2009 annual report

Crossborder

Association for International Affairs (AMO)
$37,735
To increase awareness of human rights and conflict resolution skills among police in conflict and ethnically mixed regions of Georgia. The Prague-based AMO, along with its local partner in Georgia, will organize a series of six three-day training seminars for 90 police officers in sensitive regions, and prepare a handbook on these issues for local trainers.

Association for International Affairs (AMO)
$35,498
To conduct a series of study and training visits for Belarusian political and civic activists in the Czech Republic. The Prague-based AMO will design a one-month program in democracy-building knowledge and skills for six young activists. The three most promising participants will spend an additional month acquiring more advanced training and experience through an internship with a related Czech NGO or political institution. Finally, one to three projects designed by the activists will be funded and the projects implemented by the participants’ organizations.

Center for East European Policy Studies
$54,370
To conduct, produce and publicize a study on the foreign policy implications of the Kremlin’s policy of defending Russian citizens living abroad in the post-Soviet space. The Latvia-based Center will organize roundtable discussions on the report’s conclusions and recommendations in each of the partner countries and a final international conference in Riga.

Community Change Center (CCC)
$33,342
To enhance the self-government skills of activists from condominium communities in Belarus’ Vitebsk, Minsk, Hrodno, Gomel, Brest and Mogilev regions. The Vilnius-based CCC will organize a three-day study and training visit to Lithuania for 25 community leaders and journalists from Belarus as well as produce and distribute 1,000 copies of a self-government magazine for condominium communities.

Democratic Society East Foundation
$59,840
To strengthen independent local newspapers in Georgia. The Warsaw-based Foundation will conduct a two-week visit to 12 editorial offices to assess needs and provide consultations to address challenges confronting the publications. Twelve representatives from the offices will travel to Poland for a four-day training seminar at an editorial house. Participants will develop action plans to improve and strengthen their newspapers’ roles in local communities.

East European Democratic Center (EEDC)
$79,940
To foster the development of the local independent press in Central Asia. The Warsaw-based EEDC will continue to assist newspapers in Kyrgyzstan’s Talas and Issykul regions and in the Ferghana Valley, and continue its program in Tajikistan’s Khujand region. The Poland-based EEDC will hold a small grants and equipment competitions, as well as training workshops to help several dozen local newspapers become more stable and financially independent.

East European Democratic Center (EEDC)
$65,675
To continue assisting the regional independent media in Belarus. The Poland-based EEDC will award 15 to 20 small grants to unregistered bulletins that have developed into newspapers and to regional websites that are working in tandem with local bulletins. In addition, it will conduct two training workshops, one in Poland and one in Ukraine, on web journalism and web construction for 30 journalists and webmasters. A total of 35-40 regional media outlets will be assisted.

East European Democratic Center (EEDC)
$62,510
To develop and strengthen youth NGOs and independent media practitioners in seven regions in Russia. The Warsaw-based EEDC and its Russian and Ukrainian partners will conduct two meetings, hold five training seminars, organize a week-long study visit to and a week-long internship program in Poland, and oversee a study visit to Ukraine.

Education Society of Malopolska (MTO)
$79,940
To expand the Public Achievement (PA) program which fosters civic education and activism among youth in Ukraine and Azerbaijan. The Poland-based MTO and its local partners will organize a train-the-trainer course for Ukrainian and Azeri activists, conduct training workshops, and facilitate a study visit to Ukraine for Azeri PA mentors. It will also introduce the PA program to Georgia; activists will launch PA programs for IDPs from the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict.

Foundation for Enterprise Promotion POGEZANIA
$54,076*
To foster civil society in Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast. Together with the Kaliningrad Youth Organization “Tsunami,” the Poland-based Foundation will establish a resource center, conduct four seminars, create a website, continue producing a newspaper, and carry out a publishing program to assist nascent NGOs in small cities throughout the exclave.

International Association Civic Belarus
$39,226
To increase the capacity of the third sector in Belarus. The Prague-based Association will organize a series of study visits to the Czech Republic for Belarusian NGO activists, visits of Czech third sector experts to Belarusian NGOs, a seminar for Belarusian small business activists in Lithuania, Czech-Belarusian information exchanges, NGO registration assistance, and expert consultations for Belarus’ third sector.

Kultur Aktiv
$18,000
To improve the skills of Belarusian youth activists and the effectiveness of their work through a series of trainings, civic projects and networking opportunities. The BelaPlus project will be launched with seminars on project management skills. The Germany-based NGO will select 20 of the best participants for training in Berlin and Kyiv and to take part in an international project marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. At a final two-day conference in Vilnius, 50 young Belarusians will exchange lessons learned from their projects.

Lion Society
$94,155
To convene a meeting of prodemocracy and NGOs activists as well as relevant government officials and representatives of donor organizations from Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The conference, “For Our Freedom and Yours: For Our Common Future” will serve as a bridge to connect and transfer the experience of prodemocratic achievements accumulated by participants, activists and democratic leaders from Central Europe to their colleagues from Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet region.

Lion Society
$15,742
To carry out a crossborder training and strategic planning program for Belarusian NGOs. Representatives of approximately 50 Belarusian civil society organizations, including NGOs and independent media, will take part in a series of capacity-building workshops. The four-day training program will take place in Lviv, Ukraine.

Music Party Promotional Company
$30,590
To help organize the third “Be2gether” international music festival (www.b2g.lt) that is held on the border of Lithuania and Belarus. NED funding will be used to train Belarusian volunteers who will help organize the June festival, as well as to publicize the event in Belarus and Kaliningrad. The event will include repressed Belarusian bands and promote independent culture, artistic freedom, and youth activism.

Office for a Democratic Belarus
$14,460
To monitor, assess and inform European institutions on the progress of reform in Belarus. The Brussels-based Office will compile reports based on information from the monitoring programs of leading Belarusian NGOs in the fields of human rights, independent media, freedom of association and economic reform. The monthly reports will be disseminated in Brussels and European capitals. Roundtables on the reform process will also be organized during the EU-Belarus “Dialogue Process.”

People in Need Foundation (PIN)
$60,366
To assist Russian youth NGOs by strengthening their capacity through training and networking. The Czech Republic-based PIN will organize a workshop for youth NGOs with regional offices and train leaders in organizing civic actions. Several Russian journalists will also participate in two human rights events in Prague to foster greater awareness of these issues in Russia.

People in Need Foundation* (PIN)
$57,902
To increase the capacity of civil society organizations in Belarus. The Prague-based PIN will award six small grants of up to $3,000 to regional NGOs, hold a series of human rights film screenings and debates, and organize a study visit for four civil society activists to the Czech Republic.

Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation
$67,525
To conduct a desktop publishing training and equipment support program for pro-democracy NGOs and independent newspapers in Central Asia. The Warsaw-based Foundation will train at least 18 activists and to equip at least 8 organizations from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Transitions Online (TOL)
$66,255
To expand and improve internet reporting in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. The Czech Republic-based TOL will conduct a week-long training and study visit in Prague for 10 Turkmen and Uzbek journalists, two distance learning programs on covering minorities and religion for 40 journalists from the region and bring two participants to TOL’s annual New Media School in Prague.

Transitions Online (TOL)
$60,605
To promote independent media and youth activism in Belarus by improving the quantity, quality and impact of pro-democratic bloggers and “new media” activists. The Czech Republic-based TOL will bring five promising young Belarusian new media practitioners to Prague for a training program, expand its on-the-ground consultations to promising new media start ups in Belarus, develop and release a package of web tools in Belarusian and Russian and bring three participants to an internet Social Innovations Camp in Slovakia.

Transitions Online (TOL)
$34,528
To foster “new media” in Azerbaijan. The Czech Republic-based TOL will organize workshops in country’s regions to familiarize representatives of local civil society with new media instruments. To continue developing the country’s new media community, TOL will translate popular blogging guides as well as several online new media tools into Azeri. Finally, Azeri practitioners will be invited to attend TOL’s New Media Summer School in Prague.

Transparency International - Lithuania
$36,144
To increase the public policy capacity of Armenian NGOs. TI branches in Lithuania and Armenia will research the best practices of NGO involvement in public policy and decision making, use them to produce capacity-building toolkit for activist NGOs, conduct two training workshops to build the capacity of 30 to 40 Armenian NGOs, and publish the toolkit in booklet form with a print run of 200 copies.

Young Artists’ Association- Towards Theater
$25,229
To support and promote Belarus’ independent cultural activists and their cultural heritage. The Poland-based Association will seek out, restore and catalogue important independent cultural materials banned by the regime in Belarus, make them available online, and expand its electronic archive, which is accessible in four languages (www.baavi.net).

Young Artists’ Association - Towards Theater
$54,890
To support and promote Belarus’ independent cultural activists and their cultural heritage. The Poland-based Association will seek out, preserve, restore and catalogue important audio and visual materials threatened with destruction in Belarus, make them available on-line, and expand its electronic archive, which is accessible in four languages (www.baavi.net).

* Indicates Department of State funding beyond NED's annual appropriation