Traineeship for Grantmaking support (Western Balkans)

The European Endowment for Democracy (EED) is a grant-giving organisation based in Brussels.

EED’s goal is to provide flexible support to democracy activists, complementing other EU and member state democracy support programmes. EED provides context-based, demand driven support based on a principle of fostering democracy and facilitating initiatives of local actors. Its geographic mandate covers the European neighbourhood and beyond.

EED seeks a trainee for a twelve-month traineeship for grant–making Support (Western Balkans). The trainee will assist in the EED grant-making contractual, financial and administrative process. Proficiency in one of the languages of the Western Balkans is required.

Responsibilities

• Assist in preparation of grant agreements, addenda and other standard contractual documentation;

• Assist in the review of financial reports (including detailed checking of invoices and other financial supporting documents) to ensure compliance with EED requirements and draft feedbacks to beneficiaries (mostly in Western Balkan languages and English) as well as internal memos;

• Translate brief texts from his/her mother tongue to English and vice-versa;

• Update the database and maintain the archive;

• Assist with other administrative tasks of the Grants team.

Requirements

• Knowledge of the grant-making cycle and experience in administrative work and detailed assessment of financial reports strongly preferred.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel necessary.

• High drive for detail and accuracy.

• Proficiency in one of the languages of the Western Balkans required, in addition to English.

Start date: 1 July or 1 September 2026, duration: one year

Should you be interested in a position and meet the criteria, please submit your CV (Europass format), motivation letter and contact information for two referees. Applications should be made online using the “apply” panel on this page. After successfully submitting your application, you will receive an automatic email confirming receipt of your application. Please no phone calls/emails/letters.

The application deadline is Monday, 6 April 2026 at midnight Brussels time.

Unfortunately, we cannot respond to every application, therefore only short-listed candidates will be contacted. The information provided in the application is subject to EU legislation on protection of personal data and confidentiality of information. Applications will be subjected to pre-employment screening & vetting, including criminal records check.

Terms and Conditions

The expected level of monthly remuneration is around €1,900 net per month.

Workplace: EED Secretariat, located in the centre of Brussels, Belgium.

The contractual relations with the trainee will be regulated by a Convention d'immersion professionnelle (a professional immersion agreement under Belgian Law). Citizenship of an EU Member State or residency in the European Union is preferred, but not mandatory.

EED requires all trainees to be less than 30 years old.

Non-EU nationals must fulfil the following criteria at the time of selection in order to be eligible for receiving a Belgian work permit:

• Have a university degree which is not older than 24 months or be currently enrolled at a university in a third country (non-EU)

or

• Be enrolled at a Belgian university and be in possession of an Annex 15 or residence card A that allows you unlimited access to the Belgian labour market