The BEARR Trust focuses on health and social welfare issues, with particular emphasis on care of vulnerable groups and reform of the way the state deals with or looks after them. We are an English-registered charity, based in London and managed by a number of trustees with long experience and extensive knowledge of the countries of the region. BEARR has many partners among small and medium-sized voluntary and charitable organisations in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA).

BEARR works with partners in: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Over 15 years since the Small Grants Scheme was first created in 2006, we have supported 121 projects and disbursed over £300,000 in grants to the region. In recent years we have funded projects concerned with violence against women and girls, the employability of young people with mental and physical disabilities, mental health issues, vulnerable older people, and socially isolated groups, to name but a few.

The main focus of our work is:

• supporting organisations committed to reform in the health and social sectors;
• facilitating networking and exchange of information;
• encouraging sharing of experience and learning;
• helping organisations working in the region to identify potential partners;
• providing seed funding to help organisations to launch or extend partnerships;
• lobbying with and on behalf of organisations that share our objectives.

Find out more about our current aims and action plan.