image2 20.11.2019

Call for Applications under the 2020 Eastern Partnership Civil Society Fellowship Programme

We are happy to announce our new Open Call for Applications under the 2020 Eastern Partnership Civil Society Fellowship Programme! If you are a young civil society activist from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova or Ukraine with new ideas for improving your community or country and you are looking for opportunities to improve your leadership skills – don’t miss out and apply before January 13, 2020 (12.00 CET).

This is the last chance you have to apply for the Fellowship Programme in its current form, so don’t miss this opportunity! We will be selecting 20 more Fellows for our 2020 generation.

The fellows have a unique opportunity to take part in trainings and other capacity building activities, as well as implement individual projects of up to EUR 5,000. In addition, the fellows become part of an international network of like-minded individuals and have the opportunity to attend various high-level meetings and interact with decision-makers in their countries, as well as those from the EU institutions.

The Fellowship Programme will provide support in the following broad areas of activities:

• Research or monitoring of how public services are delivered at national / community level;
• Drafting policy papers and recommendations for decision-makers;
• Supporting mentoring and job shadowing schemes in order to build capacities that can be transferred to other members of the organisation;
• Advocacy campaigns on issues of public concern;
• Better tailoring civil society organisations’ activities to citizens’ needs;
• Developing new solutions for e-transparency and e-participation;
• Bringing civil society and authorities together to develop common solutions;
• Strengthening organizations’ capacity to act effectively;
• Cooperation between civil society organisations, including trade unions and professional associations on issues of common interest;
• Other areas of activities relevant to the fellows’ communities.

However, in 2020, preference will be given to those applicants aiming to fulfill a watchdog function by:

• holding government and institutions accountable: monitoring the implementation of national and international commitments and informing communities, citizens or other stakeholders (for example monitoring of abuses of civic and human rights, adherence to labour and social rights, quality of public services, etc.);

• contributing to monitoring of planning and/or expenditure of public budgets or actively participating in the definition of budgetary priorities at the local or national level.

Today the network of fellows comprises 60 young people from the six EaP countries. Their Fellowship actions cover a range of priority areas addressing the needs of local communities: youth work, leadership development, anti-corruption actions, capacity-building for CSOs, development of policy papers, educational materials and e-tools for better governance and many more.

If you want to find out who our current fellows are and what they are doing, please visit the fellows’ webpage available here.

Through the Fellowship Programme, the EU is investing in the development of young civic activists or civically minded individuals from the region, who display an interest and ability for taking up leadership roles in their countries. Developing leadership capacities and skills of future civil society leaders is one of the commitments made by the European Union in its policy on achieving ’20 Deliverables for 2020. Focusing on key priorities and tangible results’.

The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Fellowships are an integral part of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility – Regional Action project.

If you want to apply, please carefully read the Fellowship – Guidelines 2020, fill in the application form via our online application system or send us your application by email (2020 Fellowships Application Form) to fellowships@eapcivilsociety.eu before January 13, 2020 (12.00 CET). Please note that we prefer receiving applications online.

What you need to do now:

• Find out more about the fellowship programme by checking out our Fellowship Quick Facts;
• Read the Fellowship – Guidelines 2020 carefully;
• Check the 10 Tips from our 2017, 2018 and 2019 Fellows;
• Have a look at the previous projects of our fellows;
• Develop your project and estimate your budget. Download the Annex C- Action Budget;
• Participate in our webinars in December and January (see the timeline below for more details).
Apply before January 13th, 2020 (12.00 CET) by filling in the Application form online or sending us your filled-in form (2020 Fellowships Application Form) by email to fellowships@eapcivilsociety.eu.

The deadline for submission of applications is Monday, January 13, 2019, 12.00 CET.

The timeline of the application process:

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Should you have any questions regarding your application, please contact fellowships@eapcivilsociety.eu