The Visegrad 4 Eastern Partnership Program

3rd Visegrad Grants Call will be opened on 1st of September 2017 with deadline for applications on 1st of October.

The Visegrad 4 Eastern Partnership program (V4EaP) was ini­ti­ated in 2011 by the V4 gov­ern­ments to enhance the coop­er­a­tion between the Visegrad region and coun­tries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP)—Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The main aims are facil­i­tat­ing the unique know-how of the Visegrad coun­tries with social and eco­nomic trans­for­ma­tion, democ­ra­ti­za­tion and regional coop­er­a­tion par­tic­u­larly through the devel­op­ment of civil soci­ety and sup­port of coop­er­a­tion among local gov­ern­ments, uni­ver­si­ties and indi­vid­ual citizens.

The program consists of separate grant programs, but also includes the EaP chapter of the Visegrad Scholarship Program (covering incoming scholarships for scholars from EaP countries to V4 higher-education institutions).

Visegrad Grants offer funding for people and organizations from the Visegrad countries (V4), Western Balkans countries (WB), countries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) and worldwide who believe their projects can make a significant contribution to regional cooperation and the advancement of innovativeness and sustainability in Central and Eastern Europe.

In the last 16 years, the Fund has supported more than 5,000 of projects encouraging partnerships among NGOs and civil society organizations, public institutions and local governments as well as educational and research institutions in the Visegrad region and beyond.

The Visegrad Strategic Program (Strategic Grants) complement the Small and Standard Grants in targeting initiatives that adhere to annual strategic priorities. Strategic Grants are designed for longer project duration (12–36 months), offer higher financial support (ca. €40,000 on average per project), and are recommended for more experienced grantees.

Entities from all four Visegrad Group (V4) countries must be actively involved in each proposed project.

Strategic Grants priorities in 2017:

Regional cooperation for competitiveness and connectivity

Tangible result-oriented V4 and V4+ projects which establish new or strengthen existing regional cooperation in the following priority topics:

• EU single market, digitalization & EU Digital Agenda,
• North–South transport and energy links,
• Science, technology, innovation-based economy, regional start-up cooperation.

Security and Stability

Projects focusing on defence and security cooperation with special regard to:

• implementation of the Warsaw NATO Summit decisions including strengthening the Eastern flank of the Alliance;
• future of CSDP/how V4 can contribute to European security;
• possibilities of bilateral and multilateral military cooperation (including defense industry) within/with the V4 region;
• cyber security.

Promotion of the V4

Projects aimed at raising public awareness of the Visegrad cooperation within the V4 region particularly with use of modern media:

• focusing on the visibility of the Visegrad Group’s accomplishments among citizens, especially the youth;
• supporting mutual understanding and cooperation between V4 citizens;
• external promotion of the Visegrad Group as a modern, liveable, creative & innovative region (geographical focus: EU member states, USA and other V4+ partners).