 The World Bank Small Grant Program for non-governmental organizations has been implemented in Belarus since 1999. During this period the Program has supported 45 projects worth of about US $230 thousand selected through a tender out of more than 400 project proposals. The focuses of these projects are in line with the World Bank priorities in Belarus including health care, education, social welfare and environmental protection. In 2004 the Program supported six projects in different regions of Belarus.
The project has organized counselling meetings for the inmates of six public care institutions of the Gomel region to inform them about opportunities of preparing for entrance exams and getting higher education. The relevant education and methodological guidelines and materials containing information about education opportunities, professions that are in demand at the labor market and recommendations on how to adapt to independent living have been selected and elaborated. An Initiative Team has been established in the Gomel Technical University to provide counselling and other support to public care inmates of upper school age willing to enter this university. The project is supported by the Gomel Regional Executive Committee. Following the outreach campaign and the example demonstrated by the volunteer team, community members of the village of Gorodische, mainly schoolchildren, have engaged in the activities intended to remove illegal dump sites and to prevent their emergence on the territory of the village. The project interventions have been implemented jointly with the Minsk District Inspection of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection and NGO "Ecological Initiative". The project has organized the International Ethnographic and Ecological Festival "Call of Polesie" in the village of Kopatkevichy as part of comprehensive efforts within Local Agenda 21 and has set up a tourist club "Ecological Paths of Polesie". The project has focused on outreach work with the Minsk schoolchildren with a special emphasis on economic issues as well as development and publication of the unique methodological guidelines and didactic materials explaining how to employ peer education models including the illustrated guidelines "Economic concepts in pictures", a didactic economic role play "Ecoland" and multimedia tool-kit "Economic fairy tales" which will be then used in schools. The project is intended to contribute to protection and revitalization of the forest and park area "Medvezhino" of the "Zapad" district in Minsk. The initial stage of the project involved collection of wishes of the park visitors regarding selection of focus activities (re-establishment of lighting, replacement of benches, establishment of recreation sites, waste collection). On top of the selected focus areas, the numerous project efforts have included youth "green patrol", educational program for schoolchildren, environmental advocacy campaigns such as a workshop "Ecological Odyssey", ecological debates, contests of paintings and publication of the bulletin "Zapad - XX". The project is supported by the Administration of the Frunzensky district of Minsk. The project efforts are aimed at active rehabilitation of young people with various disabilities. The project has organized a workshop in Brest "Publicly useful works as a way of consolidation" and the exhibition of the works of the organizations focusing on rehabilitation through labor. The unit for labor therapy has been established jointly with the Employment Department of the Brest Regional Executive Committee.
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