Denis Boyle, a Director from the Far East Office of ACTR/ACCELS visited Sakhalin at the end of October primarily to recruit, administer testing and conduct interviews with candidates for the US State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs funded 2005-6 academic year Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX), In doing so, Mr. Boyle visited and met with officials from the Department of Education of the Sakhalin Regional Administration as well as secondary schools in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. RI Coordinator discussed with Mr. Boyle the ongoing activities and cooperation with the RI RFE.

In the fall of 2003 Winrock International began a new leadership development project, “Path to Success,” to prevent the vulnerability of people to being trafficked by forming or strengthening positive values among young people. The project is made possible because of financing by US Agency for International Development. The goal of the program is to strengthen positive values among young people for the further development of society and to respect human rights and prevent trafficking in people. On October 22 Mike Johannes, Director of the program conducted a seminar for the representatives of Sakhalin NGOs who would like to participate in the second round of grant competition. The seminar took place in the American Business Center and Coordinator covered all organizational aspects as well as arranged meetings for Mr. Johannes in the City Administration and with Rotary members.

RI Coordinator, Svetlana Vasina, assisted the Center for Citizen Initiatives (CCI) located in Vladivostok throughout the month in recruiting candidates from Sakhalin to be considered for participation in the Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP). In this context, Anton Plotitzin, an engineer from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk working in the construction sector, was selected for participation and received training in Tennessee during November through the PEP “Mixed Construction” Program. Other Sakhalin candidates identified by the Coordinator are currently being considered by CCI. (Landscape Architecture, Private Medical Clinics Programs).

On October 16, 2004 Svetlana Vasina assumed the position of Regional Initiative (RI) Coordinator of the Russian Far East, replacing Kregg Halstead who will serve as a Legislative Development Director for the USAID-funded Armenia Legislative Strengthening Project in Yerevan from the beginning 2005.