EaP CSF commissioned report “Taking Stock of EU Civil Society Funding” wins PASOS 2014 Best Publication of the Year Award

A EUROPEUM Report “Taking Stock of EU Civil Society Funding” commissioned by the EaP CSF earlier this year, has won the PASOS 2014 Best Publication of the Year Report.

The report, written by EUROPEUM Senior Research Fellow Věra Řiháčková, examines how the EU funds local civil society groups in the Eastern Partnership region and issues recommendations to make the policy more effective.

Among the findings, the paper has observed that local CSOs – with the exception of those in Azerbaijan – enjoy higher support from EU external action instruments than other local actors in the Eastern Partnership region. The report nonetheless acknowledges that CSOs receive a much smaller share of the budget compared to other beneficiaries of the ENPI.

The award, formally announced on 13 December, is given annually to think tanks that promote values of democracy, human rights and open society.

In their press release, PASOS quotes award juror Gabriela Svárovská as saying that “in her recent paper on EU civil society funding, Věra Řiháčková was able to combine the “inside“ level of knowledge with a distance of an independent thinker, providing thus an extremely interesting and useful feed-back to a particular branch of EU policy”.

The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum regularly commissions reports on areas of interest to the organization and the region. This month, a new report analyzing the advocacy record of the EaP CSF is the next publication due for release.

EUROPEUM: Taking Stock of EU Civil Society Funding in EaP Countries

PASOS Press Release