The operation of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in the region is provided by the Regional Office for Central Europe (founded in 2002), based in Warsaw, the National Office in Prague (founded in 1990) and, since 2008, the National Office in Kiev.
Regional cooperation and allocation of competence
The Dialogue Forum Europe programme is implemented by all Foundation’s offices in the region. The programme creates – in Warsaw, Prague, as well as in Kiev – a platform for discussion on key European topics. Those include the direction of the Union’s internal reforms and the Common Foreign and Security Policy, as well as the issues of Europe’s energy security and the challenges of the Eastern neighbourhood, including the Union’s relations with Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
The Warsaw office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation is responsible for implementation of the regional programme Gender Democracy/Women’s Politics, which operates in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine propagating the existing equality strategies of the European Union and initiating and supporting the process of creating future-oriented strategies for equal treatment of women and men.
The Energy Policy and Climate Change regional programme conducted by the Prague Office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation initiates and supports the regional discussion about the challenges of energy security and climate change in the European and global context. Actions for a long-term energy and climate policy in Europe and the region, promotion of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, as well as discussion about secure energy delivery without resorting to atomic energy, constitute the key elements of the programme.
The Democratic Ukraine programme implemented by the Kiev Office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation supports the process of democratic transformation in Ukraine and participation of the civil society in this process. The permanent political crisis and citizen’s disappointment in the development of the situation in Ukraine after the “Orange Revolution” bring up questions about the state of democracy and the deficits of the Ukrainian political elites, as well as about the chances of bringing Ukraine closer to the European Union, not only in the areas of law or economy, but in the area of common European values as well. The challenges connected with the development of democracy in Ukraine constitute a point of reference for the Foundation’s own actions, and for the support it provides to Ukrainian non-governmental organisations.