Open Society Fund-Lithuania resumes activities

“Intellectuals brought together by the OSFL had followed the current issues and sensitively watched the internal and external threats faced by the Lithuanian state and society, and in late 2015 decided take initiative,” the foundation said in a press release.

“The OSFL’s board was elected and its operational strategy was approved at the steering group’s meeting on Jan. 19 of this year,” it said.

Milda Alisauskiene, associate professor at Vytautas Magnus University, became the board’s chairwoman. Irena Veisaitė, the OSFL’s long-time chairwoman, was elected an honorary member.

The OSFL’s latest initiative is to support the establishment and activities of the Vilnius Institute for Political Analysis, a center for public policy analysis. The foundation’s core activities will also include education and information campaigns designed to strengthen the non-governmental sector and pro-European attitudes.

The foundation is launching on April 27 a series of discussions on “Searches for a European Idea”, a long-term program that will bring together Lithuanian, Polish, German and US intellectuals.

The OSFL is an independent, non-profit organization founded in Vilnius in 1990 with support from the US financier and philanthropist George Soros.

According to the press release, the foundation initiated, carried out and supported over 50 education, science, culture, information and civil society development projects and programs between 1990 and 2008, with support amounting to more than 70 million US dollars.