2008 Fellows Report on Action-Plan Progress at Dover House
When the Fellows return to their home countries they have an action-plan to implement. On Monday 6th July 2009, our last year’s 2008 Fellowship group met at Dover House (Scotland Office) by kind permission of Rt Hon Jim Murphy MP (Secretary of State for Scotland) to report on the progress they have made on their action-plan projects since last year.
Trust Director Brian Brivati chairs the conference at Dover House
Ovsanna Yeghoyan from Armenia and Pavlo Khazan from Ukraine reported significant success in the environmental sphere. Ovsanna has successfully obtained considerable funding for her project which will provide employment for women at the same time as creating a cleaner, plastic bag free environment in Armenia. Via ‘sewing cooperatives’ women in rural areas will learn how to produce re-usable bags. She will involve local authorities, NGOs, hotels, supermarkets, the national airport, and youth groups in an eight week ‘Bag For Life’ campaign. In the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine, Pavlo has developed a green waste-management system. A pilot project was launched by Pavlo in the Igren district where a dangerous waste dump was closed in 2007. Pavlo organised the cleaning of the area and developed a sustainable waste removal management system involving the local community.
Pavlo Khazan working for environmental reform in the Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine
In the judicial sphere, Georgian Fellow Natalie Tsnoriashvili reported on the achievements of her Court Monitoring Project. A monitoring team spent six months observing 1,335 hearings in Georgian courts. Following the court observation, Natalia is finalising a report of findings and recommendations to give to court managers. The success of the project has resulted in the original six month time period being extended to a two year process.
Hrayr Gyonjyan (Armenia) and Irina Krylatova (Russia) listen to their contemporaries report on the progress made since last year
Two of our 2008 Fellows from Azerbaijan and Moldova are contributing to peace-building in the region. Moldovan Fellow Vlada Lisenco has created a ‘European Center for Peace and Development’ in order to promote European values and serve as an informational resource centre for people in the Transdniestrian region of Moldova. Vlada has organised 10 seminars on ‘EU, Peace and Conflict Resolution’ and has created an EU library. She has launched a Cooperative Peace Project 2009-2010 in order to empower civil society in Moldova and Transdniestria to actively engage in peace building and conflict transformation work.
Vlada Lisenco reports on her work in the Transdniestrian region
In the Caucasus region, Fuad Hasanov from Azerbaijan is devoting his time to the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Fuad has established two peace houses in Baku and Khankendi. He has set up language classes in Azerbaijani, Armenian and Turkish, and launched discussion clubs and workshops on the latest developments of the conflict.
Russian Fellow Maxim Timofeyev talks about his work with offenders in St. Petersburg
Viktor Burtnyy from the Tyumen region of Russia has launched the ‘You In Net’, a Youth Information Network in order to educate young people about their rights and to encourage their involvement in politics and society. Due to Viktor’s efforts a regional Youth Assembly was created in November 2008 and the Public Youth Chamber of the Tyumen Regional Duma has been modernised and reformed. He has developed a ‘Youth and Law’ handbook which informs young people about their rights and the legislation which concerns them. Viktor has received funding from the regional government to launch a youth network centre – a website which is currently under development. As a result of his visit to the Scottish Parliament during the Fellowship Programme, Viktor has successfully launched a project called ‘Open Duma’, allowing students and others to experience the work of the legislative assembly.
Ibragim Arsanov reports on his community work in Chechnya and informs his contemporaries that he will stand for election in October 2009
From Kyrgyzstan Dmitry Samokhvalov planned to establish a Citizen’s Advice Bureau in the Talas region of Kyrgyzstan. Research conducting by Dmitry showed that there was demand among the local population for an independent multipurpose voluntary organisation that could provide expert social, legal and human rights advice. In addition to providing a vital service to the people of Talas, Dmitry plans to use evidence of people’s problems to campaign for improvement of policies and services provided by the government, thus making local government more transparent and accountable. Dmitry has secured premises for the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, formed a working group, and recruited specialists from NGOs to staff the Bureau.
Azeri Fellow Ramila Aslanova is working to improve conditions for farmers in her country
The John Smith Memorial Trust would like to thank Jim Murphy MP, John McTernan and all at Dover House for their generous assistance and for making this a special day for our 2008 Fellows.
July 2009