EF launched the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia (EFCA) in 2005, with offices in Almaty, Kazakhstan; Bishkek and Osh, Kyrgyzstan; and Dushanbe, Tajikistan. EFCA supports local initiatives in civic engagement, the development of private enterprise, education, and public administration. Program areas include supporting civil society development and improving the quality of services delivered to citizens; improving the quality of education and supporting youth; developing entrepreneurship and supporting economic growth; and promoting corporate social responsibility.

In 2012, EFCA implemented a nine-month World Bank-funded project entitled “Raising awareness and the involvement of civil society in the ‘Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).’” The EITI is a global coalition of governments, companies, and civil society working together to improve openness and accountable management of revenues from natural resources. The goal of EFCA’s project was to ensure the transparency of the mining sector, to mitigate social tensions, to help build economic and political stability, and to increase the role of civil society in monitoring the extractive industries in Kyrgyzstan. As part of the project, EFCA trained and supported non-governmental organizations at the grassroots level, which lacked the knowledge and organizational skills to fully participate in the EITI. During the second stage of the project, local non-governmental organizations received small grants for projects including training seminars and workshops for the local population and authorities, as well as information campaigns and other activities to facilitate implementation of EITI in the field. 

One of EFCA’s programs is the Good Governance Initiative. Its primary goal is to identify and support the creativity and innovation inherent in civil society organizations and communities in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan in order to achieve institutionalized, permanent, and durable reforms on specific good governance topics. The program will provide multi-phase sub-grants to local civil society organizations working in the field of state reform in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, including those that are located outside major cities.

EFCA-Kazakhstan
Foundation Website: http://en.ef-ca.kz/ 

EFCA-Kyrgyzstan
Foundation Website: http://www.efca.kg/ 

EFCA-Tajikistan
Foundation Website: http://ef-ca.tj/​

Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) was founded in 2007, with foundations in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia united by regional management and a regional board of trustees. EPF’s mandates are: creating opportunities for civic and economic participation, including civil society monitoring of government and private sector activities; improving the quality of social science research by building capacity for evidence-based research to improve policy-making; and fostering a culture of corporate and community philanthropy. Regional programming aims to contribute to security and stability by building links among individuals and civil society groups in different countries who face similar problems and are working toward common goals. Funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York has made it possible for EPF to operate the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), a network of research, resource, and training centers established in 2003 to strengthen social science research and public policy analysis in the South Caucasus.

Youth initiatives have proven to be among EPF’s most successful programs in the South Caucasus. EPF launched its Youth Bank program in Georgia in 2005 to encourage youth integration and civic activism. EPF has expanded the program since that time and it now reaches 25 underserved municipalities located throughout Georgia. The model, developed in Northern Ireland to help youth overcome conflict and poverty, is well suited for the context of the South Caucasus. In Armenia, EPF has been implementing the Youth Bank program since 2007. The goal of the youth capacity building and leadership program is to empower Armenian youth to bring about positive change in their communities and develop the skills they need to become leaders. One of EPF’s major achievements was the introduction in 2012 of a new model of dialogue between local government and citizens in Azerbaijan. Through the Local Governance and Environment program, supported by BP and its co-ventures, EPF established an innovative structure called the “Youth Chamber.” Youth Chambers have proven to be effective at facilitating and sustaining communication and cooperation between municipal governments and their communities.

Azerbaijan
Foundation website: http://www.epfound.az

EF launched its partner foundation in Ukraine, the East Europe Foundation (EEF), in 2007. Since that time, EEF has become one of the leading local development organizations in Ukraine. EEF, together with local governments, non-governmental organizations, and businesses, builds sustainable, long-term development solutions for Ukrainian communities. One of the foundation’s important operating strategies is based on a strong partnership with municipal, district, and regional government entities. EEF-Ukraine’s mission is to empower citizens to build their own futures by mobilizing resources, strengthening communities, and fostering public-private cooperation. Programmatic priorities include: energy efficiency and the environment; local economic development; local social development; and civil society participation in policy formation and monitoring. 

One of the most successful programs implemented by EEF-Ukraine is “Your Local Representative: Strengthening Citizen Participation in Ukraine.” The project was designed to increase the impact of the public on the local political process by monitoring the work of local deputies and improving public access to information on officials’ activities. As part of the project, EEF’s partners created eight interactive web portals as a resource for local officials to inform citizens about their work. The portals also allowed citizens to leave comments and recommendations for public officials. As a result, 4,671 individual deputies’ pages were created. EEF is also implementing the USAID-funded Responsible, Accountable and Democratic Assembly program to promote a representative and independent Parliament by providing members of Parliament with expertise on building constituent relations. This four-year program is focused on expanding citizen education about the Parliament, and increasing the accountability of members of Parliament before their constituencies. 

In late 2014, EEF launched another USAID-funded program, the Local Economic Governance Program. This program aims to enhance the climate for conducting business in Ukraine by increasing the effectiveness of governmental regulatory bodies, providing performance indicators for regulatory policies, and strengthening business associations. 

Foundation website: www.eef.org.ua 

East Europe Foundation (EEF) began its operations as a local foundation in Moldova in June 2010. EEF-Moldova’s mission is to empower Moldovan citizens and foster sustainable development through education and technical assistance programs that promote democracy, good governance, and economic prosperity. EEF’s strategic priorities in Moldova are: civil society participation in policy formation and monitoring at the national level; empowering people to address local development needs with assistance from grass-roots NGOs; increasing transparency in the electoral process; increasing public access to unbiased and diverse information in the media; creating employment and social opportunities for vulnerable people; encouraging youth to participate in the local decision-making process and to address the needs of their community through the Youth Bank model; and improving access to social services through civil society engagement.

One of EEF-Moldova’s ongoing programs is the Community Mobilization for Local Development program. The program works in 20 communities, including three from the disputed Transnistria region, and aims to strengthen the quality of governance and address the most pressing development needs. EEF has helped to build the capacities of at least 20 grass roots civil society organizations to conduct community mobilization initiatives, using the human rights principles of equality, non-discrimination, accountability, participation, and transparency.

EEF was instrumental in setting up the Independent Press Council (IPC) in Moldova, a group of media outlets that serves as a regulatory mechanism to protect media consumers’ rights. With financial support from EEF, the members of the Council conducted training programs for media professionals about ethical standards, as well as seminars for readers about their rights as information consumers. The project also shared the experience of the European Union countries with media outlets in Moldova and  expanded the membership of the IPC. IPC developed a journalists’ code of ethics which, thus far, has been signed by 90 national and local media organizations, representing almost 60 percent of all active media outlets in Moldova.

Foundation website: www.eef.md 

EF founded the New Eurasia Establishment (NEE) in 2005 to continue managing its programs in Belarus. NEE works in two program areas: civil society and community development; and business and economic development. NEE’s programs in these areas focus on bringing together local governments, local non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to create long-term development solutions for Belarusian communities. With guidance and support from EF, NEE has become one of the leading providers of capacity building technical assistance to non-governmental organizations throughout the country. Under a current program implemented in collaboration with EF, the Capacity Building for Civil Society Organizations project, NEE is strengthening the organizational capacity of local civil society organizations to meet the needs of their constituencies. 

To provide free legal advice to the poorest and most vulnerable groups in Belarus, since 2006 NEE, in collaboration with Belarus State University (BSU), has provided methodological support to university legal clinics. As part of this project, NEE has supported four legal clinics (three existing and one new) operated by BSU. NEE and BSU also organized workshops for Belarusian law students and roundtable discussions with legal experts, university professors, and practicing lawyers.

Foundation website: http://www.eurasia.by 

Europe Foundation (EPF) empowers people to effect change for social justice and economic prosperity through hands-on programs, helping them to improve their communities and their own lives. EPF strives to strengthen the capacity of individuals and institutions, empowering them to address pressing issues and to mobilize relevant stakeholders in issue-based dialogue, through raising public awareness and creating various coalitions, platforms or working groups, so as to effect positive change.

EPF’s work is guided by the following approaches:

• creating opportunities for civic participation in public policy making
• engaging youth
• fostering culture of corporate and community philanthropy, including through formation of public-private-NGO partnerships
• promoting evidence-based advocacy and decision making
• building confidence across religious, ethnic, and community divides

Some of EPF’s flagship programs include:  Engage and Monitor for Change, European Integration, Youth Integration, Social Enterprise and Open Door Grantmaking. Together, they feed into achieving the Foundation’s mission and provide opportunities for Georgians to engage in social, economic, and political developments, in order to effect substantive and sustainable positive change at the local and national level.

Foundation website: http://www.epfound.ge

The three centers were established in 2003 by the Eurasia Foundation (as part of Eurasia Partnership Foundation) with financial support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. In 2013, CRRC-Georgia and CRRC-Armenia were registered as independent non-commercial legal entities. In Azerbaijan, CRRC is still part of Eurasia Partnership Foundation.

CRRC has over 10 years of experience providing researchers, the government, donors, NGOs, and the private sector with data and analysis of critical trends and expectations in Georgia and across the region. CRRC provides research, analysis and training using tested methodologies, which allow accurate comparisons between sectors, populations and countries.

CRRC's public databases give everyone the opportunity to understand and evaluate the social and political trends in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. To analyze these databases easily, please use CRRC-Georgia’s Online Data Analysis Tool (ODA). 

CRRC-Georgia website: http://www.crrc.ge

CRRC-Armenia is a regionally focused and nationally based independent, non-partisan research center that addresses national and regional socio-economic and political challenges via high-quality data collection, analysis and enhancement of the scientific capacity of the research community. 

The CRRC network includes regional offices in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia established by Eurasia Foundation (as part of Eurasia Partnership Foundation) with the financial support of Carnegie Corporation of New York in 2003. Since 2013, CRRC-Armenia and CRRC-Georgia are operating as independent legal entities, guided by the same common commitment of regional cooperation, strengthening of social science research and public policy analysis in the South Caucasus. From the very beginning, CRRC-Armenia has been hosted and supported by Yerevan State University. 

Throughout its history, CRRC-Armenia has provided research for such major international organizations as the World Bank Group, United Nations, GIZ, OECD, USAID, ASCN and other international and national partners. Researchers engaged with CRRC-Armenia have produced dozens of scientific papers, research briefs and policy reports. CRRC-Armenia provides methodological trainings, local and international conferences and summer schools.
CRRC-Armenia adheres to the highest standards of the American Association of Public Opinion Research in all aspects of its work. In this regard, Caucasus Barometer is the largest data collection endeavor in the South Caucasus providing the opportunity to examine the socio-economic and political perceptions in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia from 2004 to present.
On top of research, CRRC-Armenia provides methodological trainings, summer schools, local and international conferences.

CRRC-Armenia website: http://www.crrc.am 

EPF has developed a unique portfolio of services to position itself as a ‘think and do’ tank with expertise in the nexus of project design and management, network building and consortium management, civil society capacity building, policy research and advocacy, alternative content development, and peace building. Today it works on critical thinking issues and alternative education methods every day within its different programs: human rights, conflict transformation and peace-building, and civil society building. It incorporates a group of highly motivated civil society leaders and public figures, who in their daily activities dismantle the propaganda myths and build the picture of the correct way forward for the Armenian society. It works on such major areas of change as anti-corruption and anti-discrimination. 

In 2015-2016, about 110 CSOs throughout Armenia received assistance either through participation in the EPF-run CSO Management School or through organizational capacity measurement and individual consultancies, which deliver to beneficiaries a unique combination of theoretical knowledge and practical skills on different aspects of organizational development, communications, fundraising, partnership- and network-building.  
 
Since 2014, following a comprehensive research on the need for an anti-discrimination law in Armenia, EPF in close collaboration with relevant CSOs and the Ministry of Justice of Armenia embarked on the elaboration of a “Law on Equality”. The draft law is currently under the consideration of the Government of Armenia.

EPF’s network of Information Centers (InfoTuns) includes eight multimedia hubs located in different regions of Armenia that increase media literacy and provide opportunities to access and create alternative media content for thousands of rural residents in Armenia.  
 
EPF-run large-scale dialogue program between Armenia and Turkey in 2014-2015 directly targeted around 2,000 people from the two countries, while the number of people who benefited from numerous activities and events is estimated at about 10,000.  
 
From 2008-2016, EPF implemented Armenia-Azerbaijan dialogue program. One of the core components of the program was Conflict Transformation Schools (CTS), an extensive 5-day course on developing critical thinking and exploring modern approaches in conflict studies. As part of this strategy, EPF produced a Manual for conflict-sensitive reporting in Armenian and a glossary of ethical coverage in the media of Armenia and Azerbaijan. This work and the work of EPF’s partners resulted in increasing the balanced coverage of Azerbaijan in Armenia. 

Other areas of recent experience includes engagement in decentralization reform; support to youth engagement and empowerment; support to local media; advancement of religious tolerance; and building awareness of corruption and conflict of interest.  
 
Foundation website: http://www.epfarmenia.am