In November, Director of the Russian-American Business Training Center (RABTC) on Sakhalin Oksana Molodtsova was invited by island-based oil and gas company ‘Sakhalin Energy’, Operator of the Sakhalin 2 Projectr to give a series of lectures ‘Basics of grant activities’ for indigenous populations in the northern districts of the Sakhalin Region. Over 100 people attended a total of 8 lectures, which later received positive reports.

RABTC has been cooperating with Sakhalin Energy since 2004. Over this period specialists from RABTC took part in a grant project of Sakhalin Energy ‘Development of employment skills among population’, which was implemented in cooperation with the Sakhalin department of the Federal employment service.

In 2005, Sakhalin Energy invited Molodtsova to become a member of the company grant expert board. Participation in the board showed that most of grant applications are rejected due to low quality of the applications. For example, out of 67 applications submitted for Sakhalin Energy grant competition ‘Small grants – big deeds’ only 20 were financed. And out of 60 thousand dollars planned for grants only 20 thousand were used.

To change the situation RABTC initiated a project aimed to train population how to write grant applications. The project was financed by a Sakhalin company ‘CTSD Limited’. In August 2005, under the project RABTC delivered four lectures for 40 people in the Korsakov district.

Results of the autumn grant competition held by Sakhalin Energy in the Korsakov district showed that the RABTC project was useful – the rate of financed applications grew twice compared to the previous competition.

RABTC continues its cooperation with Sakhalin Energy. For the center, which has been in Sakhalin since 1993 and was financed only with USAID grant money work with Sakhalin businesses is one of opportunities of sustainable development.

On November 25, the Path to Success! program held a presentation at the American Corner in Khabarovsk to mark the start of the Global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign. The goal of this event was to teach young people about the 16 Days Campaign and inform them of the dangers of human trafficking.
16 Days is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. Beginning on November 25 and ending on December 10, International Human Rights Day, the campaign emphasizes that violence against women is a violation of human rights.
At the American Corner event, over 20 young people and local educators learned about the global problem of human trafficking and the impact it has on individuals, families, and society. Participants also learned about the Path! program and how it prevents human trafficking by promoting positive values and individual empowerment.
Further, those in attendance had the opportunity to discuss this problem as it relates specifically to the Russian Far East, particularly the heightened attraction of work abroad due to the region’s proximity of the Asia-Pacific countries and the difficult economic conditions. Some in the audience talked about relatives and friends who had negative experiences overseas. This discussion helped people gain a deeper understanding of this complex issue.
Path to Success! staff also provided information on how to safely search for work both at home and abroad and emphasized the need to talk about this issue openly and honestly with others. In addition to this presentation, program partners and regional coordinators will be conducting seminars, trainings, and other events as part of the 16 Days Campaign.
NGOs are also sponsoring drawing contests for young people on this theme, roundtables, lessons, and class hours that will raise awareness among youth of the Far East and help them to achieve their future goals.

USAID’s FOREST Project, working in cooperation with the Khabarovsk Federal Forestry Agency, and local NGO Ecological and Biological Training Center implemented a training seminar for 45 managers of the Youth Forestry Schools, as well as ecological NGOs’ leaders, school teachers and school students from various districts located in the Khabarovsk Region.
Participants learned about the negative impact of illegal logging and various methods of planning/conducting public awareness advocacy events to counter illegal logging.
A round table discussion allowed participants to better understand how to stand up against this injustice affecting both the local economy and quality of life.
Representatives of the Khabarovsk Federal Forestry Agency, Ecological and Biological Training Center, Youth Forestry School of Nikolaevsk District as well as other NGOs shared experience on maintaining public advocacy campaigns to inform citizens.
Developed with FOREST Project assistance, the Khabarovsk Ecological and Biological Training Center demonstrated to students how to conduct public advocacy campaign against illegal logging.

In the framework of the project ‘Cooperation in the development of small and medium business in the city of Khabarovsk’ the first training seminar ‘Start up your own business’ was held on November 21-24 for 36 students of Khabarovsk universities.
During the four-day seminar, the students learned business planning and the art of successful presentation, met with practical specialists, who shared their experience with the rising generation of entrepreneurs.
Officials from Far Eastern administrations, lecturers from Far Eastern universities and representative of big commercial companies lectured at the seminar.
The participants of the seminar learned such topics as the role of small businesses in the development of economics of the Far Eastern regions and solution of social and political problems through development of small entrepreneurship. The students looked into taxation system; studied some sources of financing of small businesses; familiarized with marketing, recruitment, registration process, crediting conditions, business insurance and other issues.
The project ‘Cooperation in the development of small and medium business in the city of Khabarovsk’ is aimed at providing assistance to small and medium sized businesses and helping young people to find jobs. The project is implemented with the assistance of the Fund for Russian-American Economic Cooperation (FRAEC) with the money of the USAID.

Regional Initiative is pleased to inform everyone that its staff has grown by 50 percent and is now comprised of two people.
Since November 18, a new RI Coordinator Assistant Yulia Nikishina has been helping the continuous RI Coordinator Svetlana Vasina to make RI’s activity even more productive and efficient.

On November 16, the Administration of the Sakhalin Region held the Social Projects Fair in the conference hall of the Sakhincentr. 
The event organized by the public relations department of the regional administration aimed to show the 2005 results of the social projects financed by the administration.
According to Sakhalin Vice Governor Viktor Nagorny, who opened the fair, a technical assistance program developed by the regional administration has been working in the Sakhalin Region under the control of Governor Ivan Malakhov since 2004.
A total of 15 projects were implemented under the program in 2004, and 18 social projects were realized in 2005. Each 2005 project received between 40 thousand and 120 thousand rubles for realization from the regional budget, reported Natalia Korshunova, a head of the regional public relations department.
Among the projects were social projects, ecological projects and others. The projects were implemented by various NGOs, youth organizations, veteran and pensioner clubs.
The event was attended by representatives of Sakhalin businesses and NGOs. The fair provided an opportunity to its participants to communicate with people involved in the projects and vote for the best stand presented at the event.

On November 8, the International Partnership Festival was held in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the framework of the annual U.S.-RFE Partnership Activity Conference.
At the event, designated to show the results of the partnerships established in the fourth round of the U.S.-RFE Partnership Activity Program, partnership projects, oil companies and U.S. Government-sponsored programs presented a total of 29 stands.
Vadim Rokotov from the Sakhalin Region Administration opened the festival. He underlined the importance of the event for social and economic development of the region and said that the administration will continue to support partnership projects developed on Sakhalin. Vladislav Rukavets from the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Administration, on behalf of City Mayor Andrey Lobkin, welcomed the festival and thanked FRAEC for the support of the social and economic development of the city through its projects.
The 3-hour festival was attended by about 300 people. The audience voted for the best stand, and a stand developed by the program ‘City Early Intervention Center’ was awarded the first place. Vladivostok and  Khabarovsk partners of this project believe that the stand has received such high recognition thanks to the subject, which touched upon people’s hearts.
Many partners said that the festival was the most useful and bright event of the conference. People mentioned that they could not only share the information about their projects, but make new contacts and even find potential partners for the future.

The forth annual U.S.-Russian Far East Partnership Activity Conference was held in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on November 7-10.  The event was organized in the framework of the USAID-sponsored U.S.-RFE Partnership Activity Program implemented by the Foundation for Russian-American Economic Cooperation (FRAEC). The goal of the conference was to introduce the partnership projects established in the fourth round of the program to the public and authorities, to show the results of those projects and discuss the future plans of partner organizations.
The event’s agenda included a partnership conference, an international partnership festival, training for partners, and visits to the sites of the most successful Sakhalin partners.  The conference participants included, but were not limited to, Russian and American founders of 16 partnerships, representatives of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Administration and Sakhalin Region Administration, officers from USAID, representatives of the Regional Initiative and U.S. Government sponsored programs and representatives of Sakhalin oil and gas companies.  The conference was widely covered by local mass media.

On November 1, a presentation and a press conference ‘Life without Corruption’ was held in the building of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Administration.
One of the organizers of the presentation was the Sakhalin NGO ‘Small Business Support Center’. The Center is realizing a new project called ‘Partnership against Corruption’ in the framework of MSI (Management Systems International) funded by USAID. Director of the Center Elena Vyunova presented this project.
Officials from the City Administration, the City Council and the Sakhalin Region Administration took part in the 2-hour event. They spoke about the complexity of the corruption issue and the necessity to solve the problem of corruption in the society. They expressed their readiness not only to support anticorruption projects in the Sakhalin Region, but to be an active partner in such projects.
Konstantin Molchanov from a research laboratory presented the results of a sociological research ‘Public opinion on corruption in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Khabarovsk and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky’. According to the research, most young residents of the city think that corruption can be justified in many situations. This shows the need to educate young people about this issue.
Three Sakhalin anticorruption projects awarded in a grant competition ‘Partnership against Corruption’ were presented at the press conference. These projects developed by Sakhalin NGO’s are ‘Legal Protection and Education for Citizens’, ‘Life without Corruption is Choice of Youth’ and ‘Active Citizens – Transparent Government’.
The presentation and press conference were covered by local TV companies and newspapers. A special grant competition for Sakhalin mass media ‘Let’s Stop Corruption’ was announced at the event.
The presentation and the press conference showed the necessity for all levels of the society to get united in order to solve the problem of corruption.