The United States - Central and Eastern European Environment Foundation

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In the early 1990s, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe underwent sweeping economic and political changes. Western governments flooded the region with offers of financial and technical assistance for countries in their post-Soviet era transition to democracy. Ten years later, many foreign agencies and donors believe that the Central and Eastern European region has “graduated” from their need for assistance and have moved their focus to other issues and parts of the world.

This initial flood of assistance established a budding civil society movement that took hold throughout the region. For the first time, citizens became engaged in environmental issues in their communities, on everything from freedom of information to enforcement of environmental laws to public education. Many of these initiatives were funded in part by aid from foreign governments, but are now looking to other means for funding their activities. These groups--the grassroots, citizen-led NGOs--are most at risk and may not even get off the ground without sustained assistance from non-governmental sources of support.

The projects outlined in this section have been evaluated by UCEF to be realistic programs with reasonable budgets and achievable objectives. These projects all address a particular need in the region that is currently not being met in other ways. Many of these projects are also notable for the partnerships they seek to create between individuals, NGOs, governments, and businesses, as well as across borders.