Daphne Toolkit

The Daphne Toolkit – An active resource from the Daphne Programme

A brief history of Daphne


The Daphne Initiative was launched in May 1997, as an one-year funding line of 3 million ecus to fund NGO projects that support victims of violence and combat the violence against women, children and young people. It was created as a response from the Commission to the events of 1996 that had shaken Europe and galvanised public and political opinion. The discovery of the bodies of a number of missing girls in premises in Belgium in late summer 1996 raised questions about what Europe could do to protect children and women from those who wished to abuse or exploit them for profit.


The one-year Daphne Initiative of 1997 struck a chord with NGOs and response to the two calls for proposals was high. As a result, funding for the Initiative was renewed in 1998 (increased to 5 million ecus) and in 1999. The Daphne Programme 2000-2003 continued the work of the Initiative, with funding of 20 million Euros over four years. It was followed by the Daphne II Programme 2004-2006 with an average annual budget of 10 million Euros and then by the Daphne III programme (2007-2013) with an average annual budget of 16,7 million Euros.


The Daphne programme continues in the period 2014-2020, as one part of the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme.


The Daphne Toolkit


The Daphne Toolkit is a rich repository, not only of project descriptions, but also of reports, studies, tools and awareness-raising and training materials. These are supplemented by contact details of the project partners and links to their websites.


The Daphne Toolkit is currently under revamp and update. The aim of the Commission is to update the Toolkit with information about all projects implemented with Daphne funding.