Ashgabat, July 31, 2006 - The World Bank Liaison Office in Turkmenistan awarded seven Turkmen non-government organizations grants totaling $34,000 from the Small Grants Program for implementation of projects focusing on the empowerment of marginalized and vulnerable groups.
All 23 requests and applications for grants were carefully and thoroughly reviewed, and seven best projects meeting the requirements of the Small Grants Program were selected by the Evaluation Committee for funding.
1) Lebap branch of Public Center “Hemayat” (Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan)
The purpose of the grant is to foster social integration of the disabled youth in the life of the region by creating elements of social partnership and collaboration with local authorities (labor registry office and municipality), private sector and civil society through joint seminar-trainings and round-tables; to facilitate development of the local initiatives in order to assist inclusion of disabled youth in the society; to provide informational educational & legal support to disabled youth in order to raise awareness of their rights, give voice to their concerns and enhance engagement in the local development process.
2) National Center of Special Olympics of Turkmenistan (Ashgabat, Turkmenistan)
The project supports rehabilitation and directly help children with special needs in order to improve their psychological adaptation in society through their active involvement in the Special Olympics activities in the rural areas of Turkmenistan; to support establishment of network of the parent of children with special needs in order to exchange experience in issues of social integration of the disabled children; to raise public awareness about the issues faced by the children with special needs thru joint round tables with local authorities and community groups; to support change in social attitudes to disabled children in society thru public awareness campaign.
3) Turkmen Society of the Blind and Deaf (Ashgabat, Turkmenistan)
The purpose of the grant is to support social mobilization and integration of the people with hearing and speaking disabilities into the normal life by granting them access to informational resources and actively engaging them into the Turkmen blind and deaf society activities; to support provision of a sustained mechanism for social adaptation and inclusion of the people with hearing and speaking disabilities thru establishment of the group of the specially trained young volunteers throughout the country in order to facilitate their interaction with and access to the state and local authorities, civil society organizations and local communities; to support enhancement of the partnership among interested NGOs, governmental bodies and trained volunteers thru joint meetings and round tables to discuss accessibility issues of the people with hearing and speaking disabilities..
4) Union of Inventors of Turkmenistan (Ashgabat, Turkmenistan)
The purpose of the grant is to improve access to information for local communities and local governments on how to tackle ecological problems on community level; to facilitate local initiatives and foster youth participation in addressing ecological problems through various activities including establishment of the youth eco-activist groups, joint seminars and ecological actions with local authorities, rural communities and local research institutes; to raise public awareness on ecological issues faced by communities by preparing and disseminating informational material and newsletters; to share experience of the project with the other rural communities which have to tackle similar issues through periodical newsletters and round tables.
5) Public Center of Languages №2 (Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan)
The purpose of the grant is to support active engagement of women living in the rural areas in social and economic life of the region and to encourage the increase of the share of their participation in the local governments thru organization of the joint seminars and trainings on women leadership and women rights; to provide women from rural with access to information related to development of women’s social activity in rural areas; to facilitate local initiatives by assisting inclusion of women in the life of the region through “Open House” events and round tables with women activists, local authorities and communities, international organizations and civil society organizations experienced in women leadership issues to share experience, to provide opportunity for dialogue with stakeholders and to discuss success stories of women active participation.
6) Educational Center “Galkynysh” (Lebap, etrap Galkynysh, Turkmenistan)
The purpose of the grant is to improve legal literacy and foster empowerment of rural youth by running a series of workshops and trainings in areas of youth special interest (constitutional rights of the youth and social leadership); to conduct summer youth camp for the selected youth leaders from rural and urban areas in order to share experience in and knowledge of youth participation in development processes both at local and national level and to foster networking between these two groups; to share experience of the project with the representatives of local authorities, local communities and NGOs through periodical newsletters and round tables.
7) Public Union “Accountant of Turkmenistan” (Ashgabat, Turkmenistan)
The purpose of the grant is to improve access of the local communities, CSOs and NGOs to public information on development issues and economic processes in the country including information on budgeting and public finance in order to build capacity of the civil society in the design and monitoring of the public policies thru a series of workshops and trainings; to enhance partnerships between government agencies, local governments, Turkmen public and NGOs thru joint round tables in order to establish a ongoing dialogue between stakeholders on public transparency, accountability issues and importance of the engagement of the population in formulation of the public social programs; to support information campaign in order to raise awareness of the importance of the social accountability in the development processes in the country. |
RSS