There are hundreds of initiatives in Germany, which have been working with Belarusian partners in concrete projects since the early 1990's, whether it is a partnership of schools and towns, programs for children from the areas, suffering by the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster;  or cooperation in the field of alternative energy sources. What they have in common is there approach of cooperating directly between people. In order to overcome the isolation and new dividing lines in Europe, the German initiatives suggested the Support Program for Belarus «Overcoming borders» at its regular partner conference in 2001 in Iserlohn. The purpose of this program is to strengthen cooperation on the level of civil society and its interaction with state and business structures.
Since 2002, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany has provided funding for the implementation of the program. Thus, it supports the work of more than 600 joint Belarusian-Germany projects.
The main purpose of the Support Program for Belarus is support and development of the Belarusian civil society. A special place in the program is given the support of community initiatives based on partnership and cooperation between non-profit charitable organizations of the two countries. This area has always been a priority, and in the future it will remain a main direction of the Program.
The central objective of the support program for Belarus is to assist the Republic of Belarus in the realization of goals and objectives of its «National strategy for sustainable socio-economic development of the Republic of Belarus». Implementation of this task is accomplished by supporting the projects of the German and Belarusian partnership projects in education, social life, environment and energy, as well as in the field of regional development. In addition, the support program through regional seminars, round tables etc. facilitates cooperation between local authorities, community organizations and other entities (for example, church, small and medium business) to solve local problems in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.
The program also includes an expert support to stimulate and support the development of the nonprofit organizations sector, involved in the support program, to assist cross-sectoral cooperation, as well as to strengthen the role of nonprofit organizations in the development of thematic direction of the Additional Ressource Program within the Support Program.
More information about the support program for Belarus: www.fpb-belarus.org
Astrid Sahm, Office Manager
Irina Bugrova, coordinator of the regional process
Marina Malinina, coordinator of the expert assistance
Oleg Sivograkov, expert on sustainable development
Natalia Giris, coordinator
History Workshop
Suchaja Str, 25
220004 Minsk
Tel. / fax: +375 17 200 31 82