Communities Of, By and For the People

About this grant

The program goal is to improve the quality of life in Russian communities by strengthening partnerships between government and citizens through effective public participation in community development. The Siberian Civic Initiatives Support Center will refine its approach to improving community-level governance to include greater emphasis on economic development, while also building the community’s capacity to assess the outcomes of participatory development strategies on improved quality of life. Work will focus on the Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Tyumen regions and will include heightened efforts to target youth in these regions. With the previous grant, over 70 local government officials and civic activists undertook a tailored distance learning course. The regional government of Irkutsk oblast established a business development fund responding in part to local efforts to diversify the economy from reliance on a single employer. Founded in 1995 and based in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, the grantee fosters citizen participation and promotes a political, social, and economic environment recognizing the value of civic initiatives.