Sixty-five initiatives of civil organizations and public community centers in defense of democracy, equality and basic human rights with a total value of approximately one million and six hundred thousand euros were approved for support within the framework of the project “Rights and Values” (ProEUvaluesBG), implemented jointly by the Open Society Institute – Sofia, the Foundation “Workshop for Civil Initiatives” (FRGI) and the international non-governmental association “European Civil Action Service” (ECAS).The project is co-financed by the European Union through the “Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values” (CERV) program and aims to support the civil sector in Bulgaria and its role in upholding European values through two funds – the “Action” fund and the “Together” fund.
After an open call for proposals, in which a total of 189 proposals for initiatives and concepts were received, the Open Society Institute – Sofia signed contracts to support 16 initiatives of civil society organizations under the “Action” fund. The Action Fund supports initiatives by civil organizations contributing to raising awareness of EU values, as well as protecting and promoting the implementation of these values at the national level.
At the same time, another 49 organizations that took part in the call for proposals were approved and received support to develop full proposals for initiatives under the “Together” Fund. The fund is managed by the Foundation “Workshop for Citizen Initiatives” (FRGI) and provides training opportunities and support with up to 20,000 euros to initiatives of civil organizations that aim to expand their activities towards knowledge, acceptance and implementation of EU values on local level.
Within the framework of the “Action” fund, initiatives of the following civil organizations were supported: “Teach for Bulgaria” Foundation, “Gutenberg 3.0” Foundation, “Forty-Two” Foundation in partnership with the “Darik” Foundation, the National Network of Health Mediators, the Foundation for Human and Social Studies – Sofia in partnership with Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria, “Off Media” Foundation, “Dimitar Panitsa” Bulgarian School of Politics, Program and Analytical Center for European Law, Institute for Market Economy, Info Space Foundation, Center for Liberal Strategies Foundation, Devetaki Plateau Association, National Children’s Network, Retina Bulgaria Association in partnership with the Bulgarian Huntington Association and Foundation for Local Government Reform, Center for Inter-Ethnic Dialogue and Tolerance Amalipe and Youth LGBT organization “Deystvie”.
The approved organizations under the “Action” fund received support in the form of a fixed sum (lump sum) up to 60,000 euro under simplified administrative procedures. Each of the supported organizations also took part in an individual training session aimed at building capacity for better implementation and reporting of the respective initiative.
Over 100 representatives of the organizations with approved concepts under the “Together” fund received support to develop a full proposal of the initiative in the second phase of the “Rights and Values” project call for proposals. Within the framework of the “Guide” training program, representatives of civil organizations successfully completed a two-day training. From November 1 to 16, support for them continues with individual online meetings. The deadline for submitting complete proposals for initiatives under the “Together” fund is 12.12.2023.
Please, expect soon more detailed information about the launched initiatives under the “Action” fund, as well as about the results of the second phase of the competition under the “Together” fund.
