Center for Civil Society International (ccsi@u.washington.edu)
Fri, 5 Mar 1999 10:22:25 -0800 (PST)
THE EURASIA FOUNDATION
Russian Far East Office
PRESS RELEASE
On the Results of the Corruption Prevention Competition
February, 1999
The Organization Information
The Eurasia Foundation, established in 1993 with a major grant from the
US Agency for International Development (USAID), promotes democracy and
market economies in the New Independent States (NIS) of the former
Soviet Union. The principle aim of the Foundation is to respond quickly
and flexibly to needs of NIS organizations with small grants. The
Foundation generally does not administer its own programs, but instead
finance projects designed and submitted by applicants.
The Foundation's mandate is to make small grants on an on-going basis
which: facilitate the transition from centrally planned to market
economies; encourage improvement of public service delivery and greater
citizen involvement in civic decision-making; and improve the flow of
information available to NIS citizens. An underlying theme of many
Foundation-supported programs is improving management in NIS
organizations, be they in the private, public or non-profit sectors.
The Competition Information
In February 1998, the Russian Far East Office of the Eurasia Foundation
(the RFE EF) completed its work on the Corruption Prevention Competition
in the Russian Far East (the RFE). The RFE EF's staff congratulates the
winners and appreciates the participation of all organizations, which
expressed interest in the competition.
The Competition started on November 1, 1998. The RFE EF received 39
proposals from different regions of the RFE. The proposals reviewed in
two stages, the independent experts of the Eurasia Foundation approved 7
grants, totaling $99,000. The experts approved 7 projects from 4
regions of the RFE: 3 in the Primorsky Krai, 2 in Khabarovsky Krai, and
1 each in the Amurskaya and the Chitinskaya Oblasts.
The Amursky Regional Branch Of The Russian Union Of Journalists /
Blagoveshchensk
To increase the effectiveness of local government by supporting a
project to increase transparency through fact-based analytical
journalism in the Amurskaya Oblast. More than 200 journalists will
participate in a legal training program that will teach new skills and
methods to be used when covering the activities of local government,
self-government organs and court proceedings. A legal brochure will be
published and distributed and legal consultations on civil rights
protection will be provided to journalists and the general public.
Center for Public Initiatives Support / Chita
To support more effective and transparent local government through the
development of a mechanism for public oversight of local government in
the Chitinskaya Oblast. Round-table discussions and a training seminar
on non-corrupt budget practices will coincide with public discussions
about the local budget. An informational campaign will be launched in
the local mass media to inform citizens of their rights in relation to
the local government and an anti-corruption program of public initiative
groups will be developed.
The Primorye Regional Branch Of The Youth Union Of Lawyers / Vladivostok
To increase the effectiveness of local government by supporting a
project to increase transparency through fact-based analytical
journalism in the Primorsky Kray. Journalists and journalism students
will participate in a legal training program that will teach new skills
to be used when covering the activities of local government and self-
government organs, courts, and the prosecutor's office. A series of
analytical articles will be published in local mass media organs, a web-
site will be created and a specialized teleconference via Internet
focusing on legal methods of corruption prevention and practices of
other countries in this area will be conducted.
Vladivostok City Public Organization of Taxpayers
To further develop the legal system by supporting mechanisms of social
monitoring aimed at facilitating transparent operations of the arbitrage
court system in the Primorsky Kray. The project team will create a
database on court decisions and procedures to be placed on a new
website, issue a monthly bulletin and conduct a teleconference on the
Internet in order to give taxpayers, lawyers, journalists, university
law departments and the general public access to information on
arbitrage court decisions and procedures. In addition, a series of
analytical articles will be published in regional newspapers and
informational materials will be distributed to legal organizations,
institutions of higher education, local mass media and libraries
throughout the Primorsky Kray and the rest of the Russian Far East.
Far Eastern State Academy of Economic and Management / Vladivostok
To improve the performance of federal and regional government
representatives by developing a university-level program on anti-
corruption for future government employees and for retraining of present
civil servants. The curriculum, based on anticorruption legislation and
policies in Russia and the United States, will contain a training manual
and will be complemented by trainings to be conducted by American
anticorruption specialists. The trainings are to be held in
Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and will be open to
students, government employees, the press and local businesses.
American-Russian Educational Business Center / Khabarovsk
To support more effective and transparent local government through the
development of a mechanism that encourages civic organizations to become
involved in public policy decisions in the Khabarovsky Kray. Public
discussions on regional legislation on natural resource use, the local
budget, state/municipal property management and the election system will
be conducted and recommendations will be developed for the regional
Duma. Four informational and analytical packets will be published and
four training seminars and consultations on civil rights protection for
citizens will be conducted.
Khabarovsk State Academy of Economics and Law, Law Department
To increase the effectiveness of local government by involving civic
organizations in the evaluation of Khabarovsk's municipal laws and the
Khabarovsky Kray codex. Kray and municipal government employees will
take part in the seminar that will take the format of a town-meeting.
In collaboration with these roundtables/seminars, the educational
programs, "Anticorruption Policy and Legislation", and "Professional
Etiquette for Public Officials", will be developed for students of legal
departments at institutions of higher education throughout the Russian
Far East.
Organizations which would like to assist the Eurasia Foundation with
government reform and economic, business, and NGO development, can
contact:
The Eurasia Foundation RFE Office
8-a Abrekovskaya str.
Vladivostok, 690001
Tel/Fax: (4232) 30-00-64 ; 30-00-63
E-mail: postmaster@eurasia.marine.su
*----------------------------------------------------------*
| CivilSoc is an electronic news and information service |
| provided free of charge to 1,400 subscribers worldwide. |
| CivilSoc is a project of CCSI--Center for Civil Society |
| International (ccsi@u.washington.edu) in Seattle, in |
| association with Friends & Partners. For more informa- |
| tion about civic initiatives in nations of the former |
| USSR and elsewhere, visit CCSI's web site at: |
| |
| http://www.friends-partners.org/~ccsi/ |
*----------------------------------------------------------*
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Sun May 23 1999 - 13:35:29 EDT