The NGO Block Grant and the Scholarship Fund in Hungary were launched in mid-July 2012, and were operated based upon a trilateral agreement signed between the Swiss Donor, the Hungarian National Coordination Unit and the consortium led by Ökotárs - Hungarian Environmental Partnership Foundation. The grant manager was selected through an open tendering process. The other three members of the consortium implementing the Grant were Autonomia Foundation, the Foundation for the Development of Democratic Rights and Carpathian Foundation Hungary. During the programme, 111 projects received support totaling almost 1.3 billion HUF (5.4 million CHF) in two grant rounds. From among the 102 projects supported in the NGO Block Grant, 67 were implemented in the thematic area of provision of social services with special emphasis on the social integration of Roma, and 35 in responses to environmental concerns. The small projects represented a broad diversity, but their common feature was that they were implemented for and involving people living in marginalised areas in the target regions: children and adults, villagers and city dwellers, Roma and non-Roma – they engaged or had impacted the life of tens of thousands of people in total. Through the 9 projects of the Scholarship Fund, 679 children received financial and in-kind of support (tutoring, skills development and community experiences).

At the closing conference on 12 October, the results and lessons learned were summarized by the supported organisations. The event was opened by Ulrich Stürzinger, Head of Division at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The Swiss Ambassador to Hungary, Mr. Jean-Francois Paroz has also attended the closing event. The opening speech was followed by the overall evaluation of the NGO programme and presentations of a few successful projects.

In his address, Ulrich Stürzinger declared that based on the experience in Switzerland, “the Non-governmental organizations play a crucial role in many aspects. NGOs can mobilize voices which for one reason or another might not be able to make themselves heard in the democratic political processes. NGOs are able to bring into action human resources, often on a voluntary basis, which otherwise would not be available. The same can be true for financial resources which NGOs are able to mobilize. The Civil Society Organizations are not opposed to the public sector, they complement it to the benefit of the society. I remember many issues in Switzerland where the forerunners or the first “lobbyists” have been NGOs, and in the meantime the State has adopted their approaches and proposed solutions; I am thinking for instance of the system of home care for the elderly, of environmental standards for food and in the industry, and also of measures to improve safety in road traffic.”