Support to civil society is one of the key priorities of the donor states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EEA and Norway Grants. For this purpose, an Active Citizens Fund financed by all three donor states is implemented in each beneficiary state.
The objective of the Active Citizens Fund is ‘Civil society and active citizenship strengthened and vulnerable groups empowered’. The aim is to develop the long-term sustainability and capacity of civil society organisations (CSOs) and the civil society sector as a whole, with the aim of strengthening its role in contributing to policy and systemic change, promoting democratic participation, active citizenship and human rights.
Active Citizens Fund in Slovenia allocates EUR 2.5 million in four open calls for projects of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Slovenia:
- Public call for medium and large projects: financial support of the call for medium and large projects is aimed at medium (up to EUR 60,000) and large (up to EUR 120,000) projects in the four key programme fields – democracy, human rights including gender equality, social justice and climate change.
- Public call for micro or »rapid response« projects: this call is intended for NGOs in need of »rapid funding« (up to EUR 5,000) for advocacy, legal, communication or other actions that have to be implemented immediately.
- Public call for institutional support: this call is addressing strategic development of NGOs. Organisations are able to receive financial support for implementation of their strategic plans, while at the same time building capacity and developing even better programmes with the support of mentors.
- Public call for small projects: financial support (up to EUR 20,000 per project) of this call is aimed only at project proposals of organisations with less than EUR 50,000 annual turnover, addressing at least one of the programme priority fields: democracy, human rights including gender equality, social justice and climate change.
Active Citizens Fund is operated by the Centre for Information Service, Co-operation and Development of NGOs (CNVOS) together with Legal and Information Centre Maribor – Institute PIP and the Society for the Advancement of Voluntary Work Novo mesto (DRPD Novo mesto).
All questions about the Active Citizens Fund should be addressed to the following official programme e-mail address: podpora@acfslovenia.si.