Deadline:
December 30, 2025
Location(s)
Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Ukraine United Kingdom
Overview
The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Fellowship programme aims to identify young ambitious/ high-potential/ forward-thinking civil society activists from the EaP region and support the development of their leadership skills, as well as allow them to bring about positive changes in their communities by providing them with resources for targeted activities. Each year 20 talented fellows are selected within the project. Fellows receive up to 5,000 EUR to develop their own activities, under the supervision of a mentor or within a certain civil society organisation in the European Union or the EaP.
The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility Project is pleased to announce the first Call for Applications for its 2026 EU-funded Fellowship programme!
This Call for Civil Society Fellows is open to all citizens of the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) regardless of their current location. The submission of Concept Notes must be made online by 30th December 2025.
Details
There are two types of Fellowship: Community Engagement and Civic Digital. As you can only make one application, you need to be sure which application is right for you. Use the checklist below to decide which is the best type for you:
Apply for a Civic Digital Fellowship if you plan to do any of the activities below:
- Advocacy campaigns on issues such as open data, data quality, e-services for citizens, and budgetary transparency
- Improving the quality of data (such as making existing public data machine-readable or generating and publishing open and reusable data needed for further development of digital solutions for transparency and accountability in the region).
- Developing new digital solutions addressing community needs, helping citizens better hold governments to account, contributing to the improvement of public services, and/or improving CSO accountability.
- Promoting / rolling out and expanding the existing civic tech solutions that address community needs, help citizens better hold governments to account, contribute to the improvement of public services and/or CSO accountability, and building the relevant skills of the potential users
Apply for a Community Engagement Fellowship if you plan to do any of the activities below:
- Collecting local evidence: supporting fellows to collect and analyse evidence on key issues of public service delivery at local and national level.
- Involvement in policymaking: allowing fellows to gain expertise on specific policy issues, draft policy paper/recommendations and organise advocacy campaigns; helping fellows get access to government channels in order to better get their ideas across.
- Capacity development: supporting mentoring and job shadowing schemes and involving fellows in training of trainers in order to train other members of their organisations, as well as members of other CSOs from relevant networks. This may also include, although not exclusively, job shadowing or study visits with CSOs in EU Member States
- Involvement in monitoring public administration activity and results: supporting fellows in developing a multitude of monitoring activities, including on technical issues such as public financial management, budget transparency and oversight.
- Improvement of CSO accountability and link to constituencies: supporting fellows in improving the transparency and accountability mechanisms of their organisations and in better linking activities to citizens’ needs.
- Cooperation between CSOs: allowing fellows to organise activities bringing various CSOs together on issues of common interest.
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
In order to be eligible for a fellowship the applicant must:
- 18 years old or above, and citizen of one of the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine)
- Highly motivated to contribute to the civic community
- Have a great idea for a fellowship project either in the area of community engagement or civic tech
- Ambitious to learn and grow as a civic leader
- A working knowledge of English
This Civil Society Leadership Programme is designed for young civil society activists/ junior professionals from the Eastern Partnership region who are affiliated with a civil society organisation, a Trade Union or a professional association in these countries or have significant experience volunteering or seeking to address problems in the lives of their communities.
Actions must take place in the Eastern Partnership region and/or in the EU.Actions must take place in the Eastern Partnership region and/or in the EU.
What will be a successful fellowship project?
The 1st Call for 2026 cohort of Fellows is open to any fellowship project ideas which contribute to:
- Having a resilient, sustainable and integrated economy
- Strengthening accountability, rule of law, and security
- Ensuring environmental and climate resilience
- Contributing to resilient and inclusive digitalisation
- Promoting participatory decision-making and social justice
Dates
Deadline: December 30, 2025
Cost/funding for participants
Benefits of being a Civil Society Fellow:
- An average of 5,000 EUR to cover the costs of a fellowship project
- Coaching on project management, communication skills, and other technical topics
- Opportunities to join international events and advanced learning courses
- Participating in activities of an international alumni of Fellows
- The prestige of being an EU Eastern Partnership Civil Society Fellow
Un-save Opportunity
Internships, scholarships, student conferences and competitions.
