Project support to civil society organisations
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs grants discretionary government transfers to Finnish civil society organisations (CSOs) for their development cooperation projects. Calls for proposals are opened every two years.
Principles of support
Project support for Finnish CSOs is an important form of civil society development cooperation and part of Finland's development policy implementation. CSOs engaged in development cooperation projects enhance the diversity and impact of Finland’s development cooperation in developing countries around the world through their own fields of expertise and practices. According to the Guidelines for Civil Society in Development Policy (2017), strengthening civil society is both a development policy objective and a means to promote Finland's other development policy objectives and the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Project support also promotes Finland's foreign policy objectives, such as the implementation of human rights policy objectives.
Description of the project support 2023-2026 (PDF, 411 KB)
Application
Application round 2025–2028
Advance information on call for project support 2025-2028 (PDF, 1178 KB) (published 15.11.2023)
Description of project support 2025-2028 (PDF, 611 KB)
Application round 2023–2026
Press release and list of the projects to which the support was granted for 2023-2026
Application round 2021–2024
List of projects to which support was granted in the call for proposals in 2020
Implementation and reporting
E-services
Ministry for Foreign Affairs uses e-services and its electronic forms for the administration of project support. Find out about the e-services.
Disbursement request
Account of the project status form, to be used when the first instalment is requested to be paid before the annual report is submitted (by 30 April). The form should be attached to the disbursement request in the e-services.
Basic information form
Submit the basic information form once per year together with the following appendices: action plan, budget proposal, annual report, financial statement, audit report and other possible documents, such as revised rules and extract from the register of associations.
Reporting
Organisations report on their use of the granted discretionary government transfers via the Foreign Ministry's e-services. The reports must be submitted by 30 April. Applicants should also submit their basic information forms annually by the end of April.
The appendices to the annual reports are also sent electronically only.
To download the forms, you need an Adobe Reader programme, which can be obtained free of charge. Upload the PDF forms and save them on your own computer (save target as) before opening them.
Form for annual reporting of project support (PDF, 143 KB) (UML2020-0019.1.7)
Filling instructions concerning the form for annual reporting of project support (PDF, 304 KB)
The ID data required for filling in the reporting form can be retrieved from the organisation's electronic user account, project support applications and the decision on discretionary government support as well as from the changes of use if any.
Please note that when you name the appendices, special characters (such as , . - / ä ö) must not be used. When you save appendices, make sure that the file format is also saved (for example action_plan_2013.pdf). The total size of the appendices may not exceed 10 MB. If necessary, part of the appendices can be submitted using the complementary information form.
Auditing instructions (in Finnish / English)
Tarkastusohje hanketuelle (Word, 17 KB)
Tilintarkastajan raporttimalli (Word, 58 KB)
Toimeksiannon vahvistuskirje (Word, 44 KB)
Tarkastusohjeet kohdemaan tilintarkastajalle (Word, 17 KB)
Auditor's report (Word, 54 KB)
Engagement letter (Word, 47 KB)