This anniversary publication marks ten years of EED grant-making. Over the past decade, EED has awarded nearly 2,200 grants to democracy activists and independent media — from just 27 grants in 2013 to 379 grants awarded in 2022.
EED was set up to provide flexible support to democracy activists, complementing other EU and member-state democracy-support programmes. Over the past ten years, EED has provided context-based, demand-driven support, and has fostered and facilitated initiatives by local actors
in 34 countries throughout the European neighbourhood and beyond. EED has become a particularly important actor in cases of shrinking space for civil society, and it regularly takes significant political and operational risks.
