Ministry for EU Affairs is to Provide 11 Million Euros to The Projects That Improve The Dialogue Between Turkish and European Civil Society Organisations

Civil Society Dialogue programmes have been implemented by the Ministry for EU Affairs since 2008 with a view to strengthening the civil society dialogue between the EU and Türkiye. With “Civil Society Dialogue between the EU and Türkiye IV Project”, which is the forth phase of the dialogue programme financed under the EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), grant support will be given to the civil society organisations’ projects to be developed under nine acquis chapters and policy areas.

In this context, nine different grant schemes in fields of “Environment”, “Energy”, “Consumer and Health Protection”, “Justice, Freedom and Security”, “Right of Establishment and Freedom to Provide Services”, “Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments”, “Enterprise and Industrial Policy”, “Agriculture and Fisheries” and “Education” were announced to the public between 24 February and 04 March 2015.

EU grant support will be given to the projects aiming to develop strong and persistent cooperation among Turkish and European civil society organisations through these grant schemes, which will make significant contribution to Türkiye’s accession process to EU.

Eligible applicants can vary by grant programme. However, not-for-profit organizations in the EU Member States and organisations from Türkiye such as associations, foundations and their federations and confederations, universities, professional organisations, employers and trade unions, development agencies may apply to the grant programmes. It is an obligation to find a partners from the EU Member States for the potential applicants in Türkiye, and from Türkiye for the potential applicants in the EU.  Within the scope of Civil Society Dialogue IV programme 50 to 150 thousand Euros will be allocated to the projects.  Total budget of the programme is approximately 11 million Euros.

Although  deadlines for applications can also vary by the grant programme, all applications must be submitted to Central Finance and Contract Unit, the Contract Authority of the programme, by the last week of May and by first week of June 2015.  Further information on grant schemes can be found on web pages www.cfcu.gov.tr and http://www.ab.gov.tr/index.php?l=2

Information on the Civil Society Dialogue between European Union & Türkiye Project:

The Ministry for EU Affairs has implemented the “Civil Society Dialogue between the EU and Türkiye (CSD)” project with the aim of promoting cooperation among civil societies in the EU and Türkiye. Within the scope of civil society programmes implemented since 2008, a resource amounting 32 million Euros has been allocated to 271 projects developed by civil society organisations.

Financed under the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance, in the first phase of the programme implemented in 2008-2009, 19.5 million Euros were granted to 119 projects developed by municipalities, universities, and professional organisations and youth initiatives. Afterwards, between the years 2010 and 2012, the second phase of the programme was implemented, and 5.3 million Euros were granted to 97 projects in the areas of “Agriculture and Fisheries”, “Culture and Arts” and “Micro Grant”.  

Under the third phase of the programme, of which implementation was started in October 2015, a total amount of 7 million Euros is granted to 55 projects developed by media and civil society organisations in the areas of “Political Criteria” and “Media”.

The implementation phase of the projects which are financed through nine different grant programmes under the fourth phase of Civil Society Dialogue programme will begin as of 2016.

Further information about Civil Society Dialogue programmes can be found on Ministry for EU Affairs web page. www.ab.gov.tr