Renewed Open Society Fund-Lithuania to focus on boosting societal resilience

Milda Ališauskienė, the OSFL board chairwoman, says that the foundation, which was launched after Lithuania regained independence in 1990 and closed in 2008, is resuming its activities at the invitation of Irena Veisaitė, its honorary chairwoman, in order to rethink the key threats to society, such as social inequality, low confidence in public institutions, corruption, nepotism and media illiteracy.

Sandra Adomavičiūtė, the OSFL director, says that the OSFL’s activities will cover not only non-governmental organizations set up by the foundation, but also other successfully operating human rights and other NGOs.

The OSFL will focus on the following three areas of activity: promotion of a resilient society, a rethink and analysis of the EU idea, and monitoring and analysis of public policies.

Support from the US financier and philanthropist George Soros, at 700,000 US dollars annually on average, will ensure the renewed OSFL’s activities in the first three years, At a later stage, the foundation should manage on its own by using funds provided for the state for NGO projects.

The OSFL says that it 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 in total.