Announcing the ESTDEV Grant Winners for Belarus, Georgia, and Moldova
The Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV) has announced six recipients of 2023 funding (484,087 euros) for the implementation of projects in Belarus, Georgia, and Moldova.
“Grant programs and open calls for proposals make it possible for us to identify projects that allow Estonia to share its experience and best practices in areas that are important to our partner countries. This year, we commend our partners on the exceptionally strong projects that were submitted,” said Lauri Luht, ESTDEV’s Regional Head for the EU Eastern Neighborhood countries. Luht added that ESTDEV received a total of 29 project applications during the Call for Proposals.
The funding program for Belarus aimed to empower the Belarusian democratic civil society in exile. The call for applications for Moldova sought to finance activities related to their accession to the EU, improve the education environment and empower small businesses. Towards Georgia, the aim of the call was to support good governance and the development of democracy, as well as to strengthen civil society.
The Winning Projects
Belarus: NGO Belarus’ New Path’s project will advocate for a future democratic Belarus among the Belarusian diaspora and the citizens of Belarus. To meet its goals, several events will be organized, including cultural, human rights and informational events for a broad audience in Belarus and beyond.
Georgia: The Estonian Refugee Council will empower internally displaced people and Ukrainian refugees in Georgia to formulate and address the challenges facing their communities. Project activities will focus on the inclusion of refugees in local communities and their representation in Georgia. To accomplish this, two 25-member councils will be established and trained to represent migrant and refugee communities and create awareness about their challenges and needs.
Georgia: NGO Mondo project aims to strengthen democracy and good governance by hosting two opinion festivals – one in Tbilisi and another one in Zugdidi. With local partners, Mondo will conduct training seminars for officials from nine municipalities on gender equality, women’s rights, and combatting intimate partner violence.
Moldova: The Estonian University of Life Sciences’ project seeks to advance entrepreneurship among women and young people in rural Moldova. The project focuses on increasing this target group’s capability to create and operate small businesses with an emphasis on market economy and e-marketing.
Moldova: Enerhack OÜ’s project focuses on capacity building workshops for local government, engineers and students on energy management and renewable energy in order to achieve a long-term goal of climate neutrality.
Moldova: The University of Tartu’s project, Best3ME, aims to increase the teaching and learning potential within Moldovan higher education, in order to strengthen local education institutions as the country works to integrate and prepare for accession to the European Union. The main target groups for this project are students and professors at the Moldova State University.
All projects were evaluated by an independent expert committee
Funding for development cooperation projects is awarded to Estonian public and private entities, NGOs and civil society organisations. Targeted countries and desired results are detailed in the agreement between ESTDEV and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“All applications are evaluated by an expert committee of three-five members who represent relevant Estonian embassies, experts and advisers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and representatives of the Estonian civil society,” explained Marika Kundla, Project Manager at ESTDEV.
Information about open calls for applicants is available: https://estdev.ee/toetused/
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