EED works predominantly in the European Neighbourhood (Eastern Partnership, Middle East and North Africa), the Western Balkans and Turkey. The countries eligible for support in the eastern neighbourhood are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The countries in the southern neighbourhood are: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia.

In 2015, the EED mandate was extended to enable provision of grants for applications from countries in the area adjacent to the neighbourhood depending on needs, available funds, and political priorities. These include: Bahrain, Chad, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In 2018, EED further expanded its operations to include Turkey and the Western Balkans - Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina,Kosovo, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. EED may potentially consider applications from other countries in the future, depending on available funding.

It is not a requirement to be located in one of these countries, but proposed activities should generally have a strong involvement of actors from these countries and target the populations in those countries.

Learn more about the context and challenges facing our grantees as well as EED’s approach and added value in each country.