In order to ensure the participation of civil society organisations in the reduction of economic and social disparities within the Republic of Cyprus, a special Fund for NGOs was constituted. The NGO FUND was established between the Donor States Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein and the Republic of Cyprus. In order to make the NGO FUND effective in addressing the opportunities for dealing with specific issues relevant to NGOs, the NGO FUND provides funding in the following priority areas:
• Health and Childcare
• Empowerment of young people in the civil society
The NGO FUND in Cyprus is implemented by the consortium of First Elements Euroconsultants Ltd and Euroconsultants S.A. which acts as the Intermediary.
Among the 33 projects that were approved for NGO funding (click here to see the the individual projects that have already been approved), there are six with Norwegian partners:
Stiftelsen S.O.R. a foundation that aims to alleviate the conditions of the handicapped (http://www.sor-nett.no), through Statped Torshov (http://www.statped.no), in partnership with the Cyprus Red Cross Society (http://www.redcross.org.cy) , will develop and improve the services of the Red Cross Home for Children with Disabilities.
A.D.H.D. Norge, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - an organization aiming at improving the lives of people affected by AD/HD by offering support, information, education and advocacy (http://www.adhdnorge.no), in partnership with A.D.H.D. Cyprus (http://www.add-adhd.org.cy), will work towards empowering the AD/HD community in Cyprus.
KONFLIKTRÅDET, a State agency offering free counselling on conflict solving between private parties or between individuals and the State, outside of the judicial system (http://www.konfliktraadet.no), will work with the Cyprus Mediation Association (http://www.cymedas.com) (photo), to introduce mediation and negotiation skills as forces of development in the health and youth sectors in Cyprus.
Høyenhall Skole (http://www.hoyenhall.gs.oslo.no), together with the Council of Community Volunteerism of Avgorou (http://www.skeavgorou.org.cy) will develop the Pegasus project which, through seminars and other actions, aims at empowering young people of the Avgorou community. The actions include an excursion to Norway to communicate with students of the Høyenhall School in Oslo and exchange ideas on issues concerning young people but also discover the cultural and natural beauties of Norway.
PRIO, the International Peace Research Institute (http://www.prio.no), jointly with the VÁRDOBÁIKI Sámi Centre (http://www.vardobaiki.no), will work with the “Hki Fi Sanna” Association (http://www.sana.squarespace.com) on the Sanna Project to empower children and youth through language revival.
HEALTHCOM AS (http://www.healthcom.no), a company that develops health communication tools for mobile phones, will partner with the Thalassaemia International Federation (http://www.thalassaemia.org.cy), a non-profit, non-government patient-driven organization, to develop Thalassaemia-specific electronic communications.
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The EEA grants:
- The ambition of the EEA and Norway Grants is to contribute to a more equal Europe. The three donor states, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway will make available €1.3 billion of project funding over five years to reduce social and economic disparities in Europe. Beneficiaries are organisations, NGOs, municipalities and businesses across Central and Southern Europe.
- The EEA and Norway Grants were established in conjunction with the enlargement of the European Union in 2004. Ten new member states joined not only the EU, but also the European Economic Area (EEA), which brings together the Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and the EU in the Internal Market. In 2007, Bulgaria and Romania also joined and became beneficiaries of EEA and Norway Grants. In addition to the new EU member states, Greece, Portugal and Spain also take part in the funding schemes.
- In the five-year period 2004-2009, €1.3 billion will be made available. A total €672 million is channeled through the EEA Grants, jointly set up by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, to the 12 countries that have joined the EU since 2004, as well as to Greece, Spain and Portugal. Norway contributes with around 97% of the funding.
- Norway makes available an additional €567 million through the Norway Grants to the ten countries that joined the EU in 2004, and contributes €68 million in bilateral cooperation programmes with Bulgaria and Romania. The bilateral cooperation programmes are administered by Innovation Norway.
Source: www.eeagrants.org |