III. United Coordinating Counsel of Women Created in Novgorod
I. The Charitable Foundation "Goodwill," with Support from the Ford Foundation, is Planning an All-Russian Conference
The foundation "Goodwill" ["Dobraia Volia"], with support from the Ford Foundation, is planning to conduct an all-Russian conference in the spring (it is anticipated, May) of 1997 in Ekaterinburg for representatives of organizations providing consultative, informational, instructional, methodological, and other assistance to noncommercial organizations.
The results of work in various regions of Russia show that the success or failure of a non-profit agency depends to a significant degree on the activities and the professionalism of "infrastructure" organizations, whose work is directed toward the creation of favorable conditions for the work of other organizations and toward increasing the effectiveness of their work. An exchange of experiences and broadening and deepening the cooperation between organizations will further the success of independent civil initiatives.
The participation of "infrastructure" NGOs from Krasnoyarsk, Nizhnii Novgorod, Perm, Samara, Cheliabinsk, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Tyumen, St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Ulan-Ude, Syktyvkar, Vladivostok, Krasnodar, and Ufa is planned. It is hoped that governmental organizations, institutions, and [other] governmental structures that assist and/or plan to assist the noncommercial sector will participate.
The conference is being planned to last two days. Discussions, mini-seminars, lectures, and thematic round tables are planned on the following topics: Providing Information for the Work of NGO's: Experience, Issues, and Prospects; The Theory and Practice of Social Partnership; and NGO Personnel: Prospects for Increasing Professionalism.
According to the conference materials, a methodological handbook for NGOs is being prepared. The organizers of the conference are bearing the expense of travel, housing, and food for the participants.
Proposals, comments, and applications for participation should be sent by e-mail to [email protected].
Further information may be had by fax at (3432) 600-207 (Nikolai Geller, coordinator of the charitable foundation Goodwill.)
II. 1937 Has Returned to the Streets of Moscow, Says Valentina Nel'nikova of the Mothers of Soldiers Committee
In December [1996] the Swedish foundation "For Proper Survival" ["Za Pravil'noe Vyzhivaniia,"] awarded the Mothers of Soldiers Committee ["Komitet Soldatskikh Materei"], which has been active for the past 8 years, an alternative Nobel Peace Prize. At the present time the activity of "Mom," as they call themselves, is very great�the fall draft is coming to an end. Valentina Mel'nikova, chairperson of the Mothers of Soldiers Committee, told of the condition of Muscovites drafted into the army at a meeting of human rights activists on December at the Federation of Peace and Accord ["Federatsiia Mira i Soglasiia"]. According to MSC accounts, a roundup of draft age youth has been going on recently in apartments, the subway, and other busy places. Since most young people do not want to serve in the army under the conditions offered them and are disinclined toward the draft, young peoples' documents are checked on the street, people are taken to conscription stations and are sent to their units the very next day. Something similar happened in St. Petersburg last year. SMC has already received several calls from parents of "involuntary recruits." Valentina Mel'nikova is particularly struck by the fact that "all this takes place at the direction of the mayor." "The impression is that 1937 [translators note: the height of the Stalinist terror] has returned to the streets of Moscow," she says. She sees military reform as the only way out of this situation.
III. United Coordinating Counsel of Women Created in Novgorod
The United Coordinating Council for Women ["Ob'iedinenii Koordinatsionnii Soviet Zhenshchin"] was created in Novgorod on December 11. Leaders of women's social organizations and directors of governmental institutions which determine the social policy of the city joined the Council.
The aim of the Council is to coordinate the activities of governmental and social agencies, to realize common social programs, and to cooperate with state agencies on issues of social policy. The Council began its work developing budget proposals for social programs and defending the idea of creating an inter-institutional program at the oblast level for support of families, mothers, and children. The Council addressed one proposal to the local authorities to conduct a serious analysis of demographic conditions in the oblast and of the health conditions of women of reproductive age and children. The Council adopted specific proposals on these programs.
Contact telephone numbers: (816) 5-33-33, 7-30-57 (Nadezhda Lisitsina)
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