IATP News

Website Jumpstarts NGO in Georgia

When the NGO Young Teachers and Psychologists Association (YTPA) (http://ytpa.ge.iatp.net ) in Tbilisi, Georgia, put their newly created website online earlier this year, they had no idea the amount of new contacts and opportunities it would generate for them.

Members of the NGO YTPA participated in Web design training at the local IATP center in Tbilisi in March 2009.  During the course, all participants have the opportunity to create their own website and have it hosted on the IATP server in their country. Not long after YTPA’s new website went online, several high school principals in Tbilisi contacted the NGO to inquire about their services and potential collaboration because they had seen the website.  Principals from schools #173, 177, 208, and 39 decided to cooperate with YTPA and all signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the organization to conduct training sessions for students on how to better communicate with their parents.

The student training began in June and NGO staff conducted over 40 sessions. Almost 250 students participated in the training from the two schools.  Eighth grade student Ana Abramishvili explained that now she views her mother and father’s parenting a little differently, “The information conveyed at the training helped me understand why my parents try to control me so much.  Now I clearly recognize they only do what they do because they love me and care about me.”

For a small NGO in the breakaway region of Transdnistria in Moldova, access to free ICT  training and internet is not a resource taken for granted. Without the skills NGO members acquired at the Tiraspol IATP Center – the only place to get free training and internet in the region – the NGO Reproductive Health Center would probably not have had the opportunity to win a grant from UNICEF.  But that’s exactly what happened on September 2, 2009.

This Moldovan NGO specializes in offering family planning services to its community members and in raising awareness about maternal and child health care. Earlier this year, employees of the NGO came to IATP to study computer and internet basics. They wanted ICT skills to search for grants on the internet and apply for them online. They finished their training, applied their new skills, and in September, they received the good news from UNICEF.

“The skills we received at the IATP center, as well as the opportunity to work on the internet free of charge, are invaluable to our organization. It is particularly important in our fundraising efforts and establishing contact with international organizations. We also use the internet to communicate and cooperate with other NGOs that work in the same sphere as us,” remarked NGO Director Irina Goreacikovskaia.

Librarian’s Persistence and Innovation brings Technology to Chisinau School

A graduate of the IT4Librarians Project, Tatiana Cucereavii is busy applying her new ICT skills to improve services at the Traian high school library in Chisinau, Moldova. After her successful completion of the program in May Cucereavii wasted no time demonstrating her new ICT skills to the school principal and successfully lobbying to have the school equipped with a brand new computer and an internet connection.

Cucereavii then worked throughout the summer vacation to create a temporary database for the library books using the knowledge of Microsoft Excel she acquired through her IATP training. Cucereavii explains that the Ministry of Education officials are set to provide special database software for school libraries in Moldova but until then she plans to use the Excel database she created herself to check out books to students. By setting up a system she could use by the beginning of this academic year rather, Cucereavii can spend more time on her other duties.

"I was so happy to see that the director appreciated my new skills and trusted me enough to offer me a brand new computer for the library. This summer, I didn’t waste any time and made great efforts to improve my work processes so that my job would be easier for me in the future."

Her colleagues and fellow IATP trainees Elena Cortac and Nadejda Pruteanu have also received computers for their school libraries after following Cucereavii’s lead in demonstrating their new ICT skills and advocating for the importance of technology in libraries.

So far in 2009, IATP has trained more than 80 librarians in regions throughout Moldova including Chisinau, Comrat, Tiraspol, Cahul, and Soroca. For more information about the IT4Librarians Project visit the project’s blog.

NGO Promotes Institutional Development; Farmers Modernize Practices in Tajikistan

More than 145 farmers in Tajikistan

have acquired new ICT skills since March, thanks to a burgeoning joint venture between ITAP and local NGOs committed to helping develop the country’s agricultural sector.

Rustam Nasriddinov, head of the Tajik agricultural NGO Lola Farming, inspired the initiative by asking IATP to conduct a mobile training-of-trainers in February 2009.  A veteran IATP user himself, Nasriddinov set up a website for Lola Farming after receiving Web design training at the Dushanbe center. He continued to draw on IATP resources by coordinating the February training-of-trainers, which was designed to prepare three NGO employees and five farmers to train farmers in Tajikistan in basic computer skills and demonstrate how advanced technologies could help develop their businesses.

Ahliddin Qurbonov, an employee of the NGO Anvor, participated in the IATP training-of-trainers and now offers computer and internet courses to local farmers in Vahdat. Anyor was originally implementing a project to provide legal support and business planning skills to farmers. But, he says, they quickly realized that teaching farmers ICT skills was essential: “Without knowledge of information technology, it would be nearly impossible for the farmers to move to the next level of their development.”

Comrat NGO Communicates More Effectively with ICT

IATP trainee Andrei Borshevski launched a website for the NGO Equality in April 2009. Equality, located in Comrat, Moldova, seeks to defend women’s legal rights, particularly those of young women, promote greater female representation in government, increase women’s access to education, and combat female human trafficking. Borshevski learned about IATP in 2000 from his friends. Together, they attended IATP training sessions for over three years. Although he had no prior ICT experience before visiting IATP, his work in Web design and Adobe Photoshop helped him become a capable website creator.

Despite their attempts to meet the many needs of local women, Equality staff had difficulty publicizing specific services to target groups in a clear manner. They knew the internet could help them reach these groups, but their original website had problems with unwanted commercial advertising, pop-up windows, and reliability. With Equality’s new, easy-to-use website, however, individuals and groups can find relevant information pertaining to their issues and concerns. They can also contact Equality’s staff and board of directors, whether seeking direct help or partnership opportunities. Borshevski’s IATP-taught skills thus opened up new avenues of communication among the NGO’s clients and partners. Borshevski noted, “As a volunteer at this NGO, I had the chance to develop this site, but it would have been impossible without all the skills and knowledge that I obtained during the courses I took at IATP. When I first came to IATP, I didn’t know anything about working with the computer.”

Borshevski one of several Moldovan citizens who have developed new technical skills and created locally-focused online resources with IATP’s assistance. Today, the IATP server in Moldova hosts 118 websites. Nine of these were created during the last three months.

Online Outreach Helps Political Group Identify and Address Community Needs

Seventeen-year-old internally displaced person (IDP) Merab Gurchiani is advocating for better living conditions in Tskhinvali, Georgia. Originally from Liakhvis Kheoba, which is near Tskhinvali, Gurchiani reported the unsatisfactory situation he and other IDPs faced in their temporary housing at a university dormitory in Tbilisi. In January 2009, he emailed his list of concerns to Industry Will Save Georgia (IWSG), a political movement comprised of IATP trainees (mgs.ge.iatp.net/). In response, the political movement sent a representative to investigate the problem and organized a successful charity drive to address the IDPs’ needs. The effort yielded food, bedding, hygienic goods, and school supplies, improving their living conditions.

The drive’s success is attributable to Industry Will Save Georgia’s outreach efforts. To publicize the problem and their response to it, IWSG staff created a website for the organization. In doing so, they used skills acquired though a Web design course at the Tbilisi IATP Center in late 2008. For that course, IATP teamed up with the USAID-funded International Republican Institute (IRI) and gathered 14 representatives from various political groups and parties. By the end of the 2008 training, three organizations developed websites: IWSG, New Rights (ncp.ge.iatp.net/), and Kartuli Dasi (kartulidasi.ge.iatp.net/). These sites are among 654 Georgian websites hosted by IATP since 2008.

Creating these pages has led to an increase in communication between society and political parties. IWSG representative Irina Sukhishvili said, “After considering many methods, simple ICT technology turned out to be the most effective means for communication. After we developed the website, numerous citizens contacted us to deliver or solicit information, among them Merab Gurchiani.” IATP training thus resulted in a tangible, positive impact for one of Georgia’s most vulnerable populations.

IATP Training Helps Local NGO Win Grant Award

In March 2009, Moldovan NGO Biaz Gul (White Rose) won a second project grant with assistance from IATP. The NGO advocates for the rights and social reintegration of people living with HIV/AIDS.

The $3,000 grant was provided by the Soros Foundation. These funds will go towards consultations and social support services for HIV/AIDS patients in southern Moldova. In 2008, Comrat IATP staff taught Biaz Gul representatives to use computers and the internet in seeking grant opportunities. That December, the group received $1,000 from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) for a project improving the quality of life for children living in HIV/AIDS-affected families.

Biaz Gul President Alexander Zavrichko told IATP that, "as our association at present is in search of an office, the IATP center remains for us our only opportunity to work on computers and access the internet free of charge. Thanks to IATP, we have achieved serious successes, such as enhancing our knowledge, gaining new contacts, and winning two grants for our project."

Since opening in 2008, the USAID-funded IATP center in Comrat has reached hundreds of this region’s underserved citizens. IATP’s assistance to individuals is multiplied when it helps organizations such as Biaz Gul improve their potential and communities.

Citizens Get Legal Advice at IATP Center

On December 6, 2008, 17 residents of Imishli, Azerbaijan, received legal assistance from representatives of the American Bar Association (ABA). The meeting was organized by the local IATP center as part of the USAID-funded Traveling Lawyers project, which provides free legal advice to people in Azerbaijan’s rural regions. So far, the pro-bono lawyers have consulted over 850 clients across the country.

The lawyers were asked to solve a host of problems, including land disputes, inheritance issues, social services problems, and criminal claims. Some issues required further legal follow-up from Baku, although many were resolved on the spot by the knowledgeable lawyers. In one case, a client with five children asked at what age his wife was eligible for a pension. His counsel responded that according to Article 8.1 of the Law of The Republic of Azerbaijan on Labor Pensions, women who have given birth to three or more children, have cared for them through age eight, and have paid social welfare taxes for at least five years, are conditionally entitled to a pension at age 49.

One man needed a document certifying his ownership over the house where he currently lives. This kind of problem is typical in Azerbaijan, especially in the country’s remote provinces, as many villagers occupy and build houses on empty, unclaimed plots of land. He did so in 2004, and now requires documents certifying ownership of the property in order to sell the house. The Service of State Registry of Real Estate refused his application, citing his lack of ownership over the land or the structure. The ABA lawyers told him that his only legal recourse would be to check whether the land was municipal property, and if so, buy it from the government. After that, he would be able to submit an application to build the house. If successful, he was instructed to apply to the State Registry and have the structure registered, certifying his right to it.

The IATP center’s unique community center environment and public access point for information make it an ideal partner for other free services provided by USAID projects. One citizen, Celal Ahmedov, said, “This is the first time that we in Imishli have had access to legal consultation from Baku lawyers. We express our gratitude to USAID for supporting programs that help us get legal consultations for free.”

IATP User Advocates Tolerance in Multiethnic Society

The director of the NGO Network of Cultural Exchange and Interethnic Confidence (NCEIC) in Sevastopol, Ukraine, Tetyana Seniushkina, organized a three-day international seminar on the topic “Religion and Civil Society: New National Boundaries and the Paradoxes of the Globalization of Culture” at the end of November. NCEIC’s website, developed with the assistance of IATP in 2003, helps to attract more people to the organization’s activities, and as a result, more experts on building tolerance in multiethnic societies have been attending Semiushkina’s eight seminars. She uses her multimedia skills to promote NCEIC at public events, update its website, and disseminate information. Semiushkina has increased the NCEIC’s profile and managed to increase active participation from as few as 30 in 2003, to 120 at the November meeting, including participants from Ukraine, Russia, the United States, and Chile.

A PhD in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the National University of Tavria, Seniushkina has volunteered at the Sevastopol IATP Center since its opening. She has participated in and moderated IATP online discussions on tolerance and preventing ethnic intolerance. She actively collaborates with sociologists from the United States, Norway, Poland, and the Netherlands who readily come to the seminars and workshops organized by NCEIC to advocate for civil rights in multiethnic societies and to share European and American experiences of building civil society.

In recognition of her efforts to advocate tolerance and for creating the network’s website, Seniushkina was selected by the coordinators of the 153-nation project “1,000 Women for Peace” to represent Ukraine at the Nobel Prize Nomination in 2005. The project issued a book featuring information on the project’s activities and photos of the 1,000 global representatives.

IATP User Advocates for Human Rights on World Stage

Natalya Scherbata from Vinnytsia, Ukraine, the President of the Ukrainian Association of Women Lawyers, has been an active user of IATP services since 2002, She recently filed a case on behalf of a female resident of Vinnytsia to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), her third such petition.

Scherbata actively used IATP services and facilities to improve her professional skills and knowledge. After using the web to find international trainings, workshops, conferences, and study tours on human rights issues, she applied online and was selected to participate in many of them. In 2007, she conducted training for IATP users on lodging complaints to the ECHR, demonstrating that human rights violations could be stopped.

In November, Scherbata regularly checked the European Court’s website to monitor the progress of the case, as judgments are first published online. The case concerns an alleged property rights violation but remains confidential (www.echr.coe.int). Ten citizens of Vinnytsya have received positive decisions from the Court in recent years. As yet, however, there has been no decision in Scherbata’s current action.

Filing a motion with the European Court requires finding the Application form online, printing it out, filling it in using one’s native language and sending it by normal post or fax to the headquarters of the European Court in Starsbourg. The basic technical skills required for such an action have been taught by IATP in Ukraine for nearly a decade.

Scherbata commented, “It is a fact that through Internet access at IATP centers, Ukrainians are becoming aware of their rights and applying for protection to the European Court. This proves the development of civil society in Ukraine.” In the past year, IATP in Ukraine trained more than 190 NGO representatives like Natalya Scherbata to use technology in ways that advance civil society activities.