Communities for Local Democracy

ongoing

A well-developed civil society with independent CSOs, fosters participation and provides broader representation of people which make democracy stronger and more resilient. These are the circumstances that secure EU values like equality, human rights, solidarity. Communities for Local Democracy (CLD) project will support - with funds and capacity building - a wide range of CSOs active on the local and regional level, with special attention to small, grassroots organizations which are the most dependent to power structures. The CLD program will be a national program in Hungary, but we will have a special focus on 4 regions, which are in the 20 poorest of the EU and of which the Aspect Group (our consortium) members are regional civic hubs. Our main concept is subsidiarity and cooperation. There is a need to bring closer funds and decision making to the grantees, to the local level in the countryside. This will give accessibility to rural, small, grassroots organizations to apply and to get funding and capacity building. With our re-granting program we will support larger (Macro program) and smaller (Small scale program) CSOs. Beside regular re-granting approaches we will pilot 3 different type of grants which topics also focus on key gap areas such as fundraising, business-civic cooperation and community participation which are crucial for an independent civic sector and for a resilient democracy. To react on the different needs of organizations, we developed a tailor made capacity building approach to complement the grants. To identify the needs, we will use the Civil Society Toolbox and the ongoing mentoring give us the chance to make advices connected to them. We will develop a database of capacity building opportunities and create a Voucher system for the grantees so they can shape their development. The project will use a wider range of methods to help ensure gender equality and increase the respect and recognition of the civil sector in Hungary.