On 20 July 2017, the East European Neighbourhood (EEN) office of the Netherlands Institute of Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) has become an independent, locally owned and locally rooted NGO. The name of the new entity is “The Eastern European Centre for Multiparty Democracy” (EECMD).

The transformation has its roots in an important guiding principle within NIMD: local ownership. Based on this principle, NIMD works together with local partners to ensure its programmes reflect local demands.

The transition of the NIMD EEN country office into the Eastern European Centre for Multiparty Democracy (EECMD) is the ultimate manifestation of this principle. The change reflects a shared aim to strengthen and sustain locally rooted organisations to implement democratisation programmes independently and with greater autonomy. Local identity and ownership will allow the new organisation to diversify both its funding base and programmatic portfolio and become more flexible in responding to the needs in its field and the area of work.

NIMD’s regional office’s transformation into an independent, sustainable, locally led and independent organisation, striving towards the same goals and adhering to the same principles as NIMD, represents the crowning achievement of the organisation’s efforts to build strong local institutions that are able to assume greater ownership over political development and democratisation efforts. To NIMD, this represents a mature state of democracy assistance and an important accomplishment of its work in the region.

Of course, this achievement would not have been possible without the strong support of crucial donors such as the Embassy of the Netherlands in Georgia, the British Embassy, The Canadian Embassy, the OSCE and others. NIMD thanks them for their support to strengthen free, multiparty and democratic political systems in the region.

To reflect the changing relationship and to express their continued commitment to pursuing their shared goals and joint programmes, NIMD and EEN reiterate their partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding based on shared principles and agreements. NIMD will continue its work in this region, implementing its programmes through, and in close coordination with, EECMD.