Belarusian Social Information Bureaus
Working Community of Associations of Social Organizations
- Program Civil Society
- Program Area Strengthening Civic Space
- Grant Amount $100,000
- Grant Period June 1, 2007–August 31, 2009
- Location Warszawa, Poland
- Geographic Focus Belarus
About this grant
The program goal is to help Belarusian citizens protect their rights and receive social services. The grantee will work in close partnership with the Belarusian Association of Social Workers to promote the sustainable development of a national network of 12 social information bureaus in Belarus. Staff of these bureaus will receive training and consulting assistance on such issues as volunteer development, cooperation with local government, and community activism. In addition, these bureaus will manage a unified database of social and legal assistance information accessible to local residents seeking assistance or redress on social, economic, and consumer issues. The grantee and its Belarusian partner will also conduct public information campaigns to familiarize more Belarusians with the bureaus and the services they offer. Created in 2000 and based in Poland, the Working Community of Associations of Social Organizations is a federation of regional social work associations, which seeks to represent the interests of socially marginalized individuals and groups.