About DDD Southeast Europe
A multi-stakeholder foundation for Southeast Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.
A permanent regional table, by design.
Southeast Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean are one of the world's most strategically connected regions. Trade flows, energy infrastructure, migration corridors, cultural networks, and security questions cross national borders here every day. Yet the institutional architecture for working on those questions together — across countries, across sectors, and outside short-term political cycles — has remained fragmented.
DDD Southeast Europe was established to address that gap. We are an independent, non-profit foundation that convenes governments, business, academia, and civil society around a shared regional agenda for democracy and development. We are not a chamber of commerce, not a think tank in the academic sense, not a government body, and not a programme of a non-regional foundation. We are a permanent regional table.
The foundation's name carries the work. Dialogue is the method — structured, on the record where useful, off the record where necessary. Democracy is the framework within which we operate and which we strengthen by making cooperation visible and evidence-based. Development is the outcome — practical, cross-border, measurable.
The region we serve.
The foundation's geographic scope is Southeast Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean — a region that includes the Western Balkans, the broader Black Sea littoral, Greece and Cyprus, and the wider Eastern Mediterranean basin. We work with partners across this scope, including in the 14 countries named below, with attention to the wider Eastern Mediterranean.
We chose this scope deliberately. “The Balkans” alone would exclude the Eastern Mediterranean. “Eastern Europe” alone would exclude Greece and the southern Mediterranean dimension. “The region” without specification dilutes accountability. The full scope — SEE + East Med — names the work the foundation is responsible for.
Eight objectives, one portfolio.
The foundation's work is organised around eight strategic objectives. Each objective shapes a portfolio of projects, events, and publications. They are deliberately operational rather than aspirational.
Regional agenda for economic cooperation, innovation, and cross-border business connectivity.
Build the working agenda that links national economic priorities into shared regional opportunities — including how innovation, regulation, and EU funds flow across the region.
Cross-border economic cooperation.
Practical mechanisms — sector clusters, investment matchmaking, regulatory dialogue — that turn shared markets into shared work.
Energy dialogue and the green transition.
Regional cooperation on energy security, interconnection, and the policy and investment shifts driving the transition. Evidence-based, cross-sectoral.
Cultural diplomacy and heritage protection.
Programmes that treat culture and heritage as a regional asset and a diplomatic tool — including dedicated Cultural Diplomacy Weeks in regional cities.
Tourism networks and joint regional branding.
Cooperation between tourism operators, regional authorities, and creative industries on how the region presents itself externally and how value flows internally.
Regional think-tank infrastructure.
Strengthening the network of think tanks, research centres, and policy units that produce regional analysis — including joint publications and shared methodologies.
Evidence-based policy recommendations.
Policy Reports, the Annual Geopolitical Outlook, and Regional Indexes — produced to inform decisions, not to advocate.
Trust-building between governments, business, investors, and innovation hubs.
The underlying objective. Every other objective depends on whether the people doing the work trust each other across borders and across sectors. This is what convening is for.
Three principles, applied consistently.
Three principles shape how the foundation operates.
Multi-stakeholder by design.
Every meaningful regional question — energy, economic cooperation, cultural heritage, democratic resilience — sits across government, business, academia, and civil society at the same time. The foundation's Board, Advisory Council, and membership composition reflect this; our events and publications draw on all four sectors as a matter of method, not as a balance exercise.
Neutral and non-state.
DDD is registered as an independent non-profit foundation. We are not owned by, funded by, or politically aligned with any government. We do not lobby for a particular line. We convene; we do not advocate.
Convening over speaking.
Forums, Roundtables, the Leadership Academy, and the Cultural Diplomacy Weeks are formats for getting work done between people, not stages for transmitting messages. Our publications — Policy Reports, the Annual Geopolitical Outlook, Regional Indexes — exist to give those convenings shared facts to work from.
How the foundation is organised.
The foundation is governed by a Board of Directors of 15 members drawn from across the region, supported by an Advisory Council of up to 20 senior figures from politics, business, academia, and civil society. Day-to-day operations are run by an Executive Secretariat based in Bucharest (foundation headquarters) and Athens.
Beyond the secretariat, the foundation operates through Regional Chapters in Athens, Istanbul, Chișinău, and Sofia, with capacity to extend as membership and partnerships grow. Chapters host Roundtables, coordinate with local partners, and act as the foundation's point of contact for regional initiatives.
- 15
Board of Directors
Drawn from across the region.
- 20
Advisory Council
Senior figures from politics, business, academia, civil society.
- 2
Executive Secretariat
Bucharest (HQ) and Athens.
- 4
Regional Chapters
Athens, Istanbul, Chișinău, Sofia.
How we are funded.
The foundation's funding is deliberately mixed. No single source represents more than a defined share of total annual funding, to protect institutional independence and editorial neutrality. Funding sources include:
Membership contributions — Individual and legal-entity adhesions.
Foundation partnerships — Long-term cooperation with peer foundations.
EU programme funding — Where eligible, Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, Interreg, and NDICI instruments.
Corporate partnerships — Sector and project-specific.
Event revenues and sponsorships — Disclosed per event.
Detailed annual funding disclosures will be published as part of the foundation's annual reporting cycle, beginning with the first complete fiscal year.
Institutional partners
To be announced
Institutional partnerships with European institutions, regional development banks, and peer foundations are in active conversation and will be announced as agreements are signed.
One table. Across borders, sectors, and capitals.
DDD Southeast Europe is built by its members. If you work on the region — in government, business, academia, civil society, or as a journalist or researcher who covers it — there is a seat at the table.