Latest news

Through the Latvian Fund for ethnic minority NGOs, the EEA Grants contribute €650 000 to integration initiatives and increased understanding and cooperation between the various ethnic and religious communities in Latvia.

EEA and Norway Grants supported renovation works have recently started on the bi-communal Home for Cooperation Centre in the UN controlled buffer zone in Nicosia, Cyprus. Click here to watch a presentation video of the project.

A new educational centre for cultural heritage preservation was opened on 18 February in Budapest, Hungary. Thanks to €16 000 in support from the Hungarian NGO Fund of the EEA and Norway Grants, 160 teachers and professionals have been trained in preserving traditional Hungarian architecture. The new centre will be one of few offering courses in these subjects in Hungary.

The Romanian scholarship fund of the EEA Grants has launched its second open call. A total of €1 100 000 is made available for student and teacher mobility. The application deadline is 31 March 2010.

The Polish Cultural Exchange Fund of the EEA and Norway Grants is announcing its fifth open call. A total of €1 651 000 is made available to projects carried out in cooperation with entities from the donor states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The application deadline is 30 April.

On 20 February, the "Vale costruir o futuro" ("Worth building a future") project was presented in a ceremony attended by the Portuguese Minister of Environment in Vale da Amoreira, Moita. The project is part of the Critical Urban Areas programme; an urban regeneration scheme supported with close to €9 million from the EEA Grants.

On 1 February, the inauguration of the first regional Service Centre in Slovakia took place in Detva.

The Norway Grants 2009-14 will launch a new fund for promoting decent work and tripartite dialogue. The Norwegian Institute for Labour and Social Research (FAFO) has conducted a study to assess which criteria such a fund should be based upon.

On 3 February, a workshop on the role of women in rural development was held in Castro Verde, Portugal. The seminar is part of the "Rural Value" initiative, an EEA Grants supported project focusing on developing sustainable farming systems in the Castro Verde Special Protection Area for Birds.

Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway contribute close to €9 million to an urban regeneration scheme in Portugal. The EEA Grants contribution helps to improve living conditions, combat social segregation and empower local residents in 3 disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Lisbon and Porto.