Completed

Reclaim our Civil Space! - from local to European

Ökotárs - Hungarian Environmental Partnership Foundation ·Multi-country

€1.8m

Grant awarded

EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation

Programme

3 September 2020

Signed

About this project

The project aims at addressing the trends of democratic backsliding and shrinking civil space observed for the past years particularly in Central and South-eastern Europe. We came together because we believe in our work and in the power of civil society to build healthier societies from the bottom up. Our organisations are from different countries with different backgrounds, but the challenges we face and the changes we strive for in this region bind us together. This project is our common effort to improve the quality of our democracies through strengthening civil society actors in Central and South-eastern Europe. The project is implemented by 10 organisations from 8 countries between 2020-2023: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Norway as expert partner. Our main objectives are <ul> <li>broadening the grassroots basis and constituency of civil society;</li> <li>mapping, training and mobilising activist groups and movements;</li> <li>linking this local level to the regional and the European;</li> <li>developing together the outlines of a comprehensive European civil society policy.</li> </ul> Activities will be carried out along 3 levels: <ol> <li>National: organising trainings and workshops, mentoring support particularly to organisations/groups in rural regions, while taking into account the specificities of individual countries;</li> <li>Regional: holding cross-border workshops and networking meetings with at least 3 countries represented at each;</li> <li>European: international conferences in Budapest, Brussels and Prague, developing expert and policy papers.</li> </ol> Our vision is a thriving civil space in a democratic and enabling environment, where people take action, get organised and advocate for their interests together freely, without fear or restrictions. We believe in a society where everybody is capable of improving their own life and environment and is provided with the opportunity to live up to their potential.

Bilateral cooperation results

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee contributed to the project with its expertise and the special Nordic point of view. Several partners had previous cooperation with NHC, which mainly provided Norwegian civil society experts (both in and outside of the organisations) to review the training (and other) materials developed and as speakers at the various (international) project events. Their open and flexible approach was particularly helpful. The main lesson learned from the expert partner was the stark contrast in the state and situation of civil society between Norway and Central Europe - this insight not only provided a good practice and model, but also hope that improvements and positive change can be achieved at home. For many participants of the project's workshops and conferences this was a new, revealing experience. While no concrete plans have been made, collaboration between NHC and several project partners (including Ökotárs) will remain active after beyond the project, too.

Project partners

Ekopolis Foundation Donor project partner· Slovakia
Civil Society Development Foundation Donor project partner· Romania
Romanian Environmental Partnership Foundation Donor project partner· Romania
Hungarian Civil Liberties Union - HCLU Donor project partner· Hungary
The Norwegian Helsinki Committee Donor project partner· Norway
Bulgarian Environmental Partnership Foundation Donor project partner· Bulgaria
Partnership Fund Donor project partner· Poland
Youth Initiative for Human Rights Donor project partner· Serbia
Czech Environmental Partnership Foundation - CEPF Donor project partner· Czechia

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