also invite our partners for study visits to Poland and provide them with grants to organize meetings and trainings that serve to exchange as well as increase knowledge and skills in areas within their scope of interest. Furthermore, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Professional Help organization, we have developed a cycle of trainings on advocacy of interests for regional partner organizations. The trainings are aimed to help the organizations prepare to monitor local authorities and undertake advocacy activities.

In 2007, a group of 18 partners selected in the 2nd edition of the program received grants for program activities and institutional development in 2007-2008. Three organizations received also grants for trainings and meetings.
We organized three study visits in Poland (April 22-29, June 17-24, October 7-14) for 80 representatives of regional partner organizations from Ukraine and Belarus. Participants visited 21 Polish NGOs from 17 localities (Sokółka, Mikołajki, Nidzica, Olsztyn, Pakosze, Kwidzyn, Wandzin, Płużnica, Biłgoraj, Tarnów, Katowice, Ruda Śląska, Gliwice, Chudobczyce, Poznań, Szamocin, Płock). During the visits, they learned about Polish experiences in resolving local community problems and methods of cooperation with local partners: authorities and business.

Civic and European education

We support civic and European education projects, particularly those that lead to the development of a model action or product, easy to replicate or apply in different places and on different scale, and addressed to a large group of potential clients. We award grants for research and information activities aimed at increasing and disseminating knowledge on the third sector as well as initiatives that serve better the integration within the NGO community. We aid projects aimed at international cooperation and the inclusion of local civic initiatives in Belarus and Ukraine into the trans-border cooperation with organizations from other countries.
In 2007, we provided four grants for educational and information projects. We also supported the publication of Belarus: Neither Europe, nor Russia. Opinions of Belarusian elites. It is an English version of a book published in 2006 in Belarusian and Russian by the ARCHE publishing house from Minsk. The book contains interviews with 30 politicians, journalists, academics, and third sector activists representing both the opposition and the circles loyal to Lukashenka regime, regarding Belarusian national identity and Belarus' relations with Russia and the European Union.

In 2007, the program was financed from the Ford Foundation grant.

Grants PLN 2,139,488.27
Study visits and monitoring PLN 337,576.79
Program implementation PLN 200,196.70
Total program costs PLN 2,677,261.76

Grants 2007

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