“The USAID Serbia Grant will facilitate the launch of a fund (a new legal entity or a specialized mechanism with an already officially registered fund) for investments in small and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups, and in support of entrepreneurs,” the initiative description says.
It is about assisting entities that engage in, for example, educational activities or provide products and services that “facilitate the public’s access to quality information and digital literacy skills.”
It is expected that the fund will cooperate with organizations from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
USAID, as follows from the document, is ready to support the work of the fund and provide $5 million for five years.
According to the forecasts of American specialists, other investors will subsequently join the initiative and the capitalization of the fund will grow to $20-25 million.
The Fund, among other things, will have to focus on supporting the media, as well as other entities that directly or indirectly stand for "freedom of information and expression", as well as increase the level of "digital literacy of the population."
In turn, the Foundation's beneficiaries must adhere to "the highest professional and ethical standards", including those set by the International Federation of Journalists.
In January, US plans to fund projects aimed at "developing media literacy" and "fighting propaganda" in North Macedonia were reported.
For the relevant purposes, the American side was ready to allocate no more than $435,000.
Such projects of the United States, according to a number of experts, involve interference in the internal affairs of those countries where they are implemented.