The Krasnoyarsk Center for Community Partnerships (KCCP)

P.O. Box 27027
Krasnoyarsk, Russia 660077
Tel/Fax: (3912) 55-33-73
E-mail: [email protected]

"Wherever democracy has fallen, it was too exclusively political in nature.
It had not become part of the bone and blood of people in daily conduct.
Unless democratic habits of thought are part of the fiber of a people,
political democracy is insecure."
John Dewey

The Krasnoyarsk Center for Community Partnerships (KCCP), the first school-based community resource center in Siberia, is dedicated to the development of civil society in Krasnoyarsk, the Krasnoyarsk Krai, and Siberia through the fostering of grassroots civic activism. As a regional clearinghouse and resource center, the KCCP focuses its work on the following four areas:

• democratization of schools and classrooms
• formation of active, mutually beneficial school-community partnerships
• development of volunteerism
• non-profit sector development

The Center was founded on the belief that democracy and civil society reforms are sustainable only if accompanied by vigorous grassroots citizen education and engagement. It is intended to provide teachers, parents, activists and other community members with support and opportunities to turn information and ideas into actions based upon their own beliefs, interests, and experiences, as well as the time, place, and support to evaluate and assess their actions.

A Brief History.....
The KCCP opened its doors in October 1996 as a result of an initiative of the U.S. non-profit organization Educated Choices Heighten Opportunities, Inc. (ECHO), together with Siberian NGOs, government offices, and local citizens. Located in space donated for it by the Education Department of the Sovietskii Raion, the Center owes its existence to the committed efforts and collaboration of ECHO and dozens of Siberians, who worked with extremely limited resources and without project funding to establish it. Currently, the KCCP receives funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the National Endowment for Democracy through ECHO.

Since its inception, the KCCP has grown to become a well-known and well-respected community organization. By the fall of 1997, after less than a full year of operation, it had become a registered Russian NGO, featuring a Russian and American staff responsible for project, administrative, and decision-making work, an active pool of volunteers, and a strong technical base. The KCCP is an independent Russian entity, which ultimately will be turned over to the Siberians who have worked with ECHO to create it.

Resources and Services.....
In its four spheres of activity, the KCCP offers the following resources and services free-of-charge at the Center, at individual schools, and in local communities, to its constituents:

• Publication of, translation of, and dissemination of materials..
  

  - Library and reading room with materials in Russian and English on a wide range of issues related to civil society, democratic education and grass roots activism

  - Quarterly newsletter for educators and community activists. Current circulation is approximately 750 readers mainly, but not solely, in Siberia

  - Seminar manuals for teachers to use in their own class-rooms

  - Translations of English language materials.

• Incubator services..

  - Room for meetings, seminars and small conferences

  -Computer, printer, photocopier, television, VCR, telephone, & facsimile machine

  - Electronic mail and access to the Internet

• Instructional work.

  - Seminars and trainings

  - Year-long intensive training program for teachers and school administrators

  - Round table discussions

  - Study circle groups

  - Individual consultations

• Coordination of connections between local educators and activists with their colleagues in Siberia, Russia and the world

In 1997, over 750 people used the Center's library and incubator services, attended its events, or visited the office for individual consultations. This number counts only once those who were frequent, in some cases daily, users and and university teachers of different subjects, school administrators, students and pupils, representatives of all types of NGOs, administration officials and reporters. Outside of KCCP's offices, roughly 2,200 people met with KCCP staff, heard KCCP presentations or participated in KCCP events.

Programs and Achievements.....
Programmatic results have succeeded beyond initial expectations, with members of the community anxious to become involved with the KCCP. Highlights of the Center's work in 1997 include the following:

• Creation of the Krasnoyarsk Agency for Volunteerism

• Formation of active, mutually beneficial school-community partnerships:
  a) 2 day long school-community partnership conferences with school administrators, community residents, NGOs, and city administration officials
  b) Translation and development of materials needed by communities to start such a partnership and to evolve it into a local NGO
  c) Facilitation of small discussion groups, seminars, and individual consultations in Krasnoyarsk micro-raions to develop local community development funds
  
• Development and implementation of the first city-wide summer youth program on community activism and volunteerism

• Circulation of a quarterly newsletter to 750+ community activists and educators in Siberia and beyond

• Coordination of a week-long series of events on law education with the American Bar Association and Krasnoyarsk high schools and law institutes

• Selection by IREX to house its IPP library for NGOs of the Krasnoyarsk Krai

• Democratic Teachers Corps. Intensive training program for teachers and administrators from 14 schools from the Krasnoyarsk Krai and Khakasia on issues related to democratic education and the formation of partnerships between schools and local communities

• Development and presentation of a program on sexuality education with a local AIDS awareness group and an association of doctors and psychologists

The KCCP staff actively continues to establish and strengthen contacts with numerous individuals and organizations in the region. In addition to the positive response from the people it was created to serve, the KCCP receives a high level of press interest and support, including, numerous TV and print media pieces devoted to its work.

If you would like to receive more information about the KCCP, please contact the organization using the information provided above.

Last updated:    April 1998

A print version of much of the information contained in this NIS Third Sector Organizations section can be found in the The Post-Soviet Handbook (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1999).

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