The Fund Operator of the Active Citizens Fund Estonia has announced an open call for proposals for civil society organisations that are aimed at enhancing capacity and sustainability of civil society organisations.

The Active Citizens Fund seeks to develop the long-term sustainability and capacity of the civil society sector, with the aim of strengthening its role in contributing to democratic governance, policy development, promoting democratic participation and active citizenship. Priority is also given to actions that improve the accountability of NGOs to the wider public and strengthen their ability to empower and involve local communities, as well as advocate on their behalf, and actions to communicate the impact of civil society to social change.

Civil society organisations from Estonia pursuing a public benefit purpose working in the following five areas are eligible to apply:

  • Democracy, active citizenship, good governance and transparency

  • Human rights and equal treatment through combating any discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation or gender identity

  • Social justice and inclusion of vulnerable groups

  • Gender equality and gender-based violence

  • Environment and climate change

Norwegian organizations are encouraged to coopearte through partnerships under these grants.

Projects must focus at capacity building of civil society organisations and may include various types of measures, for example:

  • development of transparent and accountable governance procedures of CSOs;
  • improving of CSOs’ management procedures;
  • bringing new knowledge, skills and people to civil society activities;
  • strengthening CSO networks;
  • mutual learning and dissemination, e.g. mentorship programmes;
  • implementing impact evaluation tools to measure the impact of CSOs;
  • forging partnerships with other sectors;
  • activities to improve financial viability etc.

The above list is non-exhaustive and elaborates on the types of activities that are eligible for support.

We specifically welcome projects that increase the engagement of national minority organisations and thus increase multicultural understanding.

Small grants are available between EUR 10,000 to 20,000 and the duration of the projects must be between 12 to 18 months.

Deadline for submitting applications is June 28, 2021.

More information, details and requirements are to be found here.

Read more about ACF Estonia here.