Since the establishment of the Carpathian Foundation, the external environment, by which the creation of the Foundation was motivated and its mission was defined, has profoundly changed. In the border regions of the five countries of Carpathian Euroregion - Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine - civil society organisations (CSOS) were strengthened. In four out of five countries, the peripheral nature was changed by their accession to the EU. The relationship between national and ethnic groups was improved, which was in no small way due to the activities of the Carpathian Foundation. This positive movement, however, present new challenges in the light of which, all the problems emerged from the past or wholly new problems arise - Our Foundation intends to contribute in solving them to the best of its ability. There is no space to take these challenges into account, therefore only a few are mentioned here:
- lagging, marginalized and unexploited regions,
- uneven distribution of funds flowing from the European Union,
- mistrust and low willingness to cooperate.
Based on these new ‘old’ challenges and opportunities, the Carpathian Foundation's five-year strategy was developed in 2015. It focuses on developing the human and community resources of the region for development, as well as strengthening the absorption capacity of the region. The implementation of the strategy is organisationally ensured by the independence and close cooperation of the four members of the International Carpathian Foundation Network (Read more at www.carpathianfoundation.org) . Our website presents programs of the Carpathian Foundation – Hungary counting on all those who wish to contribute to the economic, social and cultural development of North-East Hungary and the Carpathian Euroregion.
Sándor Köles, president, Board of Directors
