Discretionary government transfers for civil society organisations in the area of foreign and security policy for 2019 granted

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted a discretion government transfer of EUR 911,000 to be distributed to nine civil society organisations (CSO) working in the area of foreign and security policy.

Budget item 249050 (Certain government transfers) is meant for transfers supporting activities by civil society organisations, which are related to Finland's foreign and security policy guidelines and international commitments. 

In the call for proposals 2019, special emphasis was laid on rules-based international cooperation, the prevention of conflicts and mediation, human rights and democracy in foreign and security policy, and transatlantic cooperation. This is the third year when discretionary government transfers are granted based on an open application procedure.

By the end of the application period, 20 CSOs had submitted their applications for grants ranging from EUR 6,000 to 450,000. 

Based on the applications, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs granted discretionary government transfers to the following CSOs: 

•    Crisis Management Initiative (CMI)
•    Finnish Business & Society ry (FiBS)
•    Finnish League for Human Rights
•    Wider Security Network (WISE)
•    Saami Council
•    Atlantic Council of Finland
•    Finnish Red Cross
•    UN Association of Finland
•    World Federation of the Deaf 

These transfers are general grants for the CSOs' activities in 2019. They are discretionary government transfers granted for one year at a time.

Inquiries: Kati Temonen, Attaché, tel. +358 295 350 354, and Matti Nissinen, Director of Unit, tel. +358 295 351 780, Unit for European Common Foreign and Security Policy 

The Foreign Ministry’s email addresses are in the format [email protected].