Program Accomplishments

Although there were many positive outcomes of this program, the following highlights a few of the accomplishments:

Youth Self-Government Day, City of Artyom:

On October 23, 2006, at the invitation of Vladimir Novikov, mayor of Artyom, Russian program participants held a Day of Youth Governance in the city administration. Participants in this project are university and high school students who aspire to take an active role in their community. These 30 young people were selected in a competitive process to take part, and on October 23rd, 2006, they assumed the positions of mayor, his deputies and department heads in the municipal government. The young people also took part in an intensive week-long training to prepare them for these roles, and had opportunities to shadow their adult mentors. Additionally, participants in the Model UN-Russian Far East took three days to train the young people on public speaking, goal-setting, and project development to prepare them for the discussions and roundtables in which they would participate.

The culmination of the project was the annual Youth Day Festival in Artyom in June 2007. Held every year to celebrate the city’s young people, this will be the first time that the youth will organize the entire festival themselves. On October 23rd, after much hard work, the youth administration presented their plans to the mayor and his staff, along with a plan to refurbish the central city park with funds from the municipal budget. The mayor approved their plan and budget, and the young people will spend the next six months preparing for this major city holiday.

It is important to mention the extensive practical aim of the project. Due to their participation in the project, young people not only had the opportunity to learn about local government, but gained practical skills in problem-solving and teamwork. It is also notable that Mayor Novikov, a participant in the program (March 2006), opened his administration to this project and to the young people of his city. His leadership and the hard work of the team saw results beyond Artyom: in March 2007 launched a similar activity in two new towns, Arsenyev and Nadezhinsky region, at the invitation of the administrations in these two locations.

Training in Vladivostok inspires new leaders:

The culmination of our trips to the RFE was two-day seminar on leadership and governance in both Vladivostok and Khabarovsk. Participants who traveled to Seattle identified leadership, ethics, conflict resolution and effective negotiations as training modules that would be easiest to share with a diverse group of people. Activities combined lectures and theoretical knowledge with a number of practical small group exercises, as well as sharing from the participants about their experiences with governance practices in their region. Participants represented educational institutions, NGOs, business, media and, to a lesser extent, governmental agencies. The U.S. team was very pleased to work with a group that was enthusiastic and eager to take part in the training, as well as the high evaluations given by participants. Many people who attended remarked at the conclusion of the training that they felt invigorated and more eager to become leaders and to make a positive impact on their community.

Russian local leaders increase government, civic collaboration:

A highlight of this program has been the increased collaboration of government, civic and community leaders on issues of governance in the Russian Far East. Because of their participation in the program, the mayors of Artyom, Yakovlevka and Khabarovsk Municipal District have all stated that they are much more willing to invite NGOs to work with them, and that they see great value in engaging civil society on issues of local governance. Vladimir Novikov, mayor of Artyom, has gone so far as to open his administration to a project headed by NGO leaders and educators designed to engage young people in local governance. Not only the mayor, but his many deputies and department heads are involved in the program, which is a significant investment of their time. Similarly, Vladimir Aleshko, head of the Khabarovsk Municipal District, stated that he would more actively pursue a working relationship with fellow participant Nina Polichka, who heads an NGO that provides government consulting and training. After their three-week program together, Vladimir saw that, working closely with Nina, he could encourage greater transparency, accountability and willingness to engage local citizens in governance among the staff of his administration and local elected officials.

New Russian-U.S. partnership on governance practices:

While in Seattle, participant Nina Polichka visited the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) of Washington. MRSC has decades of experience providing consultation and research, particularly on legislative and development matters, to municipalities in Washington State, and is the only organization of its kind in the U.S. MRSC also houses a large library of materials and offers services like providing draft legislation or statutes to cities. Nina, who runs an analogous center in Khabarovsk, was tremendously impressed with the center, and with the help of FRAEC staff, kept in communication with them after her return to Khabarovsk. In October the opportunity arose for them to solidify their partnership with a grant from USAID’s U.S.-RFE Partnership Activity, administered by FRAEC. Nina’s colleague, Elena Veprikova, worked with MRSC to write a winning grant proposal, and the two centers are worked together for one year and have pledged to continue working together. As part of their project, Elena and two of her consultants traveled to Seattle for two weeks in March 2007 to intern at MRSC and to visit municipalities in the region. In July 2007 MRSC Executive Director, Rich Yukubousky, and another staff member, Fred Ward, traveled to Vladivostok and Khabarovsk to conduct trainings on July 10-11 and in Khabarovsk on July 12-13 focused on “The Best Practices in Local Self-Governance”, with financial support (international airfare) from the BECA governance project. The governance participants, as well as numerous local government staff and officials attended the trainings. FRAEC coordinated with all trainers to ensure no duplication of topics. The governance participants rated both trainings as very important and very useful.

Participants develop new training programs:

Participant Maya Levadnyaya, a professor at the Primorsky Institute for Government and Municipal Service, is developed a new leadership and conflict resolution training modules based on materials and trainings from her program in Seattle. Her colleague, Maxim Beloborodov, who took part in the two-day workshop in Vladivostok, is already using portions of the ethics and conflict of interest module, conducted by Richard Humphreys, in his trainings for government administrators. He is in the process of getting approval for a new course on ethics, which will incorporate some of Richard’s materials.

Participant Re-elected:

Participant Vladimir Aleshko (July 2006), Mayor of Khabarovsk Municipal District, was re-elected to another four-year term in office in October. Vladimir was so impressed by his training program in Seattle that he gathered more than 50 local elected officials and civil servants from his district to hear presentations on good governance practices with the U.S team.

Russian youth engaged in good governance activities:

Russian participants in the program have identified that working with youth is key to promoting good governance, transparency and accountability in their regions. In addition to the Youth Day of Governance, several participants have been working on governance and leadership projects geared towards youth, which our team supported during our visit. Most notable were visits to the Model United Nations, where our team had several discussions on current world affairs and governance with 20 young people who are Model UN members. The youth, who all speak fluent English, are eager to hear American perspectives about world affairs and the Russian Far East, as well as to share their opinions about the development of their region. The Model UN program, whose director Maria Kabalyk is a participant in the governance program, works to engage youth in thinking about global affairs as well as local governance. Because of her experience in the U.S., Maria is even more dedicated to engaging these young people and encouraging their growth as future democratic leaders.

Youth, NGOs and governance:

Participant Olga Butakova is making an impact in the NGO community. During our visits, we attended a conference of youth NGOs in Vladivostok, organized by youth volunteers with the Center for Civic Initiatives and Social Partnerships, a meeting with university student council leaders and MUNRFE leaders who sponsored the “Firestarter Camp” for english speaking high school students. More than 200 young people attended an NGO fair, followed by a mini-conference and presentations on NGO development. Olga credited FRAEC and the U.S. Department of State for their roles in encouraging the positive development of NGOs in the region, and pointed out the important roles that NGOs play in governance. She also took the opportunity to announce that her organization has entered into a new partnership with the city administration, and together they will be working on a good governance project aimed at youth in Vladivostok.