The project aims to advance the cooperation between State and CSOs by guaranteeing it with relevant policies and transparent funding mechanism. The actions are in two domains: (a) improving the environment for CSOs development and (b) increasing the capacities of social CSOs. Regional discussions of the Strategy for Support of the Development of CSOs and their most pressing issues are planned, as well as survey of successful models of social CSOs participation in policy making. We aim to foster the recognition of the Strategy as a strategic instrument for creating an enabling environment for CSO sustainable development. We also aim at providing expert support for advocacy initiatives for the implementation of its measures and the launch of the action plan. The establishment of sustainable and politically independent mechanism for State funding for CSOs will be pursued by a range of support and advocacy actions. To match the effort in the public domain, the capacities of social CSOs for advocacy and fundraising will be developed within two trainings. Finally, the project will assess the first 2 years of implementation of the Strategy and propose improvements.

The project’s overall objective is effective cooperation between CSOs and the Government guaranteed by relevant policies and transparent mechanisms for financial support. The specific objectives are:

• Creating enabling environment for sustainable civil society development through advocating for recognition of the Strategy, implementation of its measures and the launch of its action plan, rendered public and political support for the establishment and implementation of  Financial mechanism (FM) for state funding for CSOs; the FM is drafted, implemented, sustainable, politically independent and transparent; provision of  critical feedback on the Strategy implementation; upgrade of the the strategy to better serve CSOs.
• Increasing the capacity of social CSOs for effective participation in decision-making so that social CSOs support and contribute to the implementation of the Strategy; social CSOs learn from best practices and methods of involvement in the decision-making; social CSOs have greater capacity for sustainable development and policy formulation;

Main activities: