East East Beyond Borders supports collaborative initiatives of nongovernmental and civil society organizations in two or more countries.
The program was created in 1991 for the Soros foundations in Central and Eastern Europe and offered civil society actors opportunities for international cooperation in the context of post-socialist transition. “People should travel, meet each other, and exchange opinions and experiences,” George Soros noted at the time. “There is so much that people in Central and Eastern Europe can offer to each other; so many ways in which they can help each other. They should engage in processes of transition together. This region should be alive.”
Since then, East East Beyond Borders has expanded across the globe with resources available to nongovernmental and civil society organizations in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America.
The program promotes the movement of ideas by convening people to create communities of interest and to engage in practical collaborative actions. In addition to local human resources and locally determined content, initiatives that receive program support are based on:
- information: using knowledge, experiences, expertise, best practices, and lessons learned
- innovation: prompting new thinking and ways of communicating, and devising alternative approaches and perspectives
- collaboration: developing and sustaining mutually beneficial partnerships for social impact
East East Beyond Borders supports long-term initiatives within themes encompassing good governance and public policy, rights protection and social inclusion, and global perspectives and international dialogue.