Update December 2013

State of Play of

NEF Projects

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CONTENTS

ALLIANCE MAGAZINE .......................................................................................................................2 CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE EVALUATION CHALLENGE FUND .......................................................6

EUROPEAN FOUNDATIONS INITIATIVE ON DEMENTIA ..................................................................8

EUROPEAN FUND FOR THE BALKANS ............................................................................................9 EUROPEAN PROGRAMME FOR INTEGRATION AND MIGRATION ............................................... 14

FUTURELAB EUROPE – Empowering Young Voices ....................................................................... 16 NEW PACT FOR EUROPE ............................................................................................................... 19

ROMA EDUCATION FUND............................................................................................................... 21

TUNISIA JOINT FUND - FIKRA ........................................................................................................ 23

ALLIANCE MAGAZINE Foundations involved: Bernard van Leer Foundation; King Baudouin Foundation; Compagnia di San Paolo; Mott Foundation

Partners involved: Alliance Publishing Trust

Timeframe: 2006 / 2014

1 Overview After Alliance’s successful expansion of the earned income in 2012 Alliance is pleased to have been able to maintain and improve on that this year. Individual subscriptions, sponsor’s subscriptions and advertising income streams all delivered record numbers in 2013. Alliance has delivered all of its core products and continued to build on its partnerships and online dissemination.

Alliance is also pleased to have planned, funded and executed a market research project that Alliance believes will provide valuable information about the current readership as well as real marketing opportunities that will allow continuing to grow as a sustainable organization.

It has been a difficult year for staffing resources at APT and Alliance was particularly disappointed that this hindered its desire to deliver a new website for the readers. This could be redressed in 2014.

2 Main activities/goals for 2013 • Editorial: To continue to produce four magazines, eight issues of Alliance Extra, monthly

interviews and daily posts on our Latest from Alliance blog but to improve the quality of their delivery, specifically focusing on revamping the email updates, the websites and the use of social media.

• Subscriptions: Sponsor’s subscriptions: to maintain all current sponsors at existing price levels after the rapid expansion of 2012 and to find new sponsors. Bulk subscriptions: to retain the largest bulk subscribers and to encourage other organizations to expand their number of readers. Paid subscriptions as a whole: to increase individual paid subscriptions to 560 and the total number of paid subscriptions to 2,100. Free subscriptions: to continue to offer free electronic subscriptions in over 140 countries and to increase the number of recipients to 4,000.

• Online profile and further dissemination: The main project for 2013 is to create a new website. The number of electronic-only subscribers is growing rapidly and the free electronic subscriptions are by far the largest reader category.

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• Partnerships: After over a decade of working in the field, Alliance has built up a significant reputation and has good relationships with many organizations across the globe.

• Publishing: To continue to produce high-quality publishing work and to seek regular publishing contracts in order to increase sustainability.

• Organizational: To maintain current staffing levels within the Alliance team and to work more closely with the newly expanded board of trustees.

• Financial: To maintain the high proportion of earned income while self financing a brand-new website and contributing towards the costs of a market research plan that will deliver long-terms benefits to the organization.

3 Achievements in 2013 3.1 Editorial

Themes covered in 2013 • March 2013: Markets are emerging: what about philanthropy? • June 2013: Philanthropy in a changing world economy • September 2013: Philanthropy and power • December 2013 (upcoming): Next gen donors: what will they do differently?

Alliance Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Clubs continue to be popular with the March issue event being held in association with Coutts Bank & Charities Aid Foundation. The June event was hosted by the Shell Foundation and the September event was held in partnership with Philanthropy Impact and Blackrock.

The December event, held in conjunction with Geneva Global and hosted by the Legatum Institute, will be the first one to be live streamed via the Latest from Alliance blog. This will allow an even wider audience to engage with the issues.

Online interviews for the second half of 2013 were with: • Vikki Spruill, Council on Foundations • Dr Jim Yong Kim, World Bank • Caroline Mason, Big Society Capital • Anasuya Sengupta, Wikimedia Foundation • Dhananjayan (Danny) Sriskandarajah, CIVICUS

Latest from Alliance

The Latest from Alliance blog continues to go from strength to strength with a substantial readership of over 17,000 unique visitors a month with total visits on average over 42,000.

Market research After detailed planning, the project was split into five main stages, including an online poll, focus groups and interviews with key individuals from separate countries.

This research aims at gathering a wealth of useful data that will allow Alliance to grow as an organization in the coming year. The final stage of the project will be completed by CENTRIS in early 2014.

3.2 Subscriptions Alliance’s subscriber base has now reached 6,000 – an increase of 8.5% since the start of the year – of which just under 2,100 are paid subscriptions, the rest being mainly free electronic subscriptions for individuals and organizations in developing countries.

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3.3 Online profile and further dissemination The main hope for 2013 was to create a new website. Unfortunately it was not possible due to two staff departures.

Nevertheless it is hoped that the new website will be available for a summer launch.

In 2013 it was counted 150,000 unique visitors to the Alliance website, maintaining the levels of 2012. The website remains an essential tool in raising Alliance’s profile and increasing dissemination of Alliance.

Alliance social media presence continues to grow with both Twitter and Facebook followers up over 30% from the start of the year.

3.4 Partnerships The number of organizations Alliance works reaches over 50. These partnerships are crucial to the growth of the organization in terms of awareness, web traffic and most importantly subscriptions.

3.5 Publishing The publishing activities have centred around the large contract with the Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy (CGAP), which was ongoing from previous years. Alliance has also carried out work for UBS, CAF & Coutts.

3.6 Organizational Alliance has hired a permanent replacement for its Communication Officer and is looking forward to Holly Steell starting at the end of November. Alliance hopes for greater stability in 2014.

At the last board meeting in June Shannon Lawder stepped down from the board (all APT board members must step down for at least one year after six years’ continuous service). Darin McKeever of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was appointed.

3.7 Financial The reserves remain healthy and intact and Alliance is planning to end the year with a surplus due to some beneficial exchange rates on the annual grants, an unexpected legacy grant from the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and a saving on the salaries due to the staff shortages. The uncompleted website project has also led to a reduction in expenditure but these funds will be added to the 2014 IT budget.

4 Plans for 2014 and beyond

Editorial

:

• To remain at the cutting edge of the discussion around philanthropy, willing to raise difficult issues and spark debate.

• To continue to improve the Latest from Alliance blog • As mentioned above the main goal for 2014 will be to complete the construction and manage

the launch of a new centralized website that combines all three existing sites (the main Alliance website, the blog site and the publishing website) and improves both the look and the functionality of the online presence.

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• To integrate the use of social media in the editorial and marketing efforts – using these tools to engage with wider audiences, for instance through virtual events.

Income

Sponsor’s subscriptions Sponsor’s subscriptions will form the core of the earned income. In 2013 the focus has been on obtaining new sponsor subscribers. This has proved successful to the point that sponsor’s subscriptions are now almost the largest source of income.

Bulk subscriptions

Although a smaller part of the subscription income, bulk subscriptions are vital to APT as they provide both income and readership.

Online profile and further dissemination

The further dissemination strategy for Alliance content breaks down into three main areas:

Maximizing paid subscriptions in developed countries

At the end of 2013 Alliance has around 2,100 paying readers in developed countries – at present defined as World Bank high-income countries. Distributing free electronic subscriptions as widely as possible in developing countries At the end of 2013 Alliance has around 4,000 free subscriptions in World Bank non-high-income countries.

Distributing free-to-read content Outside of the subscriptions, Alliance regularly produces free-to-read content such as: monthly interviews with key people in the field; daily blog posts including news items on latest developments, posts from guest contributors and conference reports.

Organizational This is a key area of focus for 2014 and beyond as Alliance looks to increase its staffing resources. Alliance plans to employ a part-time Advertising Officer to increase the earned income in that area. Alliance has also abandoned the permanent role of Assistant Editor as the decrease in publishing work has led to a smaller requirement for editorial support at certain times of year. Alliance plans to outsource the needed editorial support for the magazine to freelance editors and use any cost saving to provide more hours of office support for the remainder of the team.

Financial support needed

Alliance has made substantial progress towards the goal to increase Alliance’s sustainability. While Alliance falls short of some targets, the projected figures for the end of 2013 shows Alliance achieving a surplus, with earned income accounting for 67% of the total income (70% without the Diana Fund grant). This was a pivotal year and Alliance will look to sustain this growth in earned income in future years. However, the remaining grant funding is more critical than ever if Alliance is to avoid using up its reserves and produce a balanced budget in 2014 and beyond. The support of NEF members, through grants, bulk subscriptions and sponsor subscriptions, is still extremely important. After review at the end of 2011, the NEF Guarantee Fund remains available at the level of €60,000. It was agreed that the future of the fund would be reassessed on an ongoing basis. Alliance continues to be very

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grateful for this support, especially as Alliance makes the transition towards greater reliance on earned income.

CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE EVALUATION CHALLENGE FUND

Foundations involved: Bernard Van Leer Foundation, Oak Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation (Chair) and anonymous donor

Budget: EUR 2 million

Timeframe: 2011-2015

Background:

The Children and Violence Evaluation Challenge Fund is a pooled funding initiative aimed at reducing violence against children by funding rigorous evaluations of violence prevention and child protection interventions in low- and middle- income countries. These evaluations are expected to expand the evidence base in the sector and to be used to improve current policies and programmes, thus ultimately contributing to eradicate violence from the lives of children. Started as a collaborative project of two Foundations in early 2011, the initiative was joined by a third Foundation in August 2011 and a fourth donor in 2013, thus bringing the overall budget to more than two millions EUR and extending the current programme to December 2015.

A 1st call for proposals was launched in August 2011 to support evaluations of violence prevention programmes aimed at reducing all types of violence occurring in family settings and affecting children, including - but not limited to – the youngest children (0-8 years). Under this 1st call for proposals, 9 evaluation projects were selected for grant-awarding out of the 479 concept notes received and are currently under implementation.

A 2nd call for proposal was launched in November 2012 focusing more generally on violence prevention interventions aimed at reducing any form of violence (physical, emotional and/or sexual violence) against children (0-18 years). Under this 2nd call for proposals, 8 evaluation projects were selected for grant-awarding out of the 252 concept notes received, bringing the total of the evaluation projects supported by the fund to 17.

Latest developments (May 2013 – November 2013):

A major achievement during the period under consideration is the selection of the 2nd call for proposals grantees. Following the submission of 252 concept notes, a total of 28 shortlisted applicants were invited to submit a full evaluation proposal. 25 applicants submitted their proposals by the 21st of June 2013, while three of the shortlisted applicants dropped out due to various reasons, including other major evaluation commitments or internal restructuring procedures.

The assessment team composed of eight global and regional experts in the field of of children protection, violence prevention and evaluation revised the proposals according to the following criteria: The rationale and potential impact of the proposed evaluation, the focus of the evaluation, the quality and rigor of the methodology, the evaluation capacity, feasibility and management structure, partnerships and opportunities for knowledge transfer/capacity building, dissemination and utilization of the findings, and the cost effectiveness of the evaluation. Following the recommendations made by the assessment team, the Steering Committee selected 8 proposals for a total of 757,166 Euros. 4 of the grantees are from local NGOs, 3 from international NGOs and 1 from a local research institute.

The selected evaluations will be looking at the impact of parenting education programmes, community based child protection mechanisms, life skills building interventions, home visiting approaches or projects addressing the wider determinants of violence (livelihood) in Uganda, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Mexico and Ecuador, China, Indonesia and Jordan. Most of the evaluation results should be available towards the end of 2015 or start of 2016.

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One of the objectives of the Children and Violence Evaluation Challenge Fund is to build the capacity of local organisations in conducting impact evaluation. It is in this context that the Mentorship Programme was developed, providing selected candidates a strategic learning opportunity by offering the additional technical assistance they might require in the development of their evaluation methodology and throughout the implementation of the evaluation. 4 shortlisted applicants benefited from the support of a mentor for the development of their full proposal. The matching process worked well and three of the four participating applicants were awarded a grant and will work jointly with their mentor on the implementation of their evaluation project. To that end, they jointly developed a Mentorship Plan identifying key objectives and milestones where the support of the Mentor will be particularly useful. One of the grantee who did not participate in the first phase of the Mentorship Programme was offered the possibility to integrate the programme in its second phase. It is worth noting that the Mentorship Programme also offered unexpected networking opportunities to the researchers involved. Based on a low cost mentorship model – through Skype and email- a couple of the mentors have secured their own financial resources to travel and meet with the mentees.

While the 2nd call for proposals grantees was selected, the third evaluation project from the first pool of grantees (2011) was concluded. The project aimed to demonstrate the effects of an intervention implemented by Hiwot Ethiopia which aims to engage men and boys and the wider community in the establishment of a child protection system in Addis Ababa through the enhancement of positive child disciplining and development. The mixed quantitative/qualitative evaluation lasted 10 months and was granted 63 938 Euros. According to the main evaluation findings Hiwot Ethiopia has been successful in personal transformation within the implementing organization in transforming cultural patterns, in implementing the project in holographic approach, in observing ethical standards during implementation of the project and monitoring. However its success was not equally sound in personal transformation among volunteering community agents, in transforming relations, in evaluation and sustainability.

During this period, there were a couple of opportunities to present the Fund at external meetings. In September 2013, the Programme Manager participated and presented the Children and Violence Evaluation Challenge Fund at the ISPCAN European Regional Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect held in Dublin. This presented a great opportunity to present the initiative but also to network with other stakeholders involved in the field of child protection and violence prevention against children. The Fund was presented in a session entitled Child Protection Evaluation and attracted a lot of interest from participants. Some of the issues raised concerned the future orientation of the fund, the development of the capacity building component of the programme or what would be done with the evaluation results once available.

In November 2103, the Child Protection Funders Group (CPFG) met for its Annual General Meeting in Geneva. The Programme Manager was invited to take part in the meeting and share some of the latest developments of the Fund which constitutes a flagship of the CPFG. The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss some of the challenges for the future, including the dissemination of the evaluations and how to address the translation of evidence into improved programmes and policies. Other initiatives hosted by the CPFG, such as the Global Learning Initiative or Without Violence, could constitute interesting mechanisms to address some of these challenges and this needs to be further explored.

With respect to the governance structure, following the additional funds received from a new donor (who prefers to remain anonymous), the multilateral agreement was amended, implying a no cost extension of the Fund to December 2015. The Steering Committee now includes representatives of the 4 contributing Foundations.

A new Programme Manager, Sarah Bensaude de Castro Freire was recruited and took over Barbara Gallo one early June 2013. The transition went smoothly.

Priorities in the next future:

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One of the objectives of the Children and Violence Evaluation Challenge Fund is to disseminate the evidence generated from evaluation research to relevant stakeholders. While most efforts up to now have focused on communicating on the Fund’s activities (essentially through its website) a more structured and strategic approach to communication needs to be adopted, particularly as the evaluation projects and reports will progressively start being finalized. This discussion is part of a larger discussion on the future orientation of the Fund which will be addressed in the coming months. A short/ medium term and pragmatic approach was adopted by the Steering Committee consisting in the development of a portal. The portal will essentially consist in adapting the current website and make it a user friendly resource by presenting the Fund’s activities in a more dynamic way. An interactive search field will be created whereby access to the different grantees’ activities could be looked for by region, type of intervention, evaluation methodology etc. For each evaluation project a short descriptive profile will be available presenting the grantee and the evaluation project including a presentation of the intervention, what will be learned, what questions the evaluation is exploring, who is behind the project (implementation team and evaluation team), the findings (executive summary) etc. A Quality Review System will also be developed to assess whether the evaluations were conducted as initially planned and assess the evaluation’s conclusions reliability.

As mentioned above, some initial discussion started with respect the future of the Children and Violence Evaluation Challenge Fund. The contributing foundations confirmed their interest in pursuing their involvement in the CVECF and agreed to commit, in principle, a similar amount of money for the next programme period (3 to 4 years). Some further reflexion is needed around the level of ambition of the Fund and its management structure. These discussions shall be informed by a gap analysis to be conducted in 2014 and that will inform the focus of the Fund’s activities including for example the thematic scope of a third call for proposals.

EUROPEAN FOUNDATIONS INITIATIVE ON DEMENTIA Foundations involved: King Baudouin Foundation (chair), Atlantic Philanthropies, Robert Bosch

Stiftung, Fondation Médéric Alzheimer and Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Budget 2nd phase 2013-2014: 271.000 EUR

Timeframe: 2010-2014

Background:

The European Foundations Initiative on Dementia (EFID) is one project of the 'Living well with dementia’ – A European initiative for more dignity and solidarity for people with dementia. It aims at improving the perception of dementia and stimulating solidarity at the local level in order to contribute to a better quality of life for people with dementia and their carers.

Overall, the project seeks to achieve:

• The beginnings of change in society’s perception of dementia

• To support people at local level to help them better integrate their neighbours with dementia in their communities

• To help people with dementia and their carers to participate more fully in their communities

Latest developments (May-December 2013):

Last May, EFID organised a successful session on dementia-friendly cities at the EFC AGA “Europe is Growing Older – Why the Dementia Challenge can help Build Sustainable Cities”. During the session examples of Bruges (Belgium) and Arnsberg (Germany), dementia-friendly cities, were showcased to

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an audience composed by foundations working on dementia and on ageing. The session illustrated the value of the collaborative framework set under EFID. Eventually, it encouraged networking of foundations interested in the issues of ageing and dementia in Europe.

On last 15 September, the 2nd call for proposals for the ‘EFID Awards – Living well with dementia in the community’ was closed. 52 proposals from 11 countries were received. This result was disappointing despite increased efforts in dissemination. Some European countries such as France did not send any proposal. Proposals from the Eastern and Central parts of Europe were also almost absent. An independent Jury selected 10 proposals for an award of 10.000 € each, and 2 for a special nomination (one project with a focus on ethnic minorities and another on dementia friendly community pharmacies).

Also for this second edition, EFID asked again Magda Aelvoet, Minister of State of Belgium to chair the Jury. The Jury composition reflects a geographical balance between North, South and Eastern Europe. This year, for the first time, EFID commissioned a UK-based organisation to organise groups of people with dementia to review the proposals. Their feedback informed the Jury of the views of the people on dementia on the projects. This new methodology has proved to provide interesting results. Hence EFID will consider and embed in its approach the inclusion of the people with dementia.

The awards ceremony will take place in the coming spring 2014, in Brussels.

Future activities:

Last summer EFID attracted interest of the Life Change Trust, an independent charity that seeks to achieve positive change on the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in Scotland with a focus on people with dementia and their carers. The Trust will join the EFID initiative in spring 2014.

In the last months, the EFID Steering Committee has been discussing the way forward. During its second phase (2013 – 14, and probably beyond), EFID will take up the challenge to deepen the work on dementia friendly cities not only by working on the promotion of the concept, but also by mainstreaming empowerment and inclusion of people with dementia as cornerstones of its approach.

Foreseen activities in 2014:

- two studies to be commissioned to experts: a first one to deepen the concept on dementia-friendly communities in Europe; and a second one to map existing groups in Europe that are led by people with dementia;

- a workshop on empowerment and social inclusion to gather experts and foundations staff to collect ideas for an action plan for 2014 and beyond;

- a workshop with the EFID grantees will be organised to share best practices and to allow a space of networking for the EFID grantees.

The latest discussions within the EFID group are around the possibility to establish an EFID network to enable knowledge sharing while deepening the concept of dementia-friendly communities. The network is seen as a tool to support practitioners within dementia friendly communities and to encourage work on empowerment and social inclusion of vulnerable groups (ethnic minorities, migrants, LGT...). It is hoped that the work of the collaborative network could contribute to support the spread of dementia-friendly communities in Europe with the ultimate goal to advocate for the inclusion of people with dementia in society (in both urban and rural environments).

The Steering Committee was held on 25 November 2013, in Brussels. The next one is scheduled for the month of March.

EUROPEAN FUND FOR THE BALKANS

Foundations involved: Compagnia di San Paolo; ERSTE Stiftung (Chair);

King Baudouin Foundation; Robert Bosch Stiftung

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Budget 2013: 1.562.306, 00 EUR

Timeframe: 2007 - 2013

Background:

Based on the findings of the International Commission on the Balkans and as a direct follow-up to its main recommendations, it was proposed to set up a joint Fund of European Foundations that would undertake and support initiatives aimed at bringing the Western Balkans closer to the European Union.

The venture is designed to engage not only European funders already active in the Balkans, but also public and private donors who have not yet worked in the region, or wish to leverage their own funding and increase its impact.

The Fund’s objectives are:

• to encourage broader and stronger commitment to the European integration of the Western Balkan countries and societies;

• to strengthen the efforts undertaken by a range of stakeholders in this process, also with regards to developing effective policies and practices in the region and in the EU, and;

• to support the process of Member State building as envisaged by the International Commission on the Balkans, in particular by building constituencies in the societies of Southeast Europe who get the opportunity to experience and learn about Europe.

This EFB infographic is a visual presentation of the 6-year retrospective of the European Fund for the Balkans’ numerous activities.

EFB FLAGSHIP PROGRAMMES

I. ENVISIONING EUROPE

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1. Think and Link Programme

The fifth edition of the Think and Link Programme has started with the selection of 14 new grantee organisations in April 2013 and with the first capacity building seminar held in May 10-12, 2013 in Budva, Montenegro. After the seminar, the researchers of the current edition started with the 6 months research phase which will finish with the final seminar of the Think and Link Programme scheduled for December 7-8, 2013 in Belgrade. The final seminar will be a chance to present the results of the research in form of policy papers on proposed topics at the end of the Programme’s cycle.

The fourth edition of the Think and Link Programme (2011-2012) ended with a closing seminar, which was held on November 26-27, 2012 in Belgrade. All organisations successfully finished the research and submitted policy papers. Every organisation had the opportunity to present project conclusions and policy recommendations in video format, through the new EFB initiative “EFB Policy Talks”. All videos are available at:http://balkanfund.org/spd/?cat=5

II. PRACTICING EUROPE

Fellowship Programme for Young Governmental Officials from the Western Balkans

FP 2013/2014 The call for applications for the 2013/2014 edition of the Fellowship Programme was launched and opened July 20 – September 20. A total of 118 applications were received, of which 40 were selected for an interview. The interviews were held in Belgrade (for candidates from Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia) on October 28-29 and in Skopje (for candidates from Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia) on October 30-31. 20 Fellows have been selected for the new generation of 2013/2014.

The following programme activities have been carried out according to the plan:

Intensive language training: January – end of March. In the period of January – March 2013, Fellows underwent intensive training in the language of their host country, while being in their countries of origin. Introduction seminar: April 5-16, Berlin and Potsdam. In the period of April 5-16, 2013 the EFB held the Introductory Seminar in Berlin and Potsdam, for the new group of 20 fellows.

The Intermediary Seminar was held in Brussels on May 19–23.

The Final Seminar on June 28-July 3, 2013 offered the fellows the opportunity to receive training in leadership, communication as well as conflict resolution in the workplace in the sessions on “Leadership Self-Portrait“ and “Similarity and Difference – The Validity of Stereotypes”.

The seminar was symbolically held in Zagreb to coincide with Croatia becoming the 28th Member State of the EU on July 1, 2013. The fellows witnessed the official ceremony and celebrations of this historical event for the Western Balkans. The programme of the Final Seminar also included the 4th EFB Community Networking Event /Joint Training “Croatia and the future of the Western Balkans Enlargement”.

III. SUPPORTING POLICY DEVELOPMENT

Vicinities – second edition of the regional talk show

With their mission to foster reconciliation in Southeast Europe, the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) in partnership with the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in SEE (CDRSEE) have now

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approached a wider audience with the idea to promote a frank exchange of ideas in an open debate about the issues that are badly affecting the region and impeding EU accession as well as reconciliation.

With television being a universally accessible resource that provides programmes which can educate, enlighten, engage and inform the public, the CDRSEE and the EFB have combined their efforts as regional partners to create a first ever current affairs TV programme with all requirements for a highly successful approach to reconciliation, addressing inflammatory issues in constructive debates.

As of April 2, 2012, the five-part TV programme series “Vicinities” was broadcasted in prime time on a weekly basis in five countries throughout the region on eight major national and local TV stations (Studio B, TV Vranje and TV FORUM in Serbia, BHRT and RTRS in Bosnia and Herzegovina, TV Vijesti in Montenegro, TV Kapital network in Croatia and Alsat-M TV in the FY Republic of Macedonia).

After the successful pilot project with a five-part TV programme series, both EFB and CDRSEE went into the second phase of the project with the production of a twelve-part series.

The 17 episodes of “Vicinities” have proven to be successful tools for enabling sincere exchange, interaction and communication in the Western Balkans, but also a positive media example for attracting the attention of the public in recognising the similarities and differences that exist in this common space. Encouraged by this success, both EFB and CDRSEE are now in the process of planning the next seasons of this exciting series.

http://balkanfund.org/programme-areas/initiatives/vicinities/vicinities-season-2/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIkMnAd7Ag0

IV. EFB Community

In 2013, the EFB Community has grown into a 324 member network, which includes all the persons who have successfully completed one of the EFB Programmes.

The mission of the EFB Community is to serve the interests of the EFB Community members by providing a forum for networking, communication and collaboration. In order to fulfil its commitment to strengthen the cohesion between members, the EFB sponsors and organises initiatives and events, including Community members in a variety of EFB activities.

Within the EFB Community, specific groups have been created having in mind the origin of the participants and their specific interest due to strong connections developed during their participation in different EFB programmes.

In addition to the numerous networking opportunities, the EFB Community offers an opportunity for further cooperation through participation in different EFB activities as speakers, panellists and trainers.

The LinkedIn Group and EFB Community Group, which were opened in 2013, were just an addition to the EFB Facebook page (3183 likes) that is used for updates, publishing all the EFB and Partner news, event reports, photos, calls and programme promotions.

Traditional Joint Fellowship Trainings

The 4th Community training “Croatia and the future of the Western Balkans enlargement” was symbolically held in Croatia (June 28- July 3).

The idea of this networking event is to integrate the different backgrounds and individual expertises of the EFB Community members and to encourage and strengthen the development of not only a “social” but also a “knowledge and expertise” network. The exchange of experience amongst peers is supposed to enable fellows to come up with their vision of the cohesion and cooperation in the region.

Other EFB initiatives:

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SUPPORTED INDIVIDUALS 2013 In 2013, the EFB continued supporting individuals from the Western Balkans throughout different programmes, initiatives and various events organised by the EFB and EFB’s partners:

Two EFB Community members attended the 2013 Summer School in Comparative Conflict Studies that took place at the Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade on July 1-8, 2013. The 4th Summer School in Comparative Conflict Studies organised by the Centre for Comparative Conflict Studies provides a learning opportunity for students interested in the study and analysis of in- and post-conflict societies.

25 Members of the Community were part of the filming of Season 2 of the successful TV-Project “Vicinities”. The representatives of the European Fund for the Balkans Community Network were included in all discussions as actively participating audience, which additionally strengthened the regional dimension of the initiative.

2. SUPPORTED INITIATIVES AND PROJECTS 2013

The European Fund for the Balkans has supported the following initiatives and projects since its last report:

EFB AT BELGRADE SECURITY FORUM 2013

The European Fund for the Balkans supported the 3rd Belgrade Security Forum (September 19-21, 2013), which was realised under the title “Is the State under (De)construction? Risks and Responses from the Balkans and Beyond” and followed the results of the two previous Belgrade Security Forums (2011 and 2012) directed to changing the security paradigm on the role of the region in contemporary European and global security debates and decision-making processes. This year, GEF provided experience from the Balkans – a region where global lessons are learnt on the ground and where people have no other choice but to innovate. Innovative NGOs, entrepreneurs, politicians and leaders shared about how they address the issue of transparency while trying to tackle growing social and economic issues. The European Fund for the Balkans also participated in the Forum and presented its work in the panel discussion “Transparency and policy making”.

Read more at: http://balkanfund.org/2013/10/european-fund-for-the-balkans-panel-discussion-at-grantmakers-east-forum-gef-belgrade-16-18-of-october-2013/

BALKAN BEYOND BORDERS FILM FESTIVAL 2013

The 4th Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival “Reinventing Bridges”, supported yet again by the European Fund for the Balkans, was held in Bucharest on October 11-13, 2013 at the National Museum Țăranului Român & Club Țăranului. Film makers from all Balkan countries as well as Germany, Belgium, Italy, France and Sweden shared their work with the audience. Young and creative people as well as everyone passionate about the short film industry were invited to a 3-day celebration of Balkan diversity and culture.

The additional activities included round table discussions, photo exhibitions, concerts and after-screening parties. Round table discussions (two during the three days) brought together young film makers from Romania and other countries from the region to discuss topics such as: crowd sourcing for film festivals, the impact of documentaries on perceptions of historical events, and influence of history on everyday life in the Balkans. A photo exhibition was organised with the best stills from preselected and projected films.

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ALPBACH SUMMER SCHOOL ON EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN BELGRADE 2013 (ASSEI-B13)

The European Fund for the Balkans supported the ASSEI-B13. The summer school is supposed to enhance the knowledge about history, law, socio-economic integration, policy areas and political systems of the European Union among students, graduates, postgraduates and young professionals coming from various fields such as law, economics, political sciences, technical sciences, linguistics etc. The 25 participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, Kosovo and Serbia were taught about the essential elements of the EU integration process from global, European and regional perspectives. With this course, the participants received a solid basis for future specialisation courses in the EU integration field and will be able to make use of the acquired knowledge in their workplaces.

CONFERENCE “GOOD GOVERNANCE FROM A CROSS-SECTORAL PERSPECTIVE”

The European Fund for the Balkans and the Regional Research Promotional Programme organised the conference “Good Governance from a cross-sectoral perspective”, which took place in Zagreb, Croatia.

EFB STRUCTURE In 2013, the Steering Committee meeting in May was held in Berlin, Germany. The Strategic Planning Meeting was held in Feistritz, Austria in October.

In 2014 the EFB SC meeting is scheduled for February 28.

EUROPEAN PROGRAMME FOR INTEGRATION AND MIGRATION www.epim.info Foundations involved: The Atlantic Philanthropies; Barrow Cadbury Trust; Fondation

Bernheim; Compagnia di San Paolo; Oak Foundation; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust; King Baudouin Foundation (Chair); Robert Bosch Stiftung; The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund (closed at end of 2012); Fundación “la Caixa”; Open Society Foundations

Budget: April 2012 – December 2015: approximately 3.5 million EUR Timeframe: January 2012 to December 2015 (third phase of EPIM) Background: The European Programme for Integration and Migration is a pooled funding initiative aimed at strengthening the role played by civil society in influencing EU policy developments and in advocating for constructive approaches to migrants in Europe. Since 2005, European Foundations have come together through EPIM to support and enhance the ability of non-governmental organisations active on migrant issues through grant-making, capacity-building and networking. Between 2005 and 2011, a total of 3.6 million euro was allocated through the EPIM programme, including 31 grants to 24 grantees – both at European and national level. A further 3.5 million euro will be spent within EPIM’s third phase of funding for the 2012-2015 period. Resulting from a call for proposals launched in January 2012, EPIM awarded 10 grants amounting to 2.2 million euro to NGO-led projects that aim to address urgent or contentious problems and have a high impact on European policy or practice in one of three defined focus areas: asylum seekers; undocumented migrants; and equality, integration and social inclusion of vulnerable migrants. The ten projects funded by EPIM in this third phase are led by five European networks (Médecins du Monde, Migreurop, PICUM – Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, ECRE – European Council for Refugees and Exiles, and the European Network of Migrant Women) and by five national NGOs (Flemish Refugee Action, Italian Council for Refugees, The AIRE Centre -

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UK, Association for Legal Intervention – Poland, and the Irish Refugee Council). Each lead organisation has at least two partners, ensuring a wide geographical reach from Portugal to Estonia. More information on each project can be found here. Latest developments (May 2013 - November 2013): Future of EPIM beyond 2015:

• EPIM’s Partner Foundations have begun a process of reflection on the future of EPIM beyond 2015. In 2015, EPIM will be 10 years old and will have completed three phases. Many of the people who initiated the project will have moved on and passed responsibility to colleagues. Two of the 12 Partner Foundations – Atlantic Philanthropies and Diana Memorial Fund – will have closed.

• The first results of the three year evaluation, being carried out by RAND Europe, will be delivered to the EPIM Steering Committee in January 2014 and will be crucial to this reflection. After all, the evaluation aims to give a more complete understanding of EPIM’s overall impact.

• In addition to this evaluation, and with funding provided by Oak Foundation, a senior consultant has been commissioned to help the Steering Committee in the medium term to think through the different possibilities for EPIM’s future beyond 2015, particularly in terms of its operational capabilities. The focus of the study will be:

(1) what alternative and sustainable operational models should be considered by EPIM (2) what is the growth potential (if any) of EPIM, financially and in terms of the number of participating Foundations?

• Morris Lipson, the senior consultant recruited, began his study in October 2013 and will present concrete and realistic options for EPIM’s institutional future to the EPIM Steering Committee at its next meeting in January 2013, hosted by Fundación “la Caixa".

Secretariat and Steering Committee changes:

• EPIM Programme Manager Sheena McLoughlin moved from Brussels to Paris for family reasons in October 2013. She will continue to work as EPIM Programme Manager, on a part-time basis (3 days a week). EPIM's postal (and legal) address remains with the Network of European Foundations.

• Sarah Sommer worked as EPIM intern until September 2013, and will continue in a part-time supporting role from her new position as NEF Communications Assistant.

• In the EPIM Steering Committee, Hannes Schamann will now represent the Robert Bosch Stiftung, replacing Melanie Dense as of October 2013.

Flexible Funds:

• EPIM launched a new Flexible Funds Facility in July 2013, which is available to organisations who have received funding from EPIM in the past, at any time between 2005 and the present, to apply for small amounts of funding. EPIM’s intent is to enable organisations additional flexibility to respond to unexpected challenges and unanticipated opportunities that fall within EPIM’s programme objectives. Challenges might, for instance, include the increasing use of detention and rising xenophobia, whereas an opportunity could emerge during campaigns around the European Parliament elections in 2014.

• Approximately 10 proposals have thus far been received and reviewed by the dedicated working group, which made up of EPIM Programme Manager and 3 Steering Committee members. Two of these proposals were seen as promising and the NGOs have been asked to submit more detailed proposals, which could be awarded the 20,000 funding each has requested by the end of the year.

Communications:

• The “EPIM presents....” campaign: The EPIM secretariat began an email and video campaign to promote the excellent work that is being done by EPIM’s grantee organisations. It uses featured videos with each project coordinator talking about the project he/she is managing with EPIM funding.

• With its target audience being EPIM foundations, and would-be foundations, the campaign is an effort to better communicate about what EPIM is doing and what projects the Foundations

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are supporting. It focuses on 1 project every couple of weeks. Steering Committee members are thus encouraged to share these promotional emails within their foundation and to their wider networks.

Capacity Building:

• Reflecting a ‘funders plus’ approach, the aim of EPIM capacity building strand of activities is to equip grantees with the skills to deliver their projects and strengthen their overall work as organisations, as well as to provide them with opportunities to strengthen relationships with each other and with funders.

• Work on EPIM’s capacity building strand began in earnest in 2013, including designing and organising the second collective workshop, which took place in Lisbon on 17-18 June 2013. The focus of the workshop was on EU advocacy and messaging, and the sessions were designed to encourage an exchange of ideas among participants about various approaches to advocacy, errors of the past and ideas for the future. Participants discussed the challenges of advocacy at EU level, how NGOs can communicate their messages to EU institutions and to other relevant stakeholders, as well as talking about opportunities at EU and national levels presented by the 2014 European Parliament elections.

• The feedback from the workshop was generally positive. The wide range of more and less experienced participants in EU advocacy was however a challenge and is reflected in some participants’ comments who stated that some sessions were at times too basic for their levels of expertise. These same participants acknowledged at the same time that they gained learning in terms of exchanging ideas and being reminded of tools they could use more often in their daily advocacy work. Several participants felt that the participants’ expertise could have been used more effectively also.

• This learning will be taken forward to designing the next workshop on Communicating Migration, which also takes place in Barcelona in January 2014, at the kind invitation of Fundación “la Caixa”.

Joint Learning Initiatives:

• Another part of EPIM’s capacity building programme was rolled out in November 2013: this concerns the opportunities for learning provided to EPIM grantee by way of Joint Learning Initiatives (JLIs). Tested during EPIM’s second phase of funding (2008-2011), JLIs were developed to address the complaints that foundations often heard from grantees: that they could not afford to travel, to learn new techniques and explore new approaches. An experiment for EPIM, it turned out to be successful.

• Each grantee will have access to up to 7,000 EUR to bring to the collective JLI pool. Proposals for what to do with the funds will come from grantees, following guidelines from the EPIM secretariat. The JLI funds could be used for targeted training on organisational capacity issues, for instance, or for joint strategy retreats, etc.

FUTURELAB EUROPE – Empowering Young Voices

Foundations involved:

FutureLab Europe is a common project of the European Alliance for Democratic Citizenship:

King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium), Open Estonia Foundation (Estonia), Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany), Stiftung Mercator (Germany), Körber Foundation (Germany/Chair), Compagnia di San Paolo (Italy), Institusjonen Fritt Ord (Norway), Swedish Cultural Foundation/Finnish Cultural Foundation (Finland), Real Maestranza de Caballeria de Ronda (Spain).

Partners involved: European Policy Centre (operational partner)

Budget: 437.000 Euro for 3 years

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Timeframe: 2011-2013 (pilot period)

Background:

What started off as an economic crisis for Europe in 2008 has meanwhile turned into a deep social and moral crisis: many citizens feel a lack of identification with Europe as such, austerity measures have led to the growth of stereotypes between Northern and Southern parts of the EU and the creation of a so-called “European identity” seems further away than ever.

In order to be able to face these challenges and to become more of a “citizens’ project”, Europe needs fresh ideas and innovative concepts as well as strong support from the younger generations that are expected to take the lead on the European level in the future. In connection with their programmes, foundations have invested substantially in talented and promising young Europeans. With FutureLab Europe, the members of the European Alliance for Democratic Citizenship are extending this investment.

FutureLab Europe is a programme for bright, ambitious young European professionals aged 20 to 30 who – as citizens – want to play an active part in shaping the future direction of Europe. Through FutureLab Europe they get insight into European decision-making, discuss topical issues with European and national policy-makers and other stakeholders, and develop their own distinctive vision for the development of the European project.

Program Elements:

The first element of FutureLab Europe is an annual one week programme for young European professionals that takes place in Brussels and is organised in cooperation with the European Policy Centre (EPC). The annual FutureLab Europe forum enables young European professionals to deepen their knowledge and skills in connection with underlying patterns of European identity as well as with concrete issues relevant in the process of European policy-making. It also allows them to define topics of relevance for their future commitment within FutureLab Europe.

The second element of FutureLab Europe consists of up to four annual public 'Europe@debate' events one of them being held in Brussels and the other ones taking place in other European cities. In these debates, members of FutureLab Europe discuss their views and visions on European topics with high-level politicians, decision-makers or experts from the national or European level and with that make their voice on Europe and its future heard. Europe@debate events are tailor-made and organised in cooperation with EPC (those in Brussels) and with the foundations that are members of the European Alliance for Democratic Citizenship (those in other cities of Europe). Members of FutureLab Europe who have already successfully completed the basic annual forum in Brussels are eligible for these events.

The third element of FutureLab Europe is projects organised by FutureLab Europe members in their respective communities, networks and surroundings. They tackle topics of European relevance that emerged from FutureLab Europe and help to disseminate the ideas of FutureLab Europe at additional levels. They support a cascading effect of the investment in FutureLab Europe and spark commitment among the FutureLab Europe members.

The topics that FutureLab Europe tackles in its programme elements are closely connected to the discussion about Europe and its current and future shape: in the future, it will focus on "Equal Opportunities", "Democratic Participation” and “Identity".

The members of FutureLab Europe share their positions and thoughts with the public through the FutureLab Europe blog, through topical FutureLab Europe reports that are published in connection with each event and through regular FutureLab Europe Twitter feeds.

FutureLab Europe builds up a community of committed young European citizens that will grow year by year.

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The programme is operated by the European Policy Centre (EPC) and governed by the Körber Foundation on behalf of the European Alliance for Democratic Citizenship.

Latest Developments (second half of 2013):

On 31 May 2013, four members of FutureLab Europe joined the “Dialogue on Europe” with the German Federal President at Schloss Bellevue in Berlin. They – together with 50 other invited students – discussed the Federal Presidents’ positions voiced in the keynote speech on Europe held in Berlin on 22 February 2013.

On 1 June 2013, four FutureLab Europe members joined the closing plenary for the European Foundation Centre’s General Assembly in Copenhagen. First, they presented a short clip from the documentary film “The Hidden” on hidden homelessness in Europe, directed and produced by two FutureLab Europe participants as their “group project”. Then, the FutureLab Europe participants discussed their perspectives on the current social and moral crisis in the cities of Europe with Jordy Vaquer of Open Society Foundations Europe.

Three members of FutrureLab Europe have been selected to join the workshop "The future is us! Young Europeans discuss with Wolfgang Schäuble". They prepared a 90-minute public debate with German Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble, taking place on 5 June in Berlin. From this workshop group, FutureLab Europe participant Zuzana Novakova has been selected to join the Minister on stage. The debate addressed the problem of soaring numbers of youth unemployment in Europe despite the generation’s exceptionally high level of education. It has been covered by print and online media as well as radio. Both, the workshop and the public debate, are a joint initiative of major German foundations in the context of the “Berlin Foundation Week”.

In the first half of 2013, the first two group projects funded by FutureLab Europe with the help of NEF were completed:

The short documentary film “The Hidden”, directed by German Janosch Delcker and produced by Belgian Marian Cramers has entered several film festivals and is awaiting nomination.

The online survey, essay- and photo-competition “Plan Balkans European” had its great final in June during the Sarajevo Summer School in the presence of its patron Željko Komšić, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In-depth documentation of this project by Bosnian Irma Zulić and Adnan Rahimić as well as Serbian Jovana Rakić and Danijela Bozović is available online.

Future Activities (as from October 2013):

From 13-19 October 2013, the 27 new FutureLab Europe participants will meet for the first time in Brussels at the Annual Forum. The meeting with high-level representatives from the EU and other opinion leaders is intended to be implemented jointly with the Youth European Council at the College of Europe in Bruges. During this Annual Forum week, the members of the EADC will meet in Brussels again, deciding on their further commitment for the programme.

On 18 November, ten FutureLab Europe participants will join the King Baudouin Foundation’s scenario workshop on the Future of Democracy in Europe.

On 26 November, FutureLab Europe participants will, again, take part in the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum. The aim is to offer ample opportunity for closed shop background talks with the forum’s distinguished guests.

For November, a Europe@debate on the effects of “Education – Youth – Excellence” is planned to take place in Spain. It will be hosted by the Real Maestranza de Caballeria de Ronda.

A Europe@Debate event in Helsinki is underway for December in cooperation with the Finnish FutureLab Europe participants and the Finnish and Swedish Cultural Foundation. It is intended to address “The Limits of Europe”.

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NEW PACT FOR EUROPE

Foundations involved: King Baudouin Foundation (Chair), Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Mercator Stiftung, European Cultural Foundation, Open Society Initiative for Europe, La Caixa Foundation, Swedish Cultural Foundation, and Bertelsmann Stiftung.

Partners involved: EPC

Budget 2013-2015: 600,000 EUR

Timeframe: 2013 – 2015

Background:

The euro-zone crisis has provided a strong new impetus for European integration, but that now risks being undermined amid increasing tension over how best to meet the many complex financial, economic, political, social and global challenges we face. Efforts to overcome the current malaise are being hampered by profound disagreements over the future course of reforms; mounting socio-economic problems and political instability in many EU countries; different interpretations of the causes and consequences of the crisis; growing Euroscepticism and an increasing reluctance among both citizens and elites to further pool sovereignty at European level. And while the EU is preoccupied with itself, Europe keeps on losing ground as the global shift continues.

The New Pact for Europe project was launched by the King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium) and is supported by a large transnational consortium including the Bertelsmann Stiftung (Germany), Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal), European Cultural Foundation (Netherlands), European Network of Foundations (Belgium), European Policy Centre (Belgium), La Caixa Foundation (Spain), Stiftung Mercator (Germany), Open Society Initiative for Europe (Spain), and the Swedish Cultural Foundation (Finland). This project aims to promote a European-wide debate on reform proposals addressing three fundamental questions which need to be answered to develop an effective response to the multi-dimensional crisis Europeans are facing:

• What is at stake if ‘Europe’ cannot tackle the various challenges we face? (‘What do we need the EU for?’)

• What kind of collaboration is needed at European level to respond to the crisis? (‘What needs to be done?’)

• How can the answers to these two questions be translated into action to make the EU more effective and ensure it can command broad-based public support? (‘How should it be done?’)

A Reflection Group and an Advisory Group will provide input to, and inspiration for, the elaboration of a New Pact between policy-makers and European citizens and between Member States:

The Reflection Group will include around 15 top opinion-makers from different EU Member States, who have a genuine interest in the success of European integration, are realistic and pragmatic but at the same time able to think ‘out of the box’, and ready and able to communicate through the media.

The Advisory Group will bring together 15-20 high-ranking policy-makers, academics, NGO representatives and other stakeholders – a mixture of past and current national and European leaders from different sectors and backgrounds.

The project will be divided into four main phases in the course of 2013-2014:

• Phase I (March-October 2013): The Reflection Group will develop a comprehensive analysis of the ‘state of the Union’ in order to identify and evaluate different strategic options for the

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future of European integration. The findings – inspired also by the reflections of the Advisory Group – will be published in a first report scheduled for publication in October 2013.

• Phase II (November 2013-May 2014): This first report will provide the basis for a wider debate with citizens and policy-makers in and across Member States about the EU´s future.

• Phase III (February-July 2014): These EU-wide consultations will allow the Reflection Group – in close cooperation with the Advisory Group – to draft a second report setting out a New Pact for Europe including concrete recommendations. This Pact will feed into the debate about the best way forward as the newly selected EU leadership takes office after the European elections.

• Phase IV (end 2014-2015): The ‘New Pact for Europe’ will be presented and discussed in different EU capitals and in Brussels with policy-makers, experts and citizens.

In a nutshell, the goal of the New Pact for Europe project is to foster a wider public debate on the EU’s future at both European and national level, involving not only policy-makers but also citizens; to contribute fresh but also realistic thinking and ideas on how to address the challenges facing Europe; and to help close widening gaps between Member States and even within EU countries about Europe’s future.

Update:

• After four meetings of the reflection group and two meetings of the advisory group, a report with 5 options has been finalized in November. The report consists of a state of the union, the key future challenges and 5 strategic options for the future of the EU. The report of about 60 pages is summarized in an executive summary and a citizens version for all in all 10 meetings with randomly selected citizens. This citizens version has been translated into 10 languages.

• The report will be discussed in almost 50 different events all over Europe. Three different events types targeting different groups (i.e. randomly selected citizens, policy-makers, stakeholders). will be organised in BE (King Baudouin Foundation), DE (Mercator Stiftung, Allianz Kulturstiftung), DK (Poul Skytte Christoffersen), EE (Open Estonia Foundation), ES (La Caixa, FRIDE, Ana Palacio), FI (Swedish Assembly), FR (Europanova), GR (ELIAMEP), HU (OSIFE, Partners Hungary), IT (Instituto Affari Internazionali), LV (Providus), NL (European Cultural Foundation), PL (DemosEUROPA, Partners Polska), PT (Gulbenkian Foundation), SK (German Marshall Fund/OSF), UK (Policy Network/Open Europe).

• At EU level a high level event co-organised by EPC, KBF and Bertelsmann Stiftung will be organised beginning of 2014 with Herman Van Rompuy.

• Media activities will be organized in all above mentioned countries in the context of the events. • The supervisory committee comprising all participating foundations met twice to discuss

project steps and implementation. With Open Estonia Foundation a tenth foundation joined the consortium.

• A website has been launched: newpactforeurope.eu • Currently under preparation is the planning of the next phases after the organisation of the

above mentioned events starting from April 2014 onwards.

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ROMA EDUCATION FUND

Foundations involved: Freudenberg Stiftung; Bernard Van Leer Foundation (chair);

Erste Stiftung

Partners involved: REF

Timeframe: 2007 – 2013

Background:

The Roma Education Fund was created in the framework of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, and was established through cooperation between the World Bank and the Open Society Institute. This intergovernmental commitment was created to reduce the vast disparities between Roma and non Roma in the Decade countries. The Fund focuses in particular on closing the gap in educational outcomes between Roma and non-Roma, and aims to provide a coherent and effective framework in this field.

Update:

The total budget for 2012-2013 for the project “A Good Start- phase 2” is 491,619 EUR.

175,072 EUR was provided by the NEF in 2012, in addition to the NEF 2011 remaining support 54,679 EUR. A Norwegian private family donated 49,154 EUR and the American House Foundation offered 10,000 EUR. The Roma Education Fund ensured additional 202,714 EUR to finance the project.

Implementation:

Local partners and service providers involved: 8 local implementation partners and 3 service providers.

The multi-donor project started with the 2012/2013 academic year, and is being implemented on the basis of the first phase’s experiences, results, and achievements by involving Romani families with children between the ages 0-6.

The project is implemented in 17 target localities in Slovakia, Romania, Macedonia and Hungary.

Home-School Community Liaison

The ToT training of the HSCL program took place in Hungary in March 2013.Tthe goal of the training was to start the HSCL program in Macedonia, Slovakia and Romania within the framework of AGS phase II. Partners Hungary handled the ToT, where the participants were two professionals from each country (ideally Roma and non-Roma professionals) and the coordinators of the local partners implementing the project.

HSCL is a complex program, involving different stakeholders (parents, kindergarten teachers, and community members) that requires sophisticated co-operation. It was a learning experience that consumed quite a long time to build consensus on the structure of the program in each settlement and in each locality in regards to the responsibility of the different stakeholders. After the ToT training, the trainers held the in-country workshops in Slovakia, Romania, and Macedonia. The workshops were the preparatory meetings for the real sessions led by the parents. At the same time Partners Hungary offered local mentoring, which was very important from the point of quality assurance.

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Your Story

The Your Story implementation started with the design of a counterfactual impact evaluation. It was introduced by an external organization, Slovakian Governance Institute (SGI), with the purpose of collecting credible evidence on the effects on the Your Story program on the target group. The Your Story international scaling-up targets eight localities in three countries (Slovakia, Romania and Macedonia).

The interest to participate in Your Story was higher than the available capacity, which led to manage the selection of the participants through random selection. By administering a questionnaire to participants at the beginning and end of the project, REF will able to compare whether the women taking part in Your Story (so called Treatment Group) made greater progress than the women who were not selected to participate (Control Group).

The applied questionnaires were entered into an online database. SGI assigned the potential participants into several groups using randomization and after this the local partner transparently and randomly selected the Treatment Group, the Reserved Group and the Control Group. The local partner provided the same access to the AGS phase II activities to all the mothers assigned to be in the different groups. At the end of the program, an endline survey is administered in order to evaluate the program.

The first “Your Story (YS)” training series was held in Romania in January, in Macedonia in February, and in Slovakia in April. The Slovakian training was postponed for two months, as REF had an issue with the PROGRESS program implementers in Slovakia. The implementation did not start until the issue was resolved. The training had 13 training modules, the YS facilitators developed a good understanding of the nature and purpose of the project, the centrality of the role of the facilitator in making the project work realized, the facilitators were able to develop the necessary skills, the challenges presented by the target group and how the YS project can help build bridges between the Roma and other ethnic groups were apparent. They practiced the skill of asking helpful questions about stories read and had a sober look at the challenges they will face in their respective communities. All participants appeared enthusiastic, inspired and motivated to use YS to help their communities develop.

In Macedonia fathers’ participated in YS sessions for the first time. As most of the Roma in the target communities speak the Roma language as their mother tongue, the question of having and using Roma story books was broached. As one of the goals of YS is to help Roma children become successful in the language of the majority, the language of the kindergartens and schools, the need to bridge the two languages was discussed and how to do this using story books supplemented with oral translation into the Roma language became clear and was accepted. Besides the two training series, the YS program trainer (Furugh Switzer) provides on-site mentoring and monitoring to the local partners.

Toy Libraries

Toy Libraries (TL) were operated and are still being operated in six locations in all the four target countries. Out of the six TLs, two are operated in both Macedonia and Hungary, one in Romania and one in Slovakia.

REF started to operate TLs in 2012. TLs are community initiatives where children and their parents can go to borrow toys, puzzles, games and books. All the toys are carefully selected to fulfil the needs of the children and their parents. The items and toys from the library can be borrowed and enjoyed at home, or children can play with them in the TL facilities. In several cases portable TL services were offered.

TLs are operated based on the REF TL Guidelines, which were translated to local languages and available to the local staff. TLs provide an opportunity for parents to develop their parenting skills and to understand the role of play in the stages of their child’s development. They also provide an opportunity to build links in the community – both among parents, and with services for families.

The REF TLs offered services usually two times per week on a regular basis. TL assistants are managing the borrowing service including administration, the toy catalogue and the membership catalogue. Decisions are made by the Toy Library Committee, where the TL staff, pedagogical experts and parents are represented.

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Working with tertiary education institutions

The project aims to involve higher education institutions in order to sensitize the teacher trainee students and adapt or modify their existing curricula. After a year (2012-2013) continuous work in Hungary, when the partnership with the College of Nyíregyháza in Hungary continued and the participating students attended the field activities, the College and REF gained enough experiences what can be shared with other tertiary education institutions.

In the 2013/2014 academic year, a reflexive workshop will be organized, when the students will read the literature about the topic and will work with their experiences. As part of this three months long reflexive exercise, REF will organize a stakeholder workshop (expert’s roundtable) in the College of Nyiregyhaza for teachers and professors of those participating universities who already indicated their intention to work with REF. University and college lecturers, ECD experts who worked in ‘A Good Start’, mentors and facilitators working with the students in AGS, and teacher trainee students will participate.

Compared with the original proposal, one change with financial consequences had to take place. In Macedonia, it was planned that the REF and the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy will jointly finance a smaller reconstruction of the kindergarten in Shuto Orizari, Skopje, called ‘8 of April’. The Ministry offered to provide 20.000 EUR, while the share of REF was discussed to be 10.000 EUR. Unfortunately the Ministry had a shortage in its budget, so the reconstruction could not be implemented. Instead of this REF covered the salary of those Roma Teachers Assistants (four in total) who were planned to be paid by the Ministry.

Justification of the request for contract extension and budget adjustment

As the realization of the counterfactual impact evaluation (the randomized control trial) will take more time than predicted, the closing date of the project should be postponed until the end of the year.

It is justified by other reasons as well: field work in Hungary, Toy Library operations will take more time; the suggested new project period would be finished on 31 December 2013. In addition to the extension, REF requested an adjustment of the estimated budget that was granted by NEF on August 2013.

TUNISIA JOINT FUND - FIKRA

Foundations involved: Fondation de France (chair); Trust Africa; King Baudouin Foundation;

Robert Bosch Stiftung; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation;

European Foundation Center (observer)

Budget 2012-13: around 330,000 EUR for the pilot phase

Timeframe: 2012 – 2013

Background:

The Tunisia Joint Fund is a collaborative initiative of public benefit foundations, designed as a pilot within a broader collaborative framework aiming to support transition to democracy, social and economic justice in North Africa and the Middle East, which has been developed under the Global Philanthropy Leadership Initiative.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Fondation de France (Chair), the Fondation of the King Baudouin, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and Trustafrica - five apolitical, non-religious, transparent and

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independent foundations - have come together to contribute to the socio-economic development of Tunisia, a key element of success for the democratic transition of the country.

They have committed themselves both financially and in terms of human resources for the duration of the pilot phase and are expected to continue with a time horizon of five years (2012 -2016) to allow the joint fund to evaluate its work and growth. The pilot phase will focus on implementing a call for ideas for the North-West region of Tunisia.

This region is predominantly a rural area, which has long been neglected. Hence, there are important socio-economic needs and few donors, yet there is a potential and emerging civil society which is struggling to organise itself to set up and implement projects.

Thus, the Tunisia Joint Fund programme is of a unique nature. It seeks to identify and support individuals who are catalysts of change, multipliers and enablers in their local communities whic benefit from recognition and support within their constituencies. They can be active as individuals, through a civil society organisation or in local government and will represent a diversity of issues, fields of work and population groups.

Update:

32 participants are now engaged in the Fikra initiative: after their selection by a Tunisian jury and a tailor-made training/coaching process their projects will be accepted for funding in February 2014.

At this stage it seems that Fikra is close to its initial ambitions, the training phase will be of paramount importance to concretise them.

At the closure of the call for ideas at mid June 2013 (after two months of dissemination) 82 ideas had been received by the Secretariat.

After a first screening 64 ideas were preselected. Some key facts could be drawn: 70% of the applicants are young between 20-35 years old; 84% have a high degree of instruction. 81% of the projects come from remote local areas. Moreover there was a quite even distribution of projects in terms of geographical origin. Most of the projects belong to the agricultural field, which reflects the characteristics of the North West region. Other projects come from the educative, touristic, environmental and cultural fields.

It can be said that Fikra has met its targets since it has attracted interesting ideas from the audience Fikra wishes to outreach. If the ideas are not innovative yet they tackle some key issues that the population faces.

The jury process has been a positive experience with a good collection of different expertises, members who have proved engaged and motivated. It was composed by:

- Chedly Rais, environment (chair)

- Zeineb Farhat, entrepreneurship

- Amir Gueddiche, culture

- Selim Ben Hassan, culture

- Hatem Logani, agriculture

- Abdelatif Tabboubi, tourism

- Monia Gastli, handicrafts

- Mahmoud Chouchene, industry

- Hichem Chebbi, education

- Zouheir Nasr, agriculture/forestry

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The jury members met on the field, in the 4 governorates, all the applicants that were selected by Fikra to offer them the opportunity to present and defend their ideas. Through an half an hour interview in Arabic the Fikra applicants were gauged on the potential of their ideas as well as on their skills as project bearers. In Tunis on August 21st they held their deliberations to select ultimately 36 project bearers. Since then 4 applicants dropped the process.

It is to be acknowledged that the level of maturity of the ideas/projects is quite diverse: some being quite advanced and others more in the framing stage. The training will have to mainstream this element.

Additionally around 10 projects come from the social entrepreneurship field and need tailor made coaching.

In the views of the jury members, Fikra is a relevant initiative for three reasons:

- Fikra targets beneficiaries that are difficult to reach and that not covered by other donors (women in the rural areas, newly created NGOs, young unemployed people with qualifications...). To reach them, Fikra does not need an intermediary.

- Fikra is grounded on the needs of the people in the communities (bottom up approach).

- Fikra should further strengthen the participatory approach that is part of its initial design. It is viewed as crucial that participants in Fikra relate differently to their community and to their government, moving away for the culture of state handouts that had been so prevalent.

Fikra should aim at delivering a toolbox to its applicants to improve their capacities.

The schedule for the coming months is the following:

- 5-10 November 2013, Tabbarka, first training seminar

- Incubation phase: tailor made coaching/ 3 months

- 1-4 February 2014, Tabbarka, second training seminar and final submission of projects

- 17-18 February 2014, Lisboa - Fundacao Gulbenkian, SC meeting to decide amounts of funding per projects

End of Pilot Phase/March 2014

Projects start implementation in February/March 2014. Some will last around 6 months- 1 year. Others will extend over a longer period of time.

In September 2014, the seminar of evaluation and the presentation of the results of Fikra 1st projects will be held.

The call for ideas of Fikra for its second edition will take place during the spring 2014. The SC has to reflect on the past edition to agree on the new directions and processes that will drive this second call.

On the programme level after months of poor performance the SC members decided to terminate the contract of the Programme Manager, Leila Garbouj at the end of October 2013. A new programme manager had been identified, Amina Ben Fadhl who was shortlisted amongst several applicants for the position. She came to Brussels for an interview and a test on October 14. It was agreed that Amina appears to have the right mixed of skills being multitasks and being able to bring a strategic oversight coupled with an operational profile.

It is expected that the new programme manager will shape some crucial components of Fikra amongst which the development of partnerships with Tunisian actors to ensure some sustainability. She could also start her job at the beginning of the 1St training seminar and therefore she will be able to evaluate the entire process of training/coaching.

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The German training firm, Mittost tasked with the set up of the first training seminar has proved to lack the qualified trainers in Arabic /French. A Tunisian local firm has been identified and could become the Fikra partner with regard to coaching and training. A proposal for the SC is under submission.

A Fikra office has been rented as of 1st October in Tunis. It is well located in the center of Tunis to be shared with the organisation France Volontaires.

The Fikra EFC AGA proposal that had been prepared by the representative of the EFC and of the King Baudouin Foundation was accepted for Sarajevo. The Fikra EFC AGA session could be a good avenue to attract new funders.

It was said that if Fikra could operate with a budget of 350,000 to 400,000 euros for 2014 and the same for 2015, then the programme will have the means for its ambition and the ratio of its structural costs would be proportionate to its spending in direct support (grants, capacity building of beneficiaries...).

It was viewed as crucial to develop a clear mechanism for the opening of Fikra to new members before outreaching to other foundations. The goals of Fikra; the frame to which the new SC members should coincide are to be spelled out. The question of the partnership development is to be reflected upon by the SC and it will be part of the discussions of the next SC meeting.

To prepare the next phase of Fikra (post pilot phase), it is necessary to get a sense of the plans of the funders.

In terms of membership of the SC: the good news regarding the future support of the Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian for the next years was welcomed at the last SC. Both Fondation de France and the King Baudouin have pledged additional funds for 2013 to cater for the unforeseen costs linked to the training. The Robert Bosch Stiftung will also continue the next phase.

However it is most likely that Trust Africa will end the funding as Fikra does not align with their new strategic priorities.

The MoU that frames the agreement between the funders should be reviewed in the light of the extension of the pilot phase.