The Council of Europe is one of the main partners of the Visegrad School of Political Studies programs, which bring together young politicians, elected both nationally and locally, civil servants, leaders of civil society and journalists. The seminars focus on themes such as European integration, globalisation, democratisation processes, frozen conflicts, intercultural dialogue, post-conflict reconciliation, organisation of free elections, strengthening of democratic institutions and the development of civil society.
Thanks to the support of the Council each year, participants of the programs are invited to Strasbourg to take part in the World Forum for Democracy which brings together over 650 participants and experts, including Heads of State and Government, representatives of European institutions and the French government, European and international academics.

The International Visegrad Fund is an inter­na­tional orga­ni­za­tion based in Bratislava founded by the gov­ern­ments of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries—the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Republic of Poland, and the Slovak Republic—in Štiřín, Czech Republic, on June 9, 2000.

The pur­pose of the Fund is to facil­i­tate and pro­mote the devel­op­ment of closer coop­er­a­tion among cit­i­zens and insti­tu­tions in the region as well as between the V4 region and other coun­tries, espe­cially the Western Balkans and coun­tries of the Eastern Partnership. The Fund does so through grant sup­port of com­mon cul­tural, sci­en­tific and edu­ca­tional projects, youth exchanges, cross-border projects and tourism pro­mo­tion, and through individual mobility pro­grams (scholarships, residencies).

The bud­get of the Fund (€8 mil­lion as of 2014) con­sists of equal con­tri­bu­tions of the Visegrad Group’s gov­ern­ments. The Fund runs four reg­u­lar grant pro­grams (Small Grants, Standard Grants, the Visegrad Strategic Program, the Visegrad Strategic Conferences, and the Visegrad+ pro­gram), a sep­a­rate Visegrad 4 Eastern Partnership pro­gram with its sep­a­rate grant and schol­ar­ship schemes, schol­ar­ship schemes, a multi-chapter artist-in-residence pro­gram, and a curriculum-building pro­gram for uni­ver­si­ties.

Non-governmental orga­ni­za­tions (NGOs), civil soci­ety orga­ni­za­tions (CSOs), munic­i­pal­i­ties and local or regional gov­ern­ments, schools and uni­ver­si­ties, but also pri­vate com­pa­nies or indi­vid­ual cit­i­zens are eli­gi­ble for grant sup­port, pro­vided that their projects deal with the region and fur­ther develop coop­er­a­tion among project part­ners based in the region.

The Robert Bosch Stiftung is one of the major German foundations associated with a private company and has managed the philanthropic bequest of company founder Robert Bosch for over 50 years. Indeed it was his entrepreneurial vision, political farsightedness, moral fortitude and charitable initiatives that set the standards for the work of the Robert Bosch Stiftung. The foundation is divided into four areas to support and operate its aid program. In order to pursue the foundation’s objectives, it promotes external projects and initiates its own projects for developing and running programs.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland has long been our partner in a variety of projects. EAD is proud to have support from the Department of Public and Cultural Diplomacy for the Visegrad School of Political Studies programs: Visegrad Meets the Eastern Partnership and Visegrad School Meets Russia.