Supporting & Sharing

Supporting

The BEARR Trust supports civil society organisations (CSOs) primarily through the allocation of small grants. Our grants might be small, but they go a long way. Each year we allocate matched funds to further grass roots initiatives which seek to address health and welfare issues affecting local communities. Through our small grants we seek to support innovation, imagination, and independence. By taking a flexible and light-touch approach we allow for difference, and encourage experimentation with new ideas. This in turn supports our partners to be more resilient over the long term.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, BEARR strengthened its support for CSOs in Ukraine and Moldova by launching an emergency funding scheme to fund the distribution of humanitarian aid. In 2025, the scheme was redesigned to shift the focus from emergency relief to sustaining the efforts of local organisations working on the front lines of recovery.

_{Participants of Nurjolber’s project to promote women’s entrepreneurship setting up a traditional Yurt. SGS 2020, Kyrgyzstan.}

BEARR also aims to support through evaluation and follow-up with partners once funds have been allocated. We see peer evaluation as an important area of experimentation and innovation. As part of this, we encourage grantees to be as aware of their accountability to the communities in which they work as they are to BEARR as providers of funds. All of this feeds back into what we share, through promoting learning and experience.

_{Beekeeping training for refugees in the community, Improve Your Village, Kotayk Province, Armenia. SGS 2016.}

Finally, through all that BEARR does, we ultimately aim to support inclusive communities in our region — where the vulnerable and marginalised are brought in, where mental and physical suffering are relieved, and holistic health and wellbeing are promoted.

_{Creating a guide for girls to understand and combat sexual harassment, NGO Education Center “Tolerspace”, Kyiv, Ukraine. SGS 2019}

Find out more about how we support via our Small Grants Scheme and our Emergency Appeal for Ukraine and Moldova.

BEARR shares connections, experience, ideas, knowledge, good practice, and lessons learned with and among our partners – whether they be civil society organisations, academics, research institutions, professionals, or students. Sharing flows in many directions: we want to learn from the experiences of our partners in the region; encourage connections among partners within and between countries; and create opportunities for UK-based NGOs and organisations to share their perspectives with our regional partners.

Through sharing, we aim to empower local leaders, build local capacity, and encourage advocates to be part of the solution for the health and welfare issues faced in our region.

_{Regional conference in Lviv, Ukraine (2016)}

BEARR is keen to help organisations working in the region to identify potential partners. We maintain a database of NGOs working in the region and our office can provide you with contacts.

In the section “News from the Region” BEARR republishes a range of articles from and about health and social welfare issues and about the situation and role of civil society in general in the region. These are taken from a wide range of publications. Any opinions expressed in articles, reports or news items we publish are those of the originators and are not necessarly shared by The BEARR Trust.

Find out more about how we share via our Events & Lectures, Conferences, News from the Region, and NGO contacts database.