Funding available to civil organisations 

Budapest, November 30 (MTI) – Civil organisations can bid for a total of 2.15 billion forints (EUR 6.9m) of funding from the national cooperation fund to help build communities and create new opportunities, the state secretary for church, ethnic minority and civil social relations said on Monday.

Mklos Soltesz told a press conference that the tenders for supporting civil organisations’ operations were announced last week.

A total of 64,000 civil organisations operate in Hungary, with 16 percent supporting leisure activities, 13.5 percent cultural activities, 13.5 percent education, 12 percent sports and 1.3 percent is for rights organisations, he said.

In addition to Hungary’s civil support system, resources are also available from the Norway Fund, he said. This latter is not charity from the Norwegian state but rather the country has undertaken to distribute funding as part of a contractual system that also “secures excellent and very significant economic opportunities” for Norway, he added.

Soltesz insisted that Norway Fund tenders should be handled the same way as European Union tenders, based on joint decisions by the Hungarian government and Brussels.

“We hope that in the years to come, and already next year, the Norwegian government will change its approach. We have witnessed European governments changing their approach in many ways … [given that] one of the most important elements of our Europeanness is the preservation and maintenance of Christian values,” he said.

Deputy state secretary Attila Fulop said tenders for supporting the professional programmes of civil organisations will also be announced in December.

In the case of tenders announced last week, the submission deadline for applications will be early January and the funding on offer ranges between 250,000 forints and 3 million forints per applicant.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters