FOREST Project and USAID Staff Take Part in Federal Forestry Meeting in Khabarovsk: On January 26, 2005 the Russian Government Federal Forestry Agency conducted a conference devoted to managing forest fires in Year 2005 in cooperation with Executive Authorities in the Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD) located in Khabarovsk, Russia. The conference was attended by over one hundred participants including the representatives of federal and local forestry agencies, vice governors of each of the RFE territories, and senior representatives of the RFE Federal District office. At the event, ministers and vice governors directed their attention to appropriate fire management for this upcoming summer, and discussed the forestry code now awaiting ratification. A USAID sponsored film entitled “Keep the Forest Alive!” produced by the FOREST Project was shown to participants, and Federal Forestry Deputy Chief Mikhail Gurieev commented that he will be making this presentation in the other federal districts of Russia with vice governors and intends to show this newly-created film. Conference attendees were also informed that the “Forest Fire Prevention Advocacy” manual, also produced by the FOREST Project, has been finalized and will soon be printed for the coming season

On January, 26 City Administration Department of Public Relations held the Open Meeting “Public Relations Department. 2004 Activity Results”. It was in the meeting room of City Administration and took one and a half hour. The meeting room was full of citizens and invited guests from NGOs and other city organizations and programs. It showed the great interest of people to the activity of Public Relations Department, City Administration. This department is the initiator of the developing the public tribune “Dialogue”, that is the unit of different civil, religious, political, trade union and other organizations providing the co-ordination with local authorities in order to represent and work on citizens’ interests. Participants of the meeting underlined the importance of “Dialogue” activity in 2004 and discussed its 2005 plans. “Leaders’ School” was also reported as a good results activity. It is the unit of commercial and noncommercial organizations developing the citizens’ activity on the local self government. In 2004 the first Self Government Committee (TOC - in Russian), was opened in the 8th micro region in Yuzhno. The main aim of the Committee is to communicate with local authorities on housing issues. New Committees are planed to be opened in 2005. Grant competition of social projects “We and Our City” had good results in 2004. It was shown a video film about the activity of the projects. Different areas of city life were covered by those projects. Social life, ecotourism, self government etc. are among them. Various organizations like local TOCs, commercial companies, cooperatives, political parties, religious organizations, trade unions, noncommercial organizations and just citizens can participate and win grants in the competition. The maximum amount of a grant in 2005 is 80 000 rubles. The 2005 grant competition started on January, 24 and provided with finance by City Administration.

Round 4 Orientation of “US-RFE Partnership Activity” was opened on January 25 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. It took two working days, January 25 and 26. The aim of the event was to meet the directors and accountants of the Program projects with Program’s strategy, goals and requirements to the reports. Svetlana Fatykhova, Program Grant Manager, held the training seminar for the projects directors “Project monitoring, narrative reports, indicator table” and the workshop “Developing a narrative report”. Ludmila Gazieva, Program Finance Manager, conducted the training seminar and workshop for projects accountants on how to work on the finance reports, discussed the typical mistakes in the finance reports of previous projects, taught how to work with Technical Assistance in accordance with Russian Government regulations. Individual consultations on projects development and management were given to each project. Representatives of 14 Program projects visited the event. They represented RFE: Vlad, Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-na-Amure, Magadan, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Ussuriisk, Yakutsk and Sakhalin. The atmosphere of the Orientation was very friendly and busy. Round table introducing helped people to make friends and learned their partners’ projects. Guests from Regional and Local Administrations visited the event: Rokotov V.A., Committee for International, Overseas Economic and Interregional Links, Deputy Head; Vasilyeva G.G., Committee for International, Overseas Economic and Interregional Links, Head Overseas Economic Division; Kachesova T.T., Regional Administration, Public Relations and Population’s Issues Department, Deputy Head; Sadykova T.A., City Administration, Public Relations Department, Head. Vasina S.A., Regional Initiative Coordinator RFE, greeted participants of the Orientation and told them about the Regional Initiative activity, its programs and strategic goals. Newsmen from “Sakhalin Independent” and TV studio of Association of Fish Manufacturers of Sakhalin took part in the Orientation. The newsletter article and a TV film about the event are going to be published next week.

On January 21, 2005, the Eurasia Foundation organized the Experts' Panel-I within the Career Centers Competition. Coordinator of the RI RFE participated in this event and used the opportunity to present the Regional Initiative activities for the participants of Panel 1.
The main idea of the competition is to support the initiatives focused on the creation/development of the University centers in the three target regions: Khabarovsk Krai, Amur and Sakhalin Oblasts. However, the proposal from Sakhalin was rather uncompetitive in comparison with others. Thus, the experts suggested to support a well-thought and a well-designed project by The Komsomolsk-on-Amur State Technical, which idea is to develop the students' employment services and cooperation with potential employers in the North-East part of the Khabarovsk Krai - a vast and distant area.
This Career Centers Competition is a part of a special 18-month program funded by the Ford Foundation, Moscow, and entitled “The Preservation of Intellectual Resources and the More Effective Usage of Labor Resources in the Russian Far East”. This initiative is aimed at increasing a cross-regional mobility of labor resources and their effective distribution in the four program target regions: Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krais, Sakhalin and Amur Oblasts.

On January 20 Svetlana Vasina met with Natalya Vitkovskay, Director of Junior Achievement Program in Primorskiy kray. The activity of "Junior Achievement" (JA) is widely known throughout Russia, since 1991 JA of Russia has prepared more than 10 000 teachers. To realize JA Program throughout Russia a net of 35 Regional Centers was created. JA mission is to provide youth worldwide with a good understanding of: the importance of market driven economies; the role of business in a global economy; the commitment of business to environmental and social issues; to commitment of business to operate in an ethical manner; the relevance of education in the workplace, the impact of the economies on their lives. This program offers business knowledge for pupils of all ages, who are trained under various programs. One of the most active and dynamically developing centers in Russia is Primorsky Regional Center of Junior Achievement headed by Vitkovskaya Natalia. Far East Center of Economic Education in cooperation with JA began to implement a project called “Assistance to development of small and medium size enterprises and employment of graduates of Vladivostok Universities”. The project’s purpose is to conduct business trainings for students of Universities in Vladivostok. Natalia informed the Coordinator about the challenges the program recently faced, among those lack of financing was the most critical. Management of the program works on establishing a Board of Trustees and actively communicates with the businesses of Primorskiy Kray trying to attract sponsors, constantly cooperates with mass media for the purpose of JA promotion.

On 20 January, Svetlana Vasina met with Irina Lindberg, Director, Eurasia
Foundation, Russian Far East(RFE). Ms Lindberg described the changes that have taken place in the Eurasia Foundation over the last six months, namely the formation of the New Eurasia Foundation(FNE) founded by the Washington, DC-based Eurasia Foundation, the Brussels-based Madariaga European Foundation and the Russian Dynasty Foundation as an unique example of an American-European-Russian partnership. The FNE was registered in June 2004 and began its work on October 1, 2004. The Foundation aims to support civil society, media, education, small and medium business and public administration as a way of strengthening the democratic process in Russia while promoting the country's integration into the world community. Irina Lindberg informed the Coordinator that the Eurasia Foundation had suspended grant making until the FNE/RFE is officially approved by FNE Moscow and registered in the RFE.

On January 18 Svetlana Vasina paid a visit to the American Corner in Khabarovsk city and met with Elvira Baranova, Director. American Corner is located on the basis of the State regional scientific library and has large English-language collections, including about 1,000 books, more than 100 CD-ROMs, two computers, a printer, CD-ROM player, English-language teaching materials, and a variety of visual materials. During the meeting the Coordinator and the Director discussed questions concerning current activity of the Corner and new forms of work. Ms. Baranova also shared with the Coordinator some problems of the American Corner, one of which was a lack of Internet. Ms. Vasina promised to assist in solving this problem.

 The Coordinator met with Anna Kochemasova, Director of the American – Russian Center in Khabarovsk on January 18. Topics discussed included: the seminars and trainings that the Center conducted in 2004; the topics of the seminars and trainings; efforts of the Center to continue to conduct operations now that USAID funding has ended; participation in different National and International Grant programs and cooperation between the Center and the Regional Initiative.

Svetlana Vasina attended the office of Replication of Lesson Learned (ROLL) Program in Khabarovsk and met with Tatyana Korobenko, Director of the Far East Regional Center of ROLL Program Green House. The ROLL Program focuses on: supporting environmentally sound sustainable development, promoting public participation in decision – making process and reducing environmental health risks. Tatyana Korobenko told about: ROLL Program strategies; principles; priority topic areas; key components of ROLL including grant program, distribution of information, coordination of donor and other programs, assessment and monitoring of impact. ROLL Program is managed by the Institute for Sustainable Communities. Tatyana Korobenko also shared some success stories with the Coordinator.

On the 18-th of January RI Coordinator met with members of Trafficking Prevention Project in the Russian Far East and Siberia “Path to Success!”. Zoya Golyaviyeva, Education Program Coordinator, and Elena Osokina, Grant Program and Administrative Coordinator presented the program which contains both educational and grant components. The program “Path to Success!” began its activity in the fall of 2003 and was targeted to trafficking prevention and forming positive values among youth. The program, which is designed for two years, supports establishing and maintaining of social partnerships between NCOs, mass media, educational institutions and local authorities, which in their turn aimed at conducting informational-enlightening activity for the population and implementation of educational programs. The program’s target regions are Khabarovsk region, Primorsk region, Amursk region and Sakhalin region.

On January 18 the RI Coordinator met the office personnel of the Institute for Sustainable Communities. Anna Lugina, Senior Program Officer told about tasks and goals of the program which strengthened grassroots activism to mobilize communities to address common issues. Anna gave more details on 3 components of the program, namely: grant, education and resource center support. Svetlana Vasina was also informed about the terms of Round 7 of the Grassroots Initiative Grants which was announced on January 17. Its peculiarity is its aiming at the replication of the most successful projects of the previous rounds. Natalia Vogusheva, Media and Outreach Coordinator told about the program’s plans for the nearest future.

The Coordinator met with Mr. Vasenyov in Khabarovsk on January 17. Discussion centered around: economic trends, political events and civil society developments taking place in Khabarovsk Krai; the increased level of interest and participation of Khabarovsk Krai companies in the Sakhalin oil and gas projects. Coordinator expressed gratitude for Mr.Vasenev for assistance in preparing for the visit of the delegation of the US Congress to Khabarovsk, including the arrangement of the Round Table of US sponsored humanitarian and technical programs and alumni of the US cultural, educational and professional exchange programs which was held on January 10.

On the 16-th of January RI Coordinator participated in seminar-training held under Trafficking Prevention Project in the Russian Far East and Siberia “Path to Success!” in Khabarovsk. Manager of “Path to Success!” program invited two trainers from Moscow NCO “Sisters”: Maria Mokhova and Nadezhda Zamotayeva, who professionally conducted training with 15 teachers and psychologists of secondary schools and institutions of higher education in Khabarovsk and Amursk cities.
The purpose of the training was to indicate the importance of trafficking problem which abuses human rights, and to determine possible forms of trafficking and consequences of illegal employment, to display peculiarities of preventive educational activity, its forms and methods.