A C H I E V E M E N T S

Grants

SCHOOL CHILDREN
examine a bird as part of an environmental field education project organized by Hungary's Szalamandra Association.

The Regional Environmental Center is committed to developing civil society in Central and Eastern Europe by strengthening environmental non-government organizations. Under communism, private groups of volunteers were prohibited from taking initiative to shape their communities, and in most cases their mere existence was banned. Now, NGOs have the opportunity to engage themselves in the democratic process and to organize themselves to solve environmental problems. All of the REC's activities, but especially its two grants programs, facilitate this process of public participation. The Local Grants Program targets emerging grassroots organizations and funds operating costs, institutional development, and small projects. The Earmarked Grants Program, on the other hand, assists more advanced NGOs to manage complex projects that focus on Regional environmental priorities.

A MEMBER
of the Nymphaea Society for Natural History mounts a poster for a REC grant project to protect the Apuseni Mountains.

Local Grants

The Regional Environmental Center's Local Grants Program awarded 488 grants totaling USD 579,330 in 1994 (see annex). Non-government organizations were eligible for a maximum of ECU 3000 for the year. As Alexander Juras, Local Office and Outreach Team Leader explains, "Local grants help NGOs become more professional, they enhance communication, and they help make them more effective."

Because of the scope of this program it is impossible to represent a typical grant. The REC supported projects that ranged from an environmental information center in Presov City, Slovak Republic to a campaign to save the white stork in Bulgaria; from a study of the health of Albanian women working in the oil industry to publishing an environmental issue of a Polish newspaper. The REC also financed the purchase of computers, fax machines, and photocopiers, all of which are basic necessities for organizational survival and development. A special part of the 1994 Local Grants Program in Albania was the allocation of USD 6000 (out of a total local grants budget of ECU 30,000 in that country) for grassroots groups outside the capital city of Tirana.

The REC's local representatives administer the Local Grants Program in national languages in each beneficiary country. To ensure fairness and impartiality in awarding grants, local advisory boards in each country meet quarterly with the REC's local representatives to evaluate project proposals and to make funding decisions. The five to seven members of these boards are selected for their knowledge of the environment, of local environmental NGOs, their understanding of the importance of NGOs in civil society, and their familiarity with project-proposal writing. Furthermore, grants are carefully audited, and projects are evaluated through site visits.

MEMBERS OF THE NEMERE
Hiking Association cooperate with locals to build an environmental education center in Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania under the "Trientalis Project."

Earmarked Grants

The Regional Environmental Center's Earmarked Grants Program completed its pilot year in 1994, supporting fifty-one projects in ten countries with ECU 568,340 (see annex). These are different from Local Grants in that they are usually much larger, up to ECU 25,000 each in 1994, and they are awarded to well-established, mature non-government organizations to carry out projects that serve as models for other groups in the Region. Such initiatives include the protection of the endangered flower Trientalis europaea in the Nemere Mountains of Romania, and the clean-up of Cres Island in Croatia, where members of the Svanimir Association are collaborating with the local government and local inhabitants to save Cres's natural and cultural heritage. These projects illustraate the Earmarked Grants Program's second difference from the Local Grants Program: it focuses on Regional and cross-sectoral cooperation, where non-government organizations share information and experience with others, and where they collaborate to address environmental issues.

Because the REC believes that direct personal contact is a necessary prerequisite for cooperation and understanding, it invited all newly awarded grantees to its Head Office after each of the four grant periods. This way NGO leaders met not only with the REC grant officers who would be administering their grants, but also with like-minded NGO colleagues. As Ferenc Feher, Earmarked Grants Team Leader, mentioned with pleasure, "Several times people working in the same field met for the first time in our office." The REC also invited twenty-one grantees to Budapest in December 1994 to evaluate the 1994 Earmarked Grants Program and to help shape its future. Their input, along with a needs survey carried out in the summer, helped the REC design the program for 1995.

YOUNGSTERS PROTEST
air pollution as part of grant 624: "Clean Sky in Baia Mare".

In the Earmarked Grants Program, non-government organizations compete for funds that are awarded under specific topics. The REC selected 1994's topics based on a broad survey carried out in 1993, and it was careful to establish clear, reliable, and transparent evaluation and awarding procedures. The REC announced five topics through 1994: nature conservation, pollution prevention, sustainable agriculture, institutional development, and environmental education, usually allocating just over ECU 100,000 per topic. The REC announces the call for proposals both in its quarterly English-language newsletter and in each of ten national-language newsletters to reach a maximum number of grassroots environmental groups. Judging by the demand for the earmarked funds, this is one of the REC's most-needed programs. It received a total of 305 applications last year requesting more than ECU 4.7 million.

For each topic, a seven-member international evaluation panel evaluates proposals and selects winners. This panel, which consists of both western and eastern Europeans, is chosen for its familiarity with both the topic and the Central and Eastern European NGO movement. All panel members use a standard scoring sheet to evaluate project proposals. In awarding grants, the REC weighs the quality of project proposals, their cost-effectiveness, the impact of projects, and the project-management skills of the applicant. As mentioned above, the REC invites grant winners of each topic to Budapest to meet each other and REC staff.

REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER * ANNUAL REPORT 1994