An independent evaluation of the Active Citizens Fund in Bulgaria, funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, highlights the importance of the programme in supporting democratic values and the development of civil society. The evaluation focuses on two of the Fund’s six thematic priorities, namely Improving Democratic Culture and Civic Awareness and Improving the Capacity and Sustainability of the Civil Society Sector, including NGOs. With a budget of EUR 16 million, the programme has had a visible impact in these areas.
Key findings:
- Relevance of funding:
– Under the priority Improving Democratic Culture and Civic Awareness, 66.7% of beneficiaries indicated that the projects were fully relevant to their objectives and 33.3% indicated partial relevance.
– Under Improving the capacity and resilience of the civil society sector, including NGOs, 65.4% of organisations found the priority fully relevant and 30.8% found it partially relevant.
- Effectiveness of results:
– Nearly 88% of the organisations part of Improving Democratic Culture and Civic Awareness rate the quality of their projects as extremely high, making progress in transparency, civic education, and citizen engagement.
– Under Improving the Capacity and Sustainability of the Civil Society Sector, including NGOs, 92% of projects successfully increased organisational capacity and over 80% of beneficiaries improved their partnerships with public and private organisations.
- Sustainability for the future:
– Most organisations report that project results and stakeholder engagement will continue after funding ends, demonstrating long-term impact.
The evaluation identified the following positive outcomes of the programme, which affect both its management and the results achieved:
- The design and rules of the programme (‘calls for proposals’ and ‘grant conditions’) meet the needs and expectations of the applicant organisations, contributing to the achievement of the intended results.
- The Fund offers an appropriate, well-established and working grant funding scheme that contains familiar elements, rules and conditions for potential beneficiaries. The combination of well-structured application and reporting rules, regular calls for proposalss that do not change cardinally but complement the priority objectives over the years, provide the opportunity for financial support in its ‘purest’ form (on an open call basis) to both large, time-established organisations and smaller or newer ones with longer or shorter term planned projects.
- The Fund’s role in the implementation period is highly appreciated, as it enables the NGO sector to continue or expand its activities in times of crisis through ‘secure’ funding. In times of political and economic instability, military action and societal transformation, the Fund enables the civil sector to continue its activities. At a time when regular sources of funding are being withdrawn or redirected, through private donor receipts or other donations, the EEA programme remains one of the leading financial mechanisms for supporting CSOs.
- There have been positive evaluations of the cooperation and communication with the Fund Operator.
- Access to the necessary information on the Fund’s financial instruments, as well as the understanding and implementation of the eligibility requirements, was easy and did not create difficulties for the applicant organisations. According to the organisations interviewed, special efforts were made to ensure that all the necessary information was available at the right time. The fact that the design of the thematic priorities is presented in a clear and accessible way is perceived positively.
- Organisations are satisfied with the information, guidance and considerations provided by programme representatives regarding the application, selection and implementation processes. If there were aspects that caused some difficulty for some participants, these were administrative work, reporting and accountability (affecting a third of beneficiaries), the provision of the necessary documents accompanying implementation (28%) and the timing of payments (9%).
- The vast majority of organisations that have implemented projects under Thematic Priority 1 and Thematic Priority 6 consider that the proposed emergency assistance schemes fully or largely meet the needs of civil society at the time of their launch.
- The Small Initiatives Scheme has provided a resource to introduce innovative methods and techniques to improve the capacity of the civil sector on emerging issues such as tackling misinformation, promoting donor engagement and fundraising in the context of war and migration.
- Survey respondents are adamant that projects funded by the Active Citizens Fund contribute to addressing important problems for the country.
Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria of the EEA Financial Mechanism offers a flexible approach and strategic support that helps CSOs to adapt and address current societal challenges. Thanks to innovation and tailoring to the needs of the sector, the Fund has established itself as a strong partner for civil society development in the country.
The executive summary of the report can be downloaded here.
The full report can be found here.