Author: Agnieszka Pietrzak-Kirkiewicz

We invite proposals for international initiatives aimed at the exchange of knowledge, know-how and experience between Polish social organisations and entities from:

• Donor States of EEA Grants (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway),
•  Beneficiary States of EEA Grants (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia),
• Ukraine.

The call for applications started on 23 January and will run until 30 April 2023. The evaluation of the submitted applications will be carried out on a rolling basis and decisions on funding initiatives will be made three times during this period, unless funds are used up earlier.

What can funding be obtained for?

Funding is available under the competition for:

• an internship in a foreign organisation (an educational experience involving the performance of practical tasks related to the area of activity of the organisation concerned),
• job-shadowing in a foreign organisation (educational experience involving observation of another, more experienced person at work),
• other forms of exchange of knowledge, know-how and experience, such as: study trips, joint workshops and training with entities from different countries, mentoring, etc.

The funding of the initiative can amount up to 6 000 EUR for a bilateral initiative and 5000 EUR for a regional initiative.

Funding under this mechanism is available for NGOs that are established and registered in Poland, and:

• in case of ACF–Regional: are eligible for Active Citizens Fund – Regional grants and do take at least some of their statutory actions related to the goals of the ACF Programme outside of the city of Warsaw,
• in case of ACF–National: are already project promoters (have been awarded at least one grant
  or are partners of project promoters) under the ACF–National Programme.

The initiative (including preparation and evaluation) may last from 1 to 6 months. All activities should terminate no later than 30 April, 2024.

Please note that the application under this call can only be submitted in English.

Information webinar

Anyone interested in applying is invited to attend an information webinar on 9 February 2023 (Thursday) at 11:00 a.m. More information in Polish can be found HERE.

Documents relating to the call

Call for proposals (PL version)

Call for proposals (EN version)

Grant application form

Template of the grant form evaluation sheet

Should you have any questions about the mechanism and/or application procedure, please contact:

• for Active Citizens Fund – National: Anna Fedas ([email protected], +48 791 413 200),
• for Active Citizens Fund – Regional: Ewa Stokłuska ([email protected], +48 720 801 013).

Of the 37 applications, 36 have passed formal evaluation and will go to substantive evaluation.

List of applications – formal evaluation (XLS file)

Of the 36 applicant organizations whose applications passed formal evaluation, nine were invited to the next stage of evaluation, i.e. interviews with experts. In accordance with the rules of the competition, the highest rated applications, whose total requested grant amount does not exceed 150% of the allocation planned for the competition, qualify for the meetings.

List of applications – organizations qualified for interviews (XLS file)

We will publish the results of the call along with the list of grants by the end of October 2022.

Young people from Norway are ambassadors of the No hate speech/Stop hatprat campaign. The young people from Poland represented the EcoAs Academy project implemented in our Programme by the Kocierzanka and Koszarawa River Basin Partnership Foundation and the Generation Change project coordinated by the Stanisław Brzozowski Association (Krytyka Polityczna – Political Critique).

After the spring visit, the young people met in July at a camp for active young people in Norway organised by the Redd Barna organisation, and are already planning further initiatives!

The meeting took place within the framework of bilateral cooperation in the Active Citizens Fund – National programme.

photo: Krzysztof Pacholak

Grants may be used for the following:
a) activities to strengthen and develop an organisation in line with the long–term strategy/action plan adopted by the organisation
b) ongoing activities consistent with the organisation’s mission and with the long– term strategy/action plan adopted by the organisation.

The call is funded from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014–2021.

List of granted organisations – XLS format

All Applicants have access to the assessment sheets of their applications through the Online Application System.

More information can be found HERE.

The grant budget of the call is: 750 000 EUR, increased by unused funds from the call for organisational grants.

Grants can be used to implement activities aiming at strengthening the media in Poland – particularly local and civic ones – so that they can more comprehensively and more effectively pursue functions that are essential from the perspective of contemporary democracy and protection of the democratic order

Applications can be submitted: between 14 July 2022 (from 12.00 pm midday CET) and 5 September 2022 (up until 12.00 pm midday CET)

Deadline for announcing the results: 31 October 2022

Grants may be used no earlier than 1 November 2022 and must be used by 30 April 2024 at the latest.

The full text of the “Call for applications”, and “Applicant and Project Promoter Guide”, other documents concerning the call for projects, and information about scheduled online training sessions can be found HERE. 

If you have any questions or concerns regarding application for a grant, please contact the Operator team at [email protected] or call +48 500 142 994.

Types of activities eligible for support:
• monitoring the development and application of laws and public policies which affect the functioning of social organizations and civic movements,
• advocacy of rights and interests aimed at improving conditions for the activities of social organizations and civic movements.

List of granted projects – XLS format

All Applicants have access to the assessment sheets of their applications through the Online Application System.

On 16 February at 12.00 p.m. CET the following will talk about the not easy, but very educational experiences and proven solutions in their many years of advocacy work:

• Oana Preda expert from Resource Center for Public Participation – CeRe and TamTam – an informal coalition fighting for citizens’ right to participate in decision-making processes in Romania
• Tina Divjak from Centre for NGOs Slovenia (CNVOS) – expert on legislation for Slovenian social organisations and citizen participation in public policy-making

On 18 February at 12 p.m. CET, proven methods and latest trends in advocacy and monitoring to improve the health of the civil sector will be talked about:

• Cezara Grama – expert on the rule of law, working with the Romanian think-tank Expert Forum
• Guri Idsø Viken representing Frivillighet Norge/The Association of NGOs from Norway – policy advisor to a Norwegian organisation of other social organisations
• Olivia Vereha from Code for Romania – an expert on new technologies to make life easier for social organisations working in the service of democracy

Both meetings will be held in English, recorded and – after adding Polish subtitles – published on our website and social media. If you are interested in taking part, please fill in the registration form.

Below are biographies of all invited persons (alphabetical order by first name):

Cezara Grama is a rule of law expert working with Expert Forum, a Romanian think-tank, since 2014 on issues of justice, transparency, rule of law and active citizenship. Since joining EFOR’s team she has played an active role in monitoring elections (2014-2019). She has been involved with EFOR’s School for Democracy Program since 2015, training and supporting teachers to engage their students and communities on issues of active citizenship and democracy. In recent years, she has been focusing on how to engage teachers and particularly students on the topic of civic education and active citizenship.

Guri Idsø Viken is a senior political adviser in The Association of NGOs in Norway (Frivillighet Norge), where she, among other things, is responsible for the involvement in Active Citizens Fund Romania. She has been working on politics and communication for the last 16 years, and is also a journalist and media commentator in several Norwegian newspapers and on radio. She lives in a small island in southern Norway and volunteers for several small and large NGOs within sports and culture.

Oana Preda has been part of the Romanian nongovernmental sector since 1996. She worked with Pro-Democracy Association, where got experienced in promoting democracy and public participation. After that, Oana worked for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) in Romania supporting NGOs in their advocacy efforts. In 2006, Oana Preda took part in the establishment of the Resource Center for Public Participation – CeRe, one of the most relevant NGOs in the area of activism and citizens participation. Currently, she is the Director of CeRe.Apart her professional activity, preoccupied by social justice, Oana is a civic activist fighting for many causes relevant for the Romanian society. CeRe’s mission is to contribute to a just and equitable society, where people stand together and their voices are central to the decision-making processes. CeRe works with citizens’ groups and NGOs to help them have a stronger voice. Currently, CeRe is facilitating the TamTam – NGOs group for citizens – an informal coalition which defends the civic space for participation.

Olivia Vereha – co-founder / Chief Operations Officer @ Code for Romania
Holding a background in communications and customer and user experience design, since 2016, Olivia Vereha is dedicating her entire time to managing the delivery flow for all Code for Romania projects. She is passionate about how technology can shape and improve our day to day lives and she is always willing to help in any way she can in building great digital tools for our society. Having a strong focus on usability and learning, her work focuses on user research, analysis and functionality and how all these translate in better digital services and solutions in the public space.

Tina Divjak is a head of advocacy at CNVOS. She has been working on different issues of NGO development since 2003. She has been focusing on enabling environment for NGOs – legislation, public funding, public participation in policy-making, transparency and accountability of NGOs. She has authored or co-authored several analyses, studies and manuals in Slovenia and abroad (Western Balkan and Eastern Partnership countries). She has worked as an expert for Council of Europe, Regional Cooperation Council, TACSO, different ministries, etc. From 2011 – 2020 she was a president of the Government Council for the development of NGOs. In 2018, she authored the study, commissioned by EESC, “The future evolution of civil society in the European Union by 2030”.

What the webinar covered:
• who can submit an application in the call for sectoral projects concerning advocacy and monitoring activities,
• the types of activities for which grants are available,
• what is meant by sectoral activities,
• whether you have correctly understood the call rules on amounts of grants, the timeframe, devising the budget, and cooperation in a partnership,
• the application assessment procedure.

The meetings was led by Academy of Civic Organizations Foundation experts.

More information about the call can be found HERE. Applications must be submitted by midday on 15 March 2021.

The project outlines are now being reviewed to check that they fulfil administrative requirements. A list of the projects accepted for content-related assessment will be published soon. Each application will be assessed by two or three experts. Following the content-related assessment, a list will be provided of the organisations invited to submit a detailed project. These will be submitted between 8 March and 19 April 2021. Good luck to all of the Applicants!

More information about the second call can be found HERE.

The recordings of the webinars can be viewed HERE.

The webinar was held on 9 December 2020.

These centres can help by providing consultations on an idea for a project, or helping to clarify the wording of the  Applicant and Project Promoter Guide.

More information can be found HERE.

A consortium of the Stefan Batory Foundation, the “Shipyard” Foundation and the Academia of Civic Organisations Foundation issues the second call for thematic projects in the Active Citizens Fund – National, financed from the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 (EEA Grants).

The amounts allocated to particular support areas are:

• Area 1: civic participation in public affairs and social activities: EUR 4 500 000, increased by unused funds from the first call,
• Area 2: protection of human rights and equal treatment: EUR 2 985 000, increased by unused funds from the first call,
• Area 3: empowerment of vulnerable groups: EUR 2 970 000, increased by unused funds from the first call.

The envisaged results of the Programme and particular areas for which support is provided are listed on the Programme website: https://aktywniobywatele.org.pl/en/about-the-fund/results/

There are two types of grants available in the call for proposals:

Small grants:

• Minimum grant: EUR 5 000
• Maximum grant: EUR 25 000
• Project implementation period: between 8 and 24 months
• Co-financing: optional

Large grants:

• Minimum grant: EUR 25 000
• Maximum grant: 62 500 EUR
• Project implementation period: od 8 do 24 months
• Co-financing: optional.

Applications can be submitted via the Online Application System available at wnioski.aktywniobywatele.org.pl

Deadlines for applications:

• Project outlines can be submitted between 7 December (from 9.00 am CET) and 11 January 2021 (up until 12.00 pm midday CEST).
• Detailed projects can be submitted between 8 March 2021 (from 12.00 pm midday CEST) and 19 April 2021 (until 12.00 pm midday CEST).

Second call for thematic projects – full text 

All the documents relating to call II for thematic projects can be found HERE.

Join us for live information webinar on Friday, December 4th 2020 at 2 pm.

We also invite for a series of inspiring online meetings with foreign organisations which we organize between 7th and 11th of December.

277 applications did not attain a score making them eligible for the detailed project stage. 51 applications were found by experts not to be in line with the Programme objectives and the basic principles in the field “Support for development of the civic sector”, and thus were not assessed further.

Due to the low number of applications judged eligible for stage II and concerning activities relating to “Monitoring of formulation of the law and the practice of enforcing the law and public policies” and “Advocacy for rights and interests”, the Operator is considering launching a separate call for projects aimed solely at supporting sectoral monitoring and advocacy initiatives. Details will be published in a separate statement.

Detailed projects can be submitted from noon on Thursday 27 August 2020 until noon on Monday 26 October 2020.

All applicants submitting proposals for stage II are encouraged to make use of the content-related support provided by the Programme Operator. We have scheduled webinars, a special workshop, and publication of additional information packs. Detailed information will be posted regularly on our website and social media sites.

What it is worth looking at before writing the detailed project proposal?

We recommend the following:

• webinar on finances and budgeting tools/webinarium finansowe i narzędzie do planowania budżetu,
• webinar on communication, and the publication on “Active promotion – a brief guide for Applicants/webinarium komunikacyjne i publikację “Aktywna promocja – krótki poradnik dla Wnioskodawców”,
• instructions for submitting an application via the Online Application System (in PDF format and a video)/instrukcję wypełniania wniosku w Internetowym Systemie Wniosków (plik PDF oraz film),
• product and results guides/poradniki dot. produktów i rezultatów,
• miniguide on how to incorporate cross-cutting issues when planning and implementing projects/miniporadnik dotyczący uwzględniania zagadnień przekrojowych przy planowaniu i realizacji projektów,
• an awareness-raising series on capacity building (webinars and a workshop)/cykl edukacyjny dot. rozwoju instytucjonalnego (webinaria i warsztat),
• frequently asked questions/listę najczęściej zadawanych pytań wraz z odpowiedziami.

We also recommend the guide to filling in a detailed project application (format PDF).

Grants will be awarded for projects to support the civic sector at nationwide level and in particular regions or subsectors. They must focus on activities such as provision of services and other activities that support capacity building of CSOs and civic movements, measures to increase public awareness about what organizations do, or to monitor the laws that affect how CSOs and civic movements function.

The organizations which meet requirements following administrative and eligibility assessment will be invited to submit detailed project proposals from 25 August onwards.

Organizations currently drawing up applications for sectoral projects do not have to account for the required contribution in their applications. Any applications that have been submitted can be amended (an amendment will be made to the form in the Online Application System on Wednesday 10 June).

In the first webinar of 27 May 2020, we explain what the call for sectoral projects is, what its objectives are, and who can implement them, and we describe types of activities for which grants can be awarded.
The webinar video can be viewed HERE.

All of the important details concerning partnership cooperation in sectoral projects are provided in the next training session held on 29 May 2020.
The webinar video can be viewed HERE.

An online workshop was held on 4 June 2020 on how to draw up an application for a sectoral project grant. This meeting is recommended for people in organizations that will be named as the leader in the grant application.
The workshop video can be viewed HERE.

The aim of the meeting is to facilitate networking  of Polish civil society organizations with their potential project partners from Donor States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). We also want to deliver and discuss information on the current condition of the civic sector in Poland and in Donor States and to share recommended activities empowering the civic sector from each country.
The meeting will be also the opportunity to deliver information about Active Citizens Fund – National application submission rules (call for proposals for sectoral projects) and answer concerns/questions addressed at the meeting.

In order to fulfill expected aims we decided to divide the meeting into two parts (you can find the full meeting’s agenda below). First part is a webinar and consists of presentations and time for participants’ questions. We invited representatives of Icelandic, Liechtenstein, Norwegian and Polish CSOs who will share their knowledge and reflections on the most common and effective CSO’s capacity building and civic sector empowerment and development activities.

The second part of the meeting is going to be a moderated discussion which will be based on the participants’ preferences marked in the registration forms. We proposed 3 topics. Let’s see which of them are going to be most interesting for matchmaking meeting’s participants. That is why we would like to ask you to fill the registration form (link below) in order to help us prepare the matchmaking meeting as much based on your needs and choices as it is possible.

The working language of both parts is English.

After filling in the registration form you will receive more information about the meeting including the link to the online meeting platform. When it comes to the technical equipment there is only computer with loudspeakers/headphones needed.

Having applications exceeding our technical capacity we are going to decide on the participation based on the diversity of participants and on the quality of their applications.
In order to register please use this link:
https://crm.batory.org.pl/formularz-online/matchmaking-online-meeting

Having any questions or remarks, please do not hesitate to contact Anna Fedas from Batory Foundation: [email protected]

Matchmaking meeting’s agenda

Part 1 (recorded and available online after the meeting)
10-11.30 a.m. CET
1. Welcoming remarks (representatives of the Active Citizens Fund – National Program Operator consortium)
2. Presentation on the civic sector in Iceland – a representative of the Icelandic Human Right Centre (10 minutes)
Q&A
3. Presentation on the civic sector in Liechtenstein – a representative of the CSO from Liechtenstein (10 minutes)
Q&A
4. Presentation on the civic sector in Norway – a representative of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (10 minutes)
Q&A
5. Presentation on the civic sector in Poland – Lidia Kuczmierowska from the Academy of Civil Organizations Foundation (10 minutes)
Q&A
6. Presentation on the “Sectoral projects call for applications” – Andrzej Pietrucha from the Academy of Civil Organizations Foundation (10 minutes)
Q&A
short break
Part 2 (not recorder) in 2 working groups:
11.45 a.m.-1 p.m. CET
1. Discussion on the common challenges of the civic sector in each country and brainstorm on potential solutions.
Identifying potential barriers and supporters to one chosen activity responding to the challenges/solutions discussed before.
or/and*
2. Golden practices and failures (for those who want to share it with other participants).
or/and*
3. Presentation of the projects’ ideas (for those who want to share it with other participants).
Concluding remarks & goodbye (in one common session)

* depends on the topic(s) chosen by participants in the registration form

Increased citizen participation in civic activities

53 small grants for a total of  EUR 1 334 826

47 large grants for a total of EUR 3 131 431

 Increased support for human rights and antidiscrimination practices

25 small grants for a total of EUR 655 631

33 large grants for a total of EUR 2 316 742

 Increased empowerment of vulnerable groups

34 small grants for a total of EUR 870 710

31 large grants for a total of EUR 2 068 706

All Applicants have access to the assessment sheets of their applications after connecting the Application System to the Internet.

HERE are the details of the results presented according to supported areas (in small and large grants).