Scholarships awarded through the EBU's Partnership Programme have been judged a great success by participants, according to a report on activity over the past two years.

The scheme, which received generous support from the Open Society Institute (OSI) in 2011 and 2012, finances two kinds of scholarship for selected individuals from EBU Members.

"Track A" enables staff from Members eligible for assistance through the Partnership Programme (previously "Special Assistance Project") to take courses mounted by the Eurovision Academy which their organizations would be otherwise unable to afford. 

"Track B" is designed to harness the EBU's solidarity principle by twinning professionals of two EBU Members in response to a specific need or request. Under the usual model, a qualified and experienced employee from one Member serves as a "mentor" to a "mentee" working in the same area from a Member eligible for assistance through the Partnership Programme.

Of four twinning Track B scholarships awarded so far, two have supported mentoring on archives (GPB Georgia-Czech TV and MKRTV FYR of Macedonia-TRT Turkey) and one on human resources. The fourth was devoted to an online portal proposed by Armenian Radio to put young listeners in touch with each other. The project was conceived and developed in Yerevan and Geneva during 2012. It has recently moved into its development phase after a new co-financing agreement between the EBU and the Armenian Public Radio was signed.

A report to the OSI may be accessed here.

The report states that the Track A scholarships can be "immediately recommended to those broadcasters and individuals who could have never managed to pay for a participation in the Academy seminars."

Trainer evaluations and testimonials from participants showed that the scholarships had an important impact in terms of acquisition of new skills and knowledge and in building new professional contacts and networks. They also had a multiplication effect at organisational level, where the alumni have been able to share newly-acquired expertise with colleagues.

Three of the four Track B scholarships have led to substantial progress and sustainable results, sometimes through synchronisation with related projects and donor initiatives.

Although OSI will not provide any new funding in 2013, the EBU Partnership Programme intends to continue the scholarship scheme with finance from the Partnership Fund.