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 part of the implementation of Finland’s development policy and contributes to achieving Finland’s foreign and security policy objectives. CSOs’ development cooperation projects increase the diversity and effectiveness of Finland’s development cooperation. With project support, Finnish CSOs and their partners strengthen civil society actors in developing countries and support the civic space, democratic development and an enabling environment for civil societies. 

Call for project support 2027–2030

The call for project support applications is open from 16 January to 27 February 2026. The notice for the call for applications, the standard terms and condition, the assessment criteria of the call and the application instructions are available in the Applyforgrants.fi service. Instructions on how to use the service and information about technical support was available at the State Treasury’s website.

Applicants can submit questions related to the application round to the Unit for Civil Society until 26 January 2026 by sending email to hanketuki.um@gov.fi. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will publish the responses on this website by 5 February 2026.

Documents steering the call:

Material concerning the application round:

Project planning and filling in the application form:

Statistical instructions concerning the application (use these as support when filling in the Objectives and effectiveness tab of the application form):

Previous application rounds

Application round 2024 for the years 2025–2028

Application round 2022 for the years 2023–2026

Press release and list of the projects to which the support was granted for 2023-2026

Description of the project support 2023-2026 (PDF, 411 KB)

Implementation and reporting of projects that receive funding for 2025-2028

Organisations report on their use of the granted discretionary government transfers by 30 April. 

Project support reporting form for narrative report (Word, 128 KB)

The appendices to the annual reports:

Project support financial form (excel, updated 10.4.2026)

Other appendices are listed in the reporting form (results matrix, risk matrix, audit reports, organisational documents).

Auditing instructions (in Finnish / English)

Tarkastusohje hanketuelle FI (Word, 17 KB)

Toimeksiannon vahvistuskirje FI (Word, 44 KB)

Tilintarkastajan raporttimalli FI (Word, 64 KB)

Tarkastusohjeet kohdemaan tilintarkastajalle/Audit Instructions ENG (Word, 17 KB)

Engagement letter ENG (Word, 47 KB)

Auditor's report EN (Word, 60 KB)

Implementation and reporting of projects that received funding in 2020-2022

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.

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)

 

Also in this site

e-Service for civil society organisations

Development partners: The civil society

Guidelines for Civil Society in Development Policy

 

Content administrator

Unit for Civil Society