The first call for proposal of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) will be launched in June 2013, announced Jerzy Pomianowski, Executive Director of EED during a meeting with Polish NGOs. The EED will support political activists and democratization movements, including non-registered groups (so far European programs not allowed this kind of group to apply for the grants).
The EED will be financed from two sources: an institutional grant from the European Commission (used only for administration costs) and voluntary remittances from member states (used for grants and beneficiaries). At this moment, in the second pool 14-15 million EUR are declared for 2-3 years (3-4 million EUR per year). The donors are: Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and Holland. So far there is no declaration from the biggest countries like Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.
The EED’s main purpose is direct grant-making to pro-democracy activist and/or organizations struggling for democratic transition in the European Neighbourhood and beyond, through specific flexible procedures (mainly continual). The EED can also work through European CSOs (such as Political Foundations). Apart from grants, the EED will support organizations in writing proposals to other funds and donors, searching for new source of financing, as well as networking with institution on the European level. The EED can also give short-term institutional grants for small organizations and groups.
The EED was established in October 2012 as a private law foundation under Belgian law. The secretariat will be placed in Brussels (in the building of the old Polish embassy). The Executive Committee will supervise the work of the secretariat and consist of an executive director, 3 representatives of NGOs, 2 representatives of the Member States (Spain and Romania) and 1 representative of the European Parliament (Chairman of the Executive Committee). The highest body is the Board of Governors (representatives of the Member States and Switzerland + 9 MEPs + 3 representatives of NGOs, chosen by the Board), which will meet twice a year.
The meeting with Jerzy Pomianowski was organized by Solidarity Fund Poland - democracy support and development cooperation agency.
Contact person: Magdalena Trojanek of the Polish NGDO Platform Zagranica Group, Magdalena.trojanek@zagranica.org.pl
For more information on the EED, please see: http://democracyendowment.eu/ or http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-17_en.htm
Aditionally you can read an article on the Deutsche Welle.
Information provided by Magdalena Trojanek, Zagranica Group
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