The International Renaissance Foundation announces the launch of EU4USociety, a joint 4-year project with the European Union aimed at strengthening the involvement, sustainability, capacity, relevance and influence of Ukrainian civil society in addressing pressing domestic, regional and global challenges.
“It is an honor for us to start this important project with the European Union, because our organization has been defending Ukraine’s European course for 30 years,” said Oleksandr Sushko, Executive director of the International Renaissance Foundation. –The project is based on building a sustainable democratic policy and culture of public participation. These are the priorities that have always been the most important for both the Foundation and the European Union in Ukraine.”
The agreement on the implementation of the project was signed in July 2020, and the project itself will last until the fall of 2023. The EU will provide funds to strengthen civil society, and the Foundation, in turn, will provide the grants under 6 thematic priorities.
The total budget of the EU4USociety project is € 4.8 million, of which 90% is from the European Union and 10% – from the International Renaissance Foundation.
The EU4USociety project will announce grants for civil society organizations on six thematic priorities:
- Humanity and Mutual Assistance: A Humanitarian Initiative to Counteract the COVID-19 Pandemic (supported by the European Union since April 2020)
- Strengthening democratic institutions and practices;
- Stability and sustainability of civil society;
- Digital transformation based on human rights;
- Responding to climate change;
- Public support for integrated border management and cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and the EU.
Grant activities under the project provide for three annual cycles of competitions in accordance with the thematic priorities of the project.
“EU4Usociety is a continuation and deepening of cooperation between the Foundation and the European Union,” adds Dmytro Shulha. – In 2016-2019, the Foundation together with the EU has already implemented a large-scale project “Civic Synergy”, which has done much to implement the Association Agreement, informing about opportunities for cooperation with the EU, development of European integration platforms and more. We are convinced that EU4USociety will achieve even better results in building a sustainable democratic public policy and a culture of public participation in Ukraine.”