EaP Civil Society Fellowship – Community Engagement Fellowship (2026 Call)

The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility Project is pleased to announce the first Call for Applications for its 2026 EU-funded Fellowship programme!

This Call for Civil Society Fellows is open to all citizens of the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) regardless of their current location. The submission of Concept Notes must be made online by 30th December 2025.

Apply for a Community Engagement Fellowship if you plan to do any of the activities below:

• Collecting local evidence: supporting fellows to collect and analyse evidence on key issues of public service delivery at local and national level.
• Involvement in policymaking: allowing fellows to gain expertise on specific policy issues, draft policy paper/recommendations and organise advocacy campaigns; helping fellows get access to government channels in order to better get their ideas across.
• Capacity development: supporting mentoring and job shadowing schemes and involving fellows in training of trainers in order to train other members of their organisations, as well as members of other CSOs from relevant networks. This may also include, although not exclusively, job shadowing or study visits with CSOs in EU Member States
• Involvement in monitoring public administration activity and results: supporting fellows in developing a multitude of monitoring activities, including on technical issues such as public financial management, budget transparency and oversight.
• Improvement of CSO accountability and link to constituencies: supporting fellows in improving the transparency and accountability mechanisms of their organisations and in better linking activities to citizens’ needs.
• Cooperation between CSOs: allowing fellows to organise activities bringing various CSOs together on issues of common interest.

Benefits:

• €5,000 EUR average funding per project
• Coaching on project management, communication, and advocacy
• Access to international events and advanced learning courses
• Alumni network of 230+ fellows since 2017

• Must be 18+ and citizen of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, or Ukraine
• Strong project idea in community engagement
• Working knowledge of English
• The first step in the application process is the submission of your Fellowship Concept Note. Applicants with Concept Notes who meet the required evaluation criteria will be invited to make a Full Application.
• Join the ‘live’ information webinar on how to make a Fellowship application on November 26, 2025. UPD: recording of the webinar is now available: check it on our e-Learning Hub or scroll down to see the video.
• IMPORTANT: Submitted Concept Forms are assessed on a rolling basis, so the sooner applicants make a submission the quicker they will find out if they can move on to the Full Application stage!
• Please remember that this is a 2-stage application process. At stage 1 you apply with a short Concept Note. Those who successfully pass it will be invited to submit Full Applications under Stage 2. Closing date for receipt of Full Applications for the 2026 Fellowships will be on February 15, 2026.
• 2026 Fellowships are expected to be awarded and start implementation in April 2026.