East East Program: Partnership Beyond Borders

The East East Program: Partnership Beyond Borders is one of the initiatives implemented by the Open Society Foundation based in London which is a registered UK charity (OSF).

About this initiative

The East East Program: Partnership Beyond Borders supports international exchanges that bring civil society actors and organizations together beyond borders to share ideas, information, knowledge, experiences and expertise and to support practical actions that result from information and knowledge networking.

The Program provides financial and human resources that enable civil society actors to

• build and/or strengthen resources and expertise;
• share best practices/lessons learned in social transformation;
• collaborate on innovative solutions to common challenges; and,
• create and/or strengthen international advocacy coalitions.

The Program gives priority to long-term initiatives with clear goals and realistic potential for affecting positive change, for example, by

• empowering marginalized and/or vulnerable sectors of society;
• promoting cultural, ethnic and social diversity;
• managing the impact of social, economic and political change;
• making information accessible and available to the public; and,
• encouraging public engagement and empowerment in civic dialogue.

The Program responds to the needs of people in many diverse societies and empowers them to work beyond borders to achieve shared goals and leverage international experiences and perspectives to promote an innovative social agenda.

Focus Areas

1. Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey, Central Asia and Mongolia
   
   The East East Program: Partnership Beyond Borders is implemented by the national foundations of the Soros Foundation/Open Society Institute network. Applications are received and reviewed by these foundations.
   
   In 2004, the Program supported 200 international exchanges in and among Central and Eastern European and Central Asian societies addressed to issues of open society including, but not limited to, civic education, empowerment and participation; development strategies in agricultural regions; implications of EU membership; the impact of environmental degradation on public health; protection of human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS; engaging young people in local community development; new patterns of labor migration; alternative models of adult education; access to information and freedom of expression; and, monitoring transparency of government expenditures.
   
   In 2004 the program's institutional partner in Slovenia, the Peace Institute, began a long-term initiative to empower minorities in the media in multicultural societies and continued its ongoing work in migration, citizenship and inclusion of marginalized sectors of society in Europe. In Turkey, the program is facilitated by the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation Turkey, and supports initiatives to increase international collaboration for Turkish civil society organizations and actors.
   
   In 2005 the program launched a Subprogram for European Integration. This Subprogram will prioritize cooperation among the new EU member states, candidate and potential candidate countries and the EU eastern neighbors. Specifically the Subprogram seeks to leverage and maximize EU accession experiences in Central Europe to future EU member countries and EU eastern neighbors. The Subprogram will seek to discover and inspire the new vision and energy required to address civil society collaboration between the new EU member states, future member states and the EU eastern neighborhood, specifically to leverage and share experiences between new EU member states and the new neighborhood. The Subprogram is open to Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.
   
   
2. Southeast Asia
   
   The East East Program: Partnership Beyond Borders collaborates with OSI's Southeast Asia Initiative in a joint initiative, the Southeast Asia: Beyond Borders Program.
   
   In 2004 the Southeast Asia: Beyond Borders Program prioritized support to strengthen the role of civil society as a force for advocacy and dialogue in Southeast Asia. In 2004 the program supported initiatives for a comprehensive approach to development in the Mekong Sub-Region that engaged local communities affected by large-scale development projects. The program also supported the launch of a long-term initiative to develop leadership capacity of young people working against human trafficking as well as the pilot phase of a long-term initiative to support capacity building initiatives of organizations engaged in social entrepreneurship in Asia.
   
   Going forward the Southeast Asia: Beyond Borders Program will continue to prioritize civic engagement, empowerment and citizen education; information and knowledge networking, especially among youth and young people; and, regional advocacy for civil society in Southeast Asia.
   
   An open society is based on the recognition that nobody has a monopoly on the truth, that different people have different views and interests, and that there is a need for institutions to protect the rights of all people to allow them to live together in peace. Open societies are characterized by the rule of law; respect for human rights, minorities, and minority opinions; democratically elected governments; market economies in which business and government are separate; and thriving civil societies.
   
   

Mary Frances Lindstrom
Proqram Direktoru