CD-UNITED projects to empower civil society launched

CD-UNITED allows donors to develop and co-finance democracy and civil society projects under the auspices of the CD. The mechanism was designed to form a part of the CD’s activities following the United States 2013 call to action Stand for Civil Society. Initially intended to match US funding with other donors, CD-UNITED has turned to serve as a mechanism for collaboration between CD Participating States.
 
The projects under the CD-UNITED have total budgets of $10,000 – $80,000 USD per project, with a 1:1 cost-share between CD Participating States and other donors. Projects are implemented by the Permanent Secretariat of the Community, the co-funding countries and another parties through contracts.
 
The following projects have been selected in the first iteration of CD-UNITED:
 

  • The Center for Training and Promotion of Democracy (CECADE) will hold a coordination training to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations across 11 countries: Canada, United States, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Uruguay, and Chile.
  •  The Council for a Community of Democracies (CCD) will work in partnership with civil society stakeholders to develop strategies on National Democracy Education Action Plans in Kosovo and Mongolia.
  •  The Association Resource Centre for Women (MARTA) realized the importance and need for a participatory approach to address social problems and will organize seminars, study tours and round table discussions for civil society organizations in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
  •  The Centre for Citizens’ Alliance (CCA) focuses on developing and strengthening the democratic frameworks in Asia by supporting civil society activities in China, Japan, Korea and Mongolia; the first phase of this project will commence with an international conference in Ulaanbaatar on the 4th and 5th of October, 2014.
  •  Other projects include the organization of campaigns and public lectures on best practices for civil society in Belarus, and trainings for lawyers to develop a blueprint for constitutional reforms in Cuba.

A seventh project, on pre-elections trainings for civil society and media organizations, co-financed by Estonia and Slovakia, has already been implemented by the Permanent Secretariat.