One Year On – 2010 Fellows’ Action Plan Progress Report
On Sunday 3rd July 2011, our 2010 Fellows reunited in London to report on the progress made on their action plan projects since presenting their ideas a year ago at No 11 Downing Street. They were joined by this year’s cohort of Fellows for the day of presentations held at the Mint Hotel Westminster – enabling both year groups to meet, exchange ideas, and cooperate on projects of mutual interest.
Natalya Gumenyuk reports on her progress over the last year
Ukrainian Fellow Nataliya Gumenyuk (pictured above) reported on her progress in increasing public awareness and support for public broadcasting. Natalya updated the audience on the current legislative processes taking place and reported on the conferences and public discussions she has organised over the last year to promote awareness of the issue. Natalya produced a live TV show called ‘Full Access’, a unique event devoted to analysis of the media in Ukraine. As a result of her work, the Delegation of the EU Commission to Ukraine has announced significant funding for work to promote the law on public broadcasting, training, and further activities. Natalya hopes that next year legislation will be adopted in this area, followed by implementation of public broadcasting by 2013, creating the basis for a free press in Ukraine.
Last year Marina Mkhitaryan (pictured below) told the audience at Downing Street about her plans to promote social enterprise in Armenia as a business model for NGOs. Marina reported considerable success at the conference – three Armenian NGOs have piloted social enterprise as a business model. These NGOs have recruited staff from vulnerable groups, such as unemployed women from rural areas, to produce hand-made gifts and other items. This has resulted in a source of employment for those unable to receive work, and a source of income to serve the social mission of the NGO. Via the use of crafts festivals and other events, these NGOs are spreading the word about this business model.
Marina Mkhitaryan is promoting social enterprise in Armenia
During the last year, Irakli Kotetishvili has achieved considerable success in his role as Director of the Georgian Civil Service Bureau. Learning from the UK expenses scandal, one of Irakli’s major achievements has been to implement an online system providing access to all public officials’ income and expenditure declarations at www.declaration.ge. He has also significantly increased the visibility of the Georgian Government using social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, flickr), has provided training to employees on the use of these tools, and was involved in the first livestream Facebook conference in Georgia in cooperation with the Mayor’s office.
Since completing the 2010 Fellowship Programme, Andrey Kalikh has implemented a number of actions to achieve his aim of ‘Bringing Civil Society Actors Together’ to tackle corruption in Russia. He has created a working group of human rights and anti-corruption experts including Transparency International Russia, INDEM Foundation, Institute for Human Rights, and the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights. In addition, he has launched a new E-bulletin called ‘Corruption and Human Rights’. The result of these actions, among others, has been to pool the expertise of civil society institutions and bring together the key players into a coalition that is increasingly in a position to speak with one voice to government on issues in this area.
Azer on his JSMT attachment placement last year at the Dept for Business Innovation and Skills
As a result of Azer Aleskerov's efforts, a new communication strategy of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) was approved in October 2010, along with the establishment of a new strategic communication division. This strategy has two key elements – firstly, to intensify communication with various groups such as the media, international community, and schools, and secondly to improve the bank’s communication via development of its website, publications, speeches and consultations. Azer reported that a number of actions have been taken to educate the public (both domestic and international audiences) about the bank’s work, including the launch of an FAQ page on the website, training for media representatives, CBA lectures at Universities, and an increased number of press conferences and interviews with Reuters and others. As a result of Azer’s work, the communications department of the CBA won the “Best PR Service of 2010” award among PR services of government organizations, and the CBA website won the “Best Website of the Year” award among websites of government organizations (by “Netty” Competition). Azer will continue to implement change via the establishment of a CBA e-library, launching CBA pages on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, establishing a professional blog of the Governor of the CBA, and organising open-door days for the general public.
Following the presentations, JSMT Trustee Dennis Sammut OBE led a discussion with Fellows on the role of the JSMT alumni in conflict management work in their countries. There was an intense exchange between the Fellows from across conflict divides and an emphasis on the importance of the Fellowship as a space in which Fellows could meet to share information and ideas. A series of recommendations were generated by the Fellows during the formal discussion and in informal talks afterwards. These are being considered by the Trust for implementation over the next year.
Lord Howell delivers the keynote speech at the Foreign and Commonwealth Conference
The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office welcomed the return of the 2010 Fellows and invited both year groups to attend a conference at the FCO by kind invitation of the Minister of State Rt Hon Lord David Howell. The theme of the conference was ’20 years on from the end of the Soviet Union: prospects and opportunities for conflict resolution in the post soviet space’, with speakers including Lord Howell, Walter Kemp (Director, Europe and Central Asia, International Peace Institute), Cerywn Moore (University of Birmingham), Laurie Bristow (Director, FCO Eastern Europe and Central Asia Directorate) and James Hughes (London School of Economics). The day provided an excellent opportunity for Fellows to meet leading academic experts in the region and the FCO desk officers who specialize in their countries. There was a clear difference between the worlds of theory and practice evident in the discussion and the challenge for the Trust going forward will be to design a forum in which there can be further engagement between researchers and Fellows working in the field.
The reunion of the 2010 Fellows and their meeting with the 2011 Fellowship group were celebrated with an evening reception held at the Mint Hotel, hosted by Trust Chairman Lord Falconer. Guests included Trustees of the John Smith Memorial Trust, attachment hosts, sponsors, and Fellows from earlier programmes including David Magradze (2004 Fellow), Hrayr Gyonjyan (2008 Fellow) and Chinara Kasmambetova (2000 Fellow).
The John Smith Memorial Trust would like to thank the Foreign and Commonweatlh Office and Lord Howell for the hosting our 44 Fellows at the FCO, and Mint Hotel for their generous hosting of our conference and evening reception.
July 2011
Photos courtesy of David Magradze