European Intercultural Forum e. V.

The European Intercultural Forum e. V. (EIF) is a non-profit, non-governmental and non-political organisation which operates on international level in the field of international cooperation and development, peace education, active citizenship, empowerment and capacity development. The objectives of the organisation are:

1. to contribute to peaceful development in the Western Balkans and the South Caucasus by strengthening the civil society and fostering democratic development

2. to provide intercultural learning experiences to youth and adults to enhance intercultural tolerance and mutual understanding

3. to provide exchange opportunities to NGOs representatives to discover and promote best-practices in international cooperation and peace education

The EIF was set up in autumn 2009 in Berlin and is based on several years of experience acquired by its main employees working in civil society organisations (CSOs) in various countries such as Georgia, FYRO Macedonia or Germany.

Following types of activities are offered by the European Intercultural Forum e. V.: - short-term international and educational events providing cross-cultural experience and exchange of practice - international voluntary work with the European Voluntary Service (short-term and long-term) - long-term cooperation project to develop capacities of CSOs and address skills and competences of youth and adults, especially with fewer opportunity - coaching and empowerment of youth and adults willing to develop own initiatives for the benefits of the local community

The target group of our activities are youth and adult learners eager to develop their own competences as well as coordinators, managers and social workers active in community work.

The organisation focuses on cooperation with three main geographical areas: 1- South Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, including conflict regions 2- Western Balkans, especially FYRO Macedonia, Albania and Bosnia & Herzegovina 3- countries of the European Union and candidate state

The European Intercultural Forum e. V. functions with one full-time employee, three stable volunteers and one intern. The EIF activities are financed project by project with funding such as: - Youth in Action programme of the European Commission - Europe for Citizens programme of the European Commission - Instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA) of the European Commission - private donations via betterplace.org

In 2011, EIF involved around 30 youth into intercultural activities, around 200 project managers and leaders into educational training encounters and had 18 volunteers from Germany sent to foreign countries (Georgia, Russia, England, France, Armenia).