Coordinator Vasina met with Svetlana Fatukhova, Acting Deputy Program Manager, US-RFE Partnership Program on November 26. Discussions centered on: results of the Program’s Round 3 and preparation for the Round 4.
The program has made a significant contribution to the formation of both formal and informal networks of U.S. and Russian professionals and organizations. Due to the cross cutting nature of the Partnership Activity, these networks have been strengthened in a broad range of fields, from professional women’s groups in the Far East linking with activist women in the United States, to legal communities in Sakhalin and Oregon working together to promote implementation of Russian legal reform.
The nature of Partnership projects capitalizes on the natural synergies and history of cooperation that exist in the Pacific Rim. The active participation of each side in the achievement of project goals brings Russian and American citizens together and links them both professionally and personally.
Partnership activities of the third Round were aimed at social and economic infrastructure development, good governance, HIV/AIDS prevention, environmental advocacy, rule of law, and SME development. US third round grant recipients included Alaska, Washington, California, Oregon, and Vermont-based entities. Their respective RFE grant recipient partners consisted of Sakhalin, Primorya, Khabarovsk, Magadan, Kamchatka, Irkutsk, and Buryatia-based entities.
As for Round 4, 17 new and roll out partnerships will sign agreements with FRAEC in December and then a list of projects funded under Round 4 will be published.

In connection with HIV/AIDS International Awareness Day, the Sakhalin Regional HIV/AIDS Center held the Regional Conference on November 25 on HIV prevention strategy. The results of 15 year Center activity were summed up during the Conference Those in attendance included physicians from different districts of Sakhalin region, regional and city health department officials and other medical and support personnel from the Center, the Coordinator. The Center is a participant in the US – RFE Active Partnership Program “HIV Prevention among Youth and High Risk Groups on Sakhalin”. Lyudmila Dobrobabina, Head Doctor at the Center and Pavel Bersenyev, Head of the Division of Epidemiology were previously nominated by the Regional Initiative, competitively selected by the US Embassy, and actively participated in the different International Visitors Program on HIV Prevention issues. Coordinator Vasina addressing the participants was shown on the Sakhalin State Television

On November 19, Coordinator attended the Conference on Child Abandonment prevention in Sakhalin. It was organized by the Department of Education of Sakhalin Region Administration and held in the large conference hall of the Administration building. Participating in the conference were regional officials, representatives of the Department of the Interior of Sakhalin Region, Directors of orphanages, professors of Sakhalin State Universities, as well as Oleg Makhnach, Deputy Director of Assistance to Russian orphans (ARO) program, Moscow office and Eric Batsie, Director of the Moscow Representative Office of “Kidsave International” which is the American partner in the US West Coast – RFE Active Partnership program “Crossroads of Life” which is addressing the factors preventing local adoption and foster care of Russian orphans and also providing business training to at risk children. The conference gathered 100 plus participants. During the opening session, remarks were presented by Sakhalin Vice-governor, Mr. Gorkunov, Vice Chairman of the Sakhalin Regional Duma, Zhanna Ivanova. The resolution adopted at the end of the conference included the will to stop the unprecedented growth in child abandonment in Sakhalin, to involve all sectors of society in solving the problem of child abandonment and abuse, to support child welfare system reform, to facilitate the creation of stable, long-term partnerships between governmental and non-governmental organizations working in social and child welfare

Coordinator Vasina met with Elena Sabirova, Sakhalin’s BISNIS Representative, on November 18. BISNIS on Sakhalin sees client assistance as one of the main priorities in activity at the moment, in response to many companies requests for assistance on-site and informational support. New offices of US companies are being established more and more actively since Exxon Neftegas is moving on with the first stage of its project. Clients need information on the current status of oil and gas projects, contact information to set up meetings set and general guidance. BISNIS helped many companies locally, such as FMC Technologies - FMC Measurement Solutions, the Expro Group, Dupont, Cameron, MasterWord International, Russin and Vecchi, SealTite, CB & I, IWM, Sound Ocean Systems – Seafood, Veco, Universal Sodexho. The representatives of these and many others expressed their gratitude for the information and support provided.

Svetlana Vasina met with Fedor Soidorenko , City Mayor and Valeriy Tulyakov, a Vice-Mayor of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Administration. She gave a presentation on the USG sponsored programs. They were very supportive of USG funded projects operating in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, but the city administration needs to be better informed by the RI and the USG funded projects themselves about their activities.

On November 2 a Coordinator met with Vladimir Donskoy, Governor of Rotary International District No. 5010. Rotary District 5010 is the largest geographical district in the Rotary world.  It includes Alaska (USA), the Yukon Territory (Canada) and Russia, east of the Urals. Vladimir Donskoy is the first Russian Rotarian serves as a Governor. Also in attendance were Alana Berg, Head of the Rotary International Foundation who explained the matching grant policies and rules in interrelations between clubs and the Foundation and Steve Yoshida, Past Governor of Rotary District 5010. Coordinator made a presentation of the RI RFE activity. Mr. Donskoy underlined that Russian clubs he had visited were quite different from what they were even a year ago.  Most of them had become vibrant, motivated, dynamic and generous. All participants of the meeting noted that a Rotarian model of NGO brought to Russian 15 years ago operated very effectively in Russia.