About This Initiative2008 Activities
The East East: Partnership Beyond Borders Program supported 350 initiatives in 2008, including exchanges addressing issues such as migration, European integration, national security, and international relations.
Working with the Soros Foundation–Romania, the program supported a meeting of experts, policymakers, and NGO representatives to launch an initiative to analyze social challenges brought by migration within and to the European Union.
The program continued to support a long-term initiative of the Stefan Batory Foundation that brings together analysts and civil society activists from 11 countries to monitor EU crossing points as well as member state visa policies toward neighboring non-EU countries. Monitoring in 2008 documented some problems with discrimination and a lack of transparency that fueled public advocacy campaigns calling for fair and equal treatment for all the EU’s eastern neighbors.
Through an exchange supported by the Fund for an Open Society-Serbia, civil society activists and organizations came together with policymakers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia to develop strategies for advancing the EU accession process in South Eastern Europe and increasing cooperation among governments and NGOs in the region.
A cooperative initiative between Soros foundations in Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine entered its third year of helping develop civil society organizations in the three countries. In 2008, the project supported 10 initiatives, including a public policy study that brought together experts from leading think tanks to examine regional developments and issues using redefined concepts of security.
The Human Rights Center in Zagreb, Croatia, received program support for development of a network of environmental NGOs from 11 South Eastern European countries to monitor the construction of three new oil pipelines in the region.
With program support, Soros foundations in Tajikistan and Slovakia organized exchanges that facilitated discussions by activists and policymakers about housing policy and civic engagement in the two countries. Exchange participants examined how Slovakian policies using resident-managed housing blocks encouraged people to exercise their rights and become involved in housing sector reform and other governance issues.
In Ukraine and the Czech Republic, the program worked with Soros foundations in both countries to launch a new initiative on reform and European integration. The initiative will focus on public awareness about European integration; how community-based initiatives can contribute to participatory governance; and the role of local government and the media in preventing ethnic conflict and promoting entrepreneurial activities.
