"The Open Society Institute (OSI), a private operating and grantmaking foundation, aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to support the rule of law, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, OSI works to build alliances across borders and continents on issues such as combating corruption and rights abuses. More
About George Soros

George Soros is founder and chairman of the Open Society Institute and the Soros foundations network. He is also the chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC."

OSI-Budapest serves as the main hub for OSI initiatives outside of the United States. It develops and implements programs in the areas of educational, social, and legal reform, and assists the other organizations in the Soros foundations network by providing administrative, financial, and technical support. Along with OSI-New York, it administers network programs, which address specific issue areas on a network-wide basis.

OSI-Budapest also supports a variety of other initiatives throughout Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, with an emphasis on human rights, ethnic and minority issues, civil society, and women's issues. The office is located in the Central European University (CEU) complex in downtown Budapest, and its programs draw upon CEU's resources.

Source: OSI website, as accessed in March 2014,