MIR I NADEZHDA
"Peace and Hope" Children's Charity

MIR I NADEZHDA (M&N) is a Russian non-profit, charitable public voluntarily organization devoted to helping children. M&N-sponsored projects are focused on children and families. They include health-promotion and NGO capacity building projects.

Established in July 1998, M&N has already made a substantial contribution to the nursing profession by improving the quality of nursing care. It helped strenghten the Russian Nurses Association through the implementation of its "New Nurses for a New Russia" project. This project was funded by World Vision International and US Agency for International Development.

M&N has also made a positive impact in the lives of over 180 orphans in the greater Moscow metropolitan area through its "Home for Children" project. This project began last December was also funded by World Vision. Its aim is to reach the most vulnerable and needy children- orphans, abandoned children, and developmentally and physically handicapped children. So far we have provided psycho-social rehabilitation, social reintegration, hygiene, and medical supplies for 182 orphans. These children live in shelters, orphanages and poor communities, including the Orphanage for Blind Deaf and Dumb children.

There are over 40 million children in Russia. Most of them live in poor families: nearly 70% of Russians live below the poverty line. Families and children suffer from malnutrition, and have limited access to qualified health care services. Most cannot afford medicines and vitamins because of their high cost.

Over 23 million children live in socially vulnerable poor families. These children are often subject to domestic violence. Over 150,000 children run away from home and 2,000 children commit suicide annually. More parents are abandoning their children than ever before. Most abandoned children and orphans are institutionalized in large foster homes, orphanages, or shelters. Over 70% of institutionalized children are physically and developmentally handicapped. Most of these children are placed in special institutions. Annually 10,000 children escape from state foster homes and orphanages. The number of "street children" is rapidly growing in big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg; there are nearly 100,000 street children in Moscow alone.

We would like to continue our child-welfre programs and bring smiles to faces of orphaned children. We also wish to train merciful, compassionate, caring, and highly qualified nurses.

MIR I NADEZHDA appreciates any financial or material assistance in its "Home for Children" and "New Nurses for a New Russia" projects. We are eager to establish mutual projects with other humanitarian agencies. Projects reports, stories and briefing materials are available upon request.

If your grant program priorities enables support for such projects, please inform us.

Sincerely,
Tigran Yepoyan, Program Director, MIR I NADEZHDA

Message received by CCSI: May 26, 1998

Last updated:    May 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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