Helping those who help
The NGO Sector in Spain is made up of around 250.000 organisations eager to help others, but the economic crisis has aggravated its weakness in terms of internal capacity and impact. The EEA Grants Active Citizenship Programme has just launched 38 projects all around Spain to strengthen NGOs capacity and reinforce them as vehicles of social change. The ultimate goal? A fairer and more equal society.
26.05.2014
From a project in a run-down area in the city of La Coruña to a national plan against poverty. From fostering local volunteers communities to creating networks against hate crimes. A central purchasing unit, projects against racism and xenophobia, plans to prevent young people’s exclusion, projects for Roma, migrants and gender-based violence… and so on until 38 projects to solve much more than 38 problems.
These are the projects funded by the EEA Grants within the framework of Active Citizenship Programme, operated by NGO Platform. The Open Call was a huge success and 236 proposals were submitted. After an exhaustive selection process, 38 projects from 120 entities were approved and will receive 3,7 million euros.
The aim of this Programme is to support the ONG Sector by strengthening its capacity in policy engagement and addressing social inequalities among marginalised and disadvantaged groups, especially children and youth. For that reason, the projects focus on capacity building for networks and coalitions, establishment of partnership systems and sustainability through cooperation systems and economies of scale. The stronger the NGO sector, the stronger the society.