NGO Fund
Third Open Call for NGO Fund Project Proposals Launched!
The second call for proposals ended at July 22, 2008. As a result Open Estonia Foundation received 145 applications, from which the board of the foundation decided to support 13 large and 18 small projects. The list of supported projects is available on the left menu.
Fund for Non-Governmental Organisations – support to Estonian civil society organisations financed by the EEA and Norwegian Financial Mechanisms 2004-2009
The overall goal of the Fund for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO Fund) is to support the economic and social development through strengthening civil society. The main aim of the NGO Fund in Estonia is to strengthen civil society by raising institutional capacity, influence and role of non-governmental organisations.
During the implementation period (2007-2011) of the Fund, the Estonian civil society organisations’ capacity will be supported with over 33 million Estonian kroons. The intermediary of the Fund is the Open Estonia Foundation.
NGO Fund supports activities, which promote the following:
Improvement of institutional capacity and management skills of civil society organisations
Development of long-term operational strategies
Development of strategic cooperation between the business, the public and the third sector
Promoting participation of citizens and civil society organisations in the public decision making, including their role in supervision
Development of community services
Improving legitimacy, accountability and transparency of civil society organisations etc.
Eligible project applicants of the NGO Fund are non-governmental organisations constituted as legal entities in Estonia, operating in the public interests, are not political parties and functioning on a not-for-profit basis.
NGO Fund will accept applications from three priority areas: democracy and civil society development; environment and sustainable development; social integration and local development.
Supported activities include:
Promotion of democratic values, principle of good governance, sustainable development and gender equality;
Improvement of the infrastructure and access for participation and involvement in decision making processes on the local, regional or national levels and increasing the accountability of public institutions;
Development of the institutional capacity of civil society organisations, incl. leadership, governance, membership and constituency building;
Development of advocacy and service provision skills of civil society organisations;
Implementation of information and communication technologies in order to enable better information sharing, consultations and participation;
Coalition building (incl. NGO network development) and development of cooperation between the public, business and the third sector at a local, regional, state and international level;
Increasing social inclusion by widening opportunities for disadvantaged groups;
Supporting community development by combining mechanisms of social integration, education and economic development;
Involving NGOs and the community in local problem solving and service development;
Improving legitimacy, transparency and accountability of civil society organisations;
Monitoring and assessing the state and trends in civil society development.
Open calls for project proposals are organised in two sub-categories: small-scale projects and large-scale projects. Grants for small projects range between 20 000-100 000 kroons and project duration is up to 12 months. Grants for large projects range between 100 000-500 000 kroons and duration for the project is up to 24 months. Applicants have to guarantee co-financing of at least 10% of the project’s eligible costs, which may come either from applicants’ own resources or from other funding (e.g. a contribution from project partners).
Deadline for the first call for proposals was January 29, 2008. There will be altogether 6 open calls carried out regularly in the next few years.
More info of the NGO Fund:
In English
In Estonian
- Homepage of the Open Estonia Foundation – www.oef.org.ee/norra
- Homepage of the Ministry of Finance of Estonia – www.fin.ee/ngo and www.eeagrants.fin.ee.
Contact us:
Astra Sauga
Program assistant
Open Estonia Foundation
Phone + 372 6313791
astra(a)oef.org.ee
Maris Jõgeva
Program coordinator
Open Estonia Foundation
Phone + 372 6313791
maris(a)oef.org.ee
