GMF’s Engaging Central Europe Program

GMF’s Engaging Central Europe Program empowers civil society to protect, revitalize, and renew democracy in the heart of Europe

Prompted by the growing challenges to democracy there, GMF has renewed its direct support for civil society in Central Europe, the region that was the cradle of its democracy assistance work in the 1990s and early 2000s. It does so through a mix of grantmaking, capacity building, and leadership development.

GMF’s Engaging Central Europe program supports democratic resilience and revival, media pluralism, electoral integrity, the rule of law, civic education, citizen participation, and regional cooperation in the easternmost members of the European Union and NATO. Operating with a small, dedicated team from across Central Europe and managed out of the GMF Berlin office, programming fosters cooperation, exchange, and policy learning among actors committed to democratic values and European and Transatlantic cooperation.

In partnership with the United States Agency for International Development and further partners from both sides of the Atlantic, GMF’s Engaging Central Europe program provides flexible support to organizations, initiatives, and individuals that make a vital contribution to protecting and enhancing democracy in individual countries or across the region.

The program is built on the understanding that democracy and security in Central Europe are closely intertwined, and that only a democratic Central Europe will be a secure Central Europe.