Civil society organisations’ development communications and global education projects supported with EUR 1.4 million

Following the decision of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted EUR 1.4 million to civil society organisations' (CSOs) development communications and global education projects in Finland. In this call for proposals, project support will be granted to 14 CSOs.

CSOs' development communications and global education projects are an integral part of Finland's development cooperation activities. The support aims to increase awareness and knowledge in Finland of the challenges of global development and of international cooperation as a response to these challenges. 

Support was granted to 14 CSOs. Their projects will focus on development communications, global education in schools and in civic education as well as on improving awareness of corporate social responsibility among people in Finland. The projects will be conducted in 2019 and 2020.

"Development communications and global education improve the capacity to promote global justice and joint responsibility in Finland. The support granted to Finnish CSOs is important in that it strengthens sustainable development and global partnerships,” says Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen.

By the end of the call for proposals in mid-December 2018, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs had received 29 applications from different Finnish CSOs. The total amount of funding applied for was approximately EUR 2.9 million.

Project support for development communications and global education is granted in line with the Government Report on Development Policy and the Guidelines for Civil Society in Development Policy.

This support is part of the annual budget of the Unit for Civil Society. The majority of the civil society funds controlled by the unit are granted in the form of programme support, which makes up 80 per cent of the unit’s discretionary government transfers. In February 2018, EUR 206.8 million was granted for four-year programmes implemented by 22 organisations. Project support represents about ten per cent of the funding that is handled by the Unit. In December 2018, EUR 18 million was granted to 50 projects to be carried by 36 organisations in the period 2019–2022.

Inquiries: Riina-Riikka Heikka, Director of the Unit for Civil Society, Department for Development Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 295 350 204

The Foreign Ministry’s email addresses are in the format firstname.lastname@formin.fi.