The Minorities, Accountability, Rights, Independence and Organizational Development programme, more fondly known as MARIO, was held in a 3 day event (18-20 march 2024) hosted by our Europe office in Budapest, Hungary.
The MARIO programme aims to support 30 grassroots, rural civil society organizations per year on projects relating to minority rights, rule of law, and democratic change through sub-granting. The ethos of the programme is to address the ever-present gap for funding for small organizations, especially in the face of shrinking civic space, weaponized bureaucracy, harassment and growing nationalism. Funded by the European Union, MARIO is more than just a grant: it offers training, networking and advocacy opportunities and also provides pro bono legal services and expertise in different fields.
This year, 30 organisations were supported from Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and Lithuania but will expand to Romania, Estonia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic in the coming years. Grassroots civil society organisations in these countries operate in challenging circumstances, including high levels of poverty and discrimination as well as the harassment and technical and financial restrictions that are the consequences of a shrinking civic space. MARIO aims to strengthen the resilience and capacity of these organizations to ensure they can continue to play their vital role in society.
In addition to the learning and exchange, a partner organisation brought pro-bono lawyers to give extensive presentations on EU mechanisms and how NGOs such as those present in the room can access and influence them. Lively discussions on the opportunities that these organisations can avail took place during those sessions.
This event was funded by the European Union and Central European Initiative (CEI).
For more information: poli@cei.int; tamas.buchler@minorityrights.org
