The Clearing House Advisory Board

The Advisory Board (AB) of the Clearing House was established in December 2012. The Clearing House project is implemented by the Office for a Democratic Belarus in cooperation with the Office for European Expertise and Communication. It is aimed at building the organisational capacity of Belarusian civil society organisations and enhancing their cooperation, while improving coordination among Belarusian civil society organizations and the European Union, European donors and international implementers.

The Advisory Board is created to review and analyse current state of affairs and tendencies in 13 thematic sectors (social issues, education, gender, youth, think tanks, human rights, regional and local development, small and medium entrepreneurship, culture, mass media, ecology, energy, international relations). Its role is to elaborate on sectoral priorities and develop recommendations for international donors/ implementer groups to fine-tune their policies and program priorities in relation to Belarusian CSOs.

With the formation of the Advisory Board, the Clearing House suggests a platform for communication and coordination of activities among Belarusian CSOs in various sectors. On the one hand, experts that compose the Advisory Board serve as focal points in their sectors to collect and communicate sectoral priorities and recommendations, and on the other hand, are able to present the necessary information for the international donors/implementers regarding sectoral developments.

Advisory Board functions:

- Exchange of information about existing EU- and EaP-bound projects in different sectors that will lead to more coordination and cross-sectorial exchange of knowledge and know-how;
- Analysis and elaboration of recommendations on sectoral priorities based on the needs assessment in various thematic sectors;
- Presentation,  dissemination and advocacy of developed sectoral recommendations and project key findings among broad range of domestic and international stakeholders.