East Central Europe/Eurasia Regional

Agora Central Europe - Association for Democracy and Culture

$24,100
To increase youth activism and leadership skills in Georgia by launching a pilot civic education project "On the Way to Parliament." In partnership with Tbilisi-based Civitas Georgica, the Prague-based Agora will organize 19 civic education trainings, hold a debate competition, and translate a debating manual into Georgian and Russian. Approximately 180 students and teachers will participate in the program.

American Center for International Labor Solidarity

$350,036
To address fundamental worker and human rights violations experienced by Tajik and Kyrgyz migrant workers in Russia and to improve the capacity of Kyrgyz and Kazakh trade unions. The Solidarity Center will reach out to Tajik unions and support reform-minded union leaders and NGOs. It will also assist Kyrgyz and Kazakh unions to become more democratic civil society organizations and improve internal union democracy and communication.

Center for International Private Enterprise

$79,041
To bring together business associations, think tanks, and other private sector organizations from across the region to share lessons learned and build an electronic network to disseminate information on free market democratic reform in Eurasia. CIPE will enhance access to information on economic reform for those who speak Russian as a primary or secondary language.

Center for International Private Enterprise

$271,580
To strengthen the capacity of business support organizations in Azerbaijan and Armenia for effective participation in policymaking. Through a training program, CIPE and its regional office in Romania will assist pro-reform business organizations in the two countries to become stronger membership-based and service-oriented associations with advocacy at the core of membership services.

Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF)

$48,410
To conduct a public education and information campaign on Euro-Atlantic integration. With its Slovak partner, the Institute for Public Affairs, the Kyiv-based DIF will stimulate debate in the media and inform Ukrainian experts and the general public about the implications, benefits, costs and consequences of integration. The project will focus on opinion makers and respected analysts within Ukraine’s think tank community, particularly those based in the country’s southern and eastern regions.

East European Democratic Center (EEDC)

$94,186
To help assist local non-state newspapers in eastern, southern, and western Ukraine. The Warsaw-based EEDC will organize a train-the-trainers seminar and provide partial support for training programs on basic newspaper journalism and management. Eight to thirteen small grants totaling $41,000 will be made to improve the content and increase the print runs of the best of these newspapers.

East European Democratic Center (EEDC)

$84,060
To foster the development of the independent local press in Central Asia. The Warsaw-based EEDC will assist newspapers in Kyrgyzstan’s Talas region and Tajikistan’s Khujand region, and will also expand its training program to Kyrgyzstan’s Issykkul region. The focus will be on helping participants to understand the democracy-building role of the local press and how they can build secure, viable, independent newspapers. Workshops for journalists, editors and publishers will be conducted in both countries.

Education Society of Malopolska (MTO)

$41,000
To expose Azeri students at the elementary, high school and university levels to the values and skills of grassroots activism. The Poland-based MTO will introduce two civic education programs successfully implemented in Central and Eastern Europe. It will organize a series of training workshops, internships and a seminar to develop a local capacity to conduct and continue the Public Achievement and Academy for Young Social Entrepreneurs civic education programs.

European Institute for Democracy (EID)

$39,590
To improve the leadership skills of 12 promising women activists from Ukraine. The women, selected from political party branches and NGOs based in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Odessa, will take part in a seven-day training and study visit to Poland. Following the visits, the participants will work with Warsaw-based EID to develop short- and long-term strategies designed to advance their leadership positions.

European Institute for Democracy (EID)

$38,211
To foster an informed debate on establishing a new institution in Poland to oversee crossborder democracy-building activities. The Warsaw-based EID will collect and translate key materials on models of democracy promotion agencies; convene a two-day seminar that will bring together 15 foreign experts from government and private democracy-building organizations with 40 representatives of the Polish government; and publish the conference materials and a position paper on the discussion.

Experts without Borders

$17,720
To train former and current prodemocratic local government deputies in Belarus. Prior to the fall 2008 parliamentary elections, an Estonian local government expert will conduct 12 training workshops in 12 locations in Belarus. The workshops will cover basic local government theory and practice, important local government documents like the European Charter of Local Self-Government, and Estonia’s local government reforms from 1988 to 2007.

Foundation for Education for Democracy

$110,000*
To continue and expand its civic education and training program at the grassroots level in Russia. The Warsaw-based Foundation will oversee at least 28 train-the-trainer and basic training workshops for more than 600 activist teachers and NGO leaders from the Rostov-on-Don, Kaliningrad and Samara regions.

Foundation for Enterprise Promotion “Pogezania”

$52,200 *
To continue a program of building cooperative relationships between civil society and local government entities in northern Poland and Russia’s Kaliningrad oblast. Together with the Kaliningrad Youth Organization “Tsunami,” the Poland-based Foundation will conduct five workshops, oversee a crossborder study visit from northern Poland to Kaliningrad, publish a Polish-Russian newspaper, and hold a small grants competition for civic initiatives in Kaliningrad.

International Republican Institute

$350,000
To train parliamentarians and parliamentary staffers from Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in the development of parliamentary procedures and institutions. As all three countries work for Euro-Atlantic integration, IRI and its local partner, the Vilnius-based Baltic-Eurasia Inter-Parliamentary Training Institute, will continue to function as a key intermediary between the EU, Lithuania, and these emerging democracies on the borders of Europe.

Institute of Public Affairs

$27,950*
To conduct a crossborder fellowship program for young Russian think tank analysts and NGO activists. The Warsaw-based Institute will collaborate with the St. Petersburg Center for Humanities and Political Studies “Strategia” to select, train and share experiences with eight experts working in the field of democratic transitions and human rights in Russia. Russian participants will complete a 12-day study visit to Poland, publish a policy paper, and attend a final seminar in St. Petersburg.

Lion Society

$90,168 *
To foster crossborder democracy-building program with Russia. The Lviv-based Society will organize two meetings of Ukrainian and Russian NGOs to plan joint programs, make 60 short-term travel grants to promote international partnerships, award 10 small grants for joint programs, publish a brochure on crossborder programs, and expand its website on international programs.

Medium Orient Information Agency

$32,400 *
To increase domestic and foreign understanding of the crisis in Russia’s North Caucasus. The Prague-based Agency will continue to produce its respected Caucasus Times website and expand the site’s In-Depth selection of articles, analysis and interviews on important developments in the region (www.caucasustimes.com). Each month, the site will feature 15 original articles and 12 interviews by noted contributors on important ethnic, political, legal, social, economic and religious issues.

Medium Orient Information Agency

$29,216 *
To carry out and publicize a series of independent public opinion polls in Russia’s North Caucasus. The Prague-based Agency will conduct 11 surveys on important social, political and economic issues in seven North Caucasus republics. Booklets containing the results will be distributed in Moscow and the North Caucasus.

MEMO 98

$51,274
To monitor Azerbaijan’s October 2008 presidential election and develop an indigenous media monitoring capacity there. Working with the Baku-based Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety, the Slovakia-based MEMO 98 will conduct a needs assessment mission to Azerbaijan, organize a one-week media monitoring training program for ten Azerbaijani activists in Baku, and oversee a two-month monitoring program prior to the elections.

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)

$305,475
To conduct training seminars for political and civic activists from the Eurasia region in Poland in cooperation with the European Institute for Democracy (EID). The study missions would enable party and civic activists to meet with their counterparts in Poland and learn techniques on organization building, advocacy and election organizing skills, and coalition building. The program would also strengthen EID’s organizational capacity and long-term development.

People in Need Foundation

$68,492
To increase the skills of political leaders in Moldova and promote the development of civil society in the breakaway region of Transnistria. The project will include a six-day visit to the Czech Republic for eight to ten prodemocratic Moldovan mayors for study, training, and networking; awarding a series of small grants to Transnistrian NGOs; and a seven-day trip to the Czech Republic for ten Transnistrian activists.

People in Peril Association (PIPA)

$36,157
To strengthen the skills of journalists in Moldova. The PIPA will adapt eight case studies of investigative journalism stories that played a key role in opposing authoritarianism and promoting reform in Slovakia. The case studies will be used in a series of trainings on investigative journalism to be conducted by Slovak journalists in Chisinau, to be followed by a study visit to Bratislava and meetings with relevant Slovak media.

Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation

$87,446
To carry out a desktop publishing training and equipment support program for representatives of prodemocracy NGOs and independent newspapers in Eurasia. The Warsaw-based Foundation will train at least 28 activists and equip at least 14 organizations from Russia, Belarus, Moldova and the Caucasus.

Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation

$68,850
To conduct a crossborder media training program for independent journalists from Eurasia. The Warsaw-based Foundation will invite practitioners for media-related internships in Poland, where they will receive practical training and meet with relevant groups, activists, and government officials. This year’s program will place special emphasis on investigative journalism and the legal protection of journalists.

Prague Watchdog

$51,800
To promote human rights, humanitarian assistance and freedom of information in Russia’s North Caucasus. Prague Watchdog will continue operating its website (www.watchdog.cz), a leading source of information on the political, military, economic and humanitarian situation in Chechnya, Ingushetia and other North Caucasus republics.

Rebirth of Crimea Foundation (RCF)

$38,963
To promote civic activism in rural Crimea. The RCF, in cooperation with the Poland-based Foundation for a Democratic East, will establish multiethnic parent teacher associations, conduct 60 training workshops, and assist school newspapers and student governments in 20 rural high schools in Ukraine’s Crimea. Ten organizations will be awarded computer equipment to further their work.

Slovene Philanthropy

$61,616
To implement a civic education and activism program for primary and secondary school students in Russia’s North Ossetia. Slovene Philanthropy and its local partner, the Regional NGO Center “Dostizhenia” (Achievement), will organize one basic and one advanced training course for 40 teacher-mentors. The mentors will train approximately 600 pupils from 15 schools in voluntarism and oversee their public service in schools, hospitals, NGOs and local communities.

Transitions Online (TOL)

$63,492
To expand and improve Internet reporting in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. The TOL program will include a two-week training and study visit in Prague for nine Central Asian journalists, a three-day training in Dushanbe for 20 Tajik and other Central Asian journalists, and two distance learning programs for 40 journalists from the region on investigative journalism and journalism ethics.

Transitions Online (TOL)

$45,985
To launch a “new media” project in Azerbaijan. Five young media activists will be recruited, participate in an online course on blogging, attend a training workshop in Tbilisi, and launch a group blog in Azerbaijan. The Prague-based TOL and the Azeri team will conduct five training and outreach workshops to expand the team and publicize the blog in Baku, Ganja and three other regional cities. Finally, the group blog will integrated into TOL’s online magazine (www.tol.cz) and international blogging site (http://blogs.tol.org).

Transitions Online (TOL)

$34,456
To support “new media” initiatives in Georgia. The Prague-based TOL, in partnership with the Caucasus School of Journalism and Media Management, will carry out a series of training workshops and practical activities that will create a new team of citizen journalists working on a unique blogging platform. A guide to blogging will also be translated into Georgian and a series of outreach activities conducted.

Youth Human Rights Group - Kharkiv

$35,000
To develop the NGO capacity and promote crossborder networking of youth activists in Eurasia. The Youth Human Rights Group – Kharkiv will expand its capacity as a resource center by providing technical, operational, informational, educational, and solidarity support to youth organizations, initiatives and individual activists. The Ukraine-based Center will support and strengthen its network of 150 youth groups from throughout Eurasia.