OVERVIEW

Table of Contents

United States Information Agency's (USIA) programs in the New Independent States (NIS) promote the development of free-market economies and democratic institutions. The principal programmatic mechanism USIA employs in its programs is the exchange visit, which ranges from short-term visitor programs to academic degree programs. USIA exchanges are complemented by in-country training by U.S. experts, book programs, and news and information services.

USIA's programs in the NIS are funded through two mechanisms: base funding, appropriated directly from Congress to USIA; and Freedom Support Act funding, appropriated by Congress under the Foreign Assistance Act and targeted to promote democratic and economic reforms in the NIS. USIA Freedom Support Act funded programs have focused specifically on the following issues: democratization, rule of law, free market reform, free and independent media, and educational reform.

In recent years, Freedom Support Act funding for the NIS has decreased as programs become self-supporting and private sector investment -- including cost sharing -- increases. Congress allocated approximately $641 million for Freedom Support Act programs in FY 96 ($31 million went to USIA) with large amounts directed to programs in Ukraine and Armenia, and $625 million in FY 97 ($31.74 million to USLA,). Of the monies directed to Russia, priority continues to be aimed at reaching out to the regions. In Russia, 80 percent of all USIA program funds reach outside the cosmopolitan centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

Faculty-level Academic Exchange Programs

Graduate-level Academic Exchange Programs

Undergraduate-level Exchange Programs

ENGLISH TRAINING PROGRAMS

SPEAKERS AND ACADEMIC SPECIALISTS

INTERNATIONAL VISITORS PROGRAMS

CITIZEN EXCHANGES

INFORMATION & PUBLICATIONS PROGRAMS

BUREAU OF BROADCASTING

Last updated:    April 1997

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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