The Nordic Council of Ministers' (NCM's) efforts in regard to Belarus are directed partly towards support for democracy development through funding young Belarusians' access to higher education and through the Nordic Council of Ministers' NGO Programme in the Baltic Sea Area, and partly towards support for cross-regional co-operation.
The Nordic countries are working actively with the Baltic countries to promote the development of democracy in Belarus. Nordic co-operation supports young people's access to further and higher education, administers a Nordic funding programme for NGOs in the Baltic Sea Area and supports regional cross border activities. In addition, the Nordic countries have helped to create a neutral platform for debate between Belarusian politicians.
The Nordic Council of Ministers administers the Project Civil Society Stability for Belarus (CSSB) to support civil society in Belarus in the aftermath of the Presidential election in 2010. Read more here: www.cssb.lt.
The NCM's co-operation on support for access to higher education for young Belarusians is the flagship of the its activities in Belarus.
The NCM, in co-operation with the European Commission, has supported the Belarusian university in exile in Vilnius, the European Humanities University (EHU), since 2005.
As a result of this support, about 2,000 young Belarusians have access to an education in the humanities and social sciences.
The NCM decided to establish an international fund for the EHU in June 2008, to ensure better co-ordination of the support for the university.
All donors can use the fund to channel support to the EHU.
The fund is administered by the NCM's Secretariat in close partnership with the EHU.
Since the start of the NCM's programme for non-governmental organisations in the Baltic Sea Region in 2006, Belarusian NGOs have taken part in a number of projects with Baltic, Polish and Nordic partner organisations and in this way have received support for capacity building and creating networks.
The NCM's border regional co-operation in the Baltic Sea Region also covers Belarus.
Cross border co-operation takes place amongst other things, through the Baltic Euroregional Network (BEN) and tangible projects.
Two Belarusian municipalities and one Belarusian NGO took part in the BEN-EAST-project, which is co-financed by the European Commission.
The Nordic Project Fund (NOPEF) has expanded its activities in recent years to also provide support to Nordic companies wishing to establish themselves in Belarus.
The Nordic Environmental Finance Co-operation has also recently decided to expand its activities to cover Belarus.