Belarus

Eurasia Foundation first began awarding grants in Belarus in 1993.

In 1996, Eurasia Foundation partnered with Belarus State University to create a joint Belarusian-American graduate program. The Institute of Business and Management Technologies offers an internationally recognized MBA program modeled after top European and American programs.

The Foundation opened a representative office in Minsk in 1997. In 2005, Eurasia Foundation set up the New Eurasia Establishment (NEE). A Belarusian organization, NEE continues the successful undertakings of its founder, whose support made it possible to implement many local projects in economic and local community development.

NEE is committed to developing a society in which citizens and their governments share responsibility for their civic and economic future, and build economic and social well-being by mobilizing resources, strengthening capacities and fostering public-private cooperation.

Programs

NEE’s current programs in Belarus include:

  • Civil Society and Community Development Program, which improves the quality of life in Belarusian communities by fostering cooperation among local governments, the private sector and NGOs to create sustainable solutions to local development challenges. Civil society organizations (CSOs) benefitting from partnerships with NEE include public unions, legal clinics, public and professional associations, universities, think tanks, and research institutes. This program includes the following projects:
  • Legal Advocacy for Vulnerable People in Belarus Project, which provides assistance to selected legal clinics to introduce specialized legal services to vulnerable groups. This project supported Belarus State University.
  • Leveraging Partnerships for Sustainable Development in Rural Belarus Project, which enhances sustainable development in rural regions of Belarus by leveraging partnerships between non-state actors and local authorities to introduce and develop sustainable development practices to meet the socioeconomic needs of rural communities.
  • Partnerships for Better Energy Use Project, which introduces energy-saving approaches and technologies in rural regions in Belarus by leveraging partnerships between non-state actors and local authorities to develop and incorporate effective energy management practices.
  • Business and Economic Development Program, which increases the capacities of Belarusian business professionals, educators, practitioners, small and medium business support organizations, and the public, by providing high-quality economic and business education, information and knowledge consistent with international standards. This program includes the following projects:
  • “Promoting Business and Economic Development through Building on the Capacities in Key Sectors” Project is focused three main fields: capacity-enhancement for small and medium business support institutions, improving Belarusian business and economic education in order to better meet the needs of the private sector and facilitating public debate and research on urgent economic development issues.

Impact

  • NEE’s Student Legal Clinic Project resulted in the successful institutionalization and development of four clinics, which now offer quality legal aid to the most vulnerable groups. An average of 400 people receive legal aid annually.
  • Using Euroregions to Integrate Belarus with Europe Project resulted in 8 innovative projects in the sphere of cross-border civic cooperation, a series of advocacy events for the cross-border cooperation and strong partnerships between UA, PL, LV-based Euroregional executive bureaus and the network of Belarusian Euroregions.
  • Belarusian Regional Business Training and Education Project resulted in increased capacity of 14 entrepreneurship support centers (ESC) throughout Belarus, which provided 2,400 individual consultations to more than 2,600 entrepreneurs and small businesses managers in the regions of Belarus, and more than 50% of the entrepreneurs trained in the framework of this project improved their businesses. 17 substantive recommendations were developed and presented to governmental bodies.