Programs: Advocacy, Civil Society Building and Institutional Development, Human Rights

Countries: Russia

One of ADF’s primary partners for civil society development in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union is the International Charitable Foundation for Political and Legal Research (Interlegal). Interlegal is a Russian NGO established in 1989 to promote the growth and development of the NGO sector throughout the former USSR. ADF has worked with Interlegal since 1992 with funding from USAID and private foundations. The range of successful collaborative projects includes: 1) research and educational programs to build public understanding and support for the NGO sector; 2) legal consulting services for NGOs to facilitate their registration and organizational development; 3) technical assistance to voluntary organizations for developing their public policy and advocacy platforms; and 4) information clearinghouses to encourage collaboration among voluntary organizations at the local, national, and international levels. Joint programs have been conducted in Russia, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

 

ADF provided support to Interlegal in its work related to the formation and development of the activities of the Civic Coalition Civil Society and Elections ’99 (the Coalition). The Coalition's mission is to consolidate the efforts and resources of member associations in order to ensure free and fair elections, and members include more than 250 civic groups representing a wide range of citizen interests across all geographic areas of the Russian Federation. The Coalition is a truly remarkable resource for public information and citizen education in the Russian Federation. Its work to educate and mobilize citizens as voters has been endorsed and embraced by Russia's official Central Election Commission and the general public.

 

From 1993 – 1997, ADF carried out significant work with the Moscow Research Center for Human Rights (MRCHR), an umbrella organization of fifteen human rights organizations established in 1991 to jointly promote human rights and improve the rule of law throughout the Russian Federation. With generous backing from several private foundations and the Institutional Partnership Program of the USAID Bureau for Europe and the New Independent States, ADF helped MRCHR reach beyond Moscow to become a nationwide organization, with positive results for the cause of increasing human rights awareness and protection in Russia. Accomplishments included:

 

MRCHR succeeded in expanding its ties to groups throughout the entirety of the Russian Federation, forging relationships with human rights groups in such disperse areas as St. Petersburg, Vladimir, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Nizhny Tagil, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, and the Murmansk region. This resulted in a new network of human rights organizations that continues to facilitate the exchange of information and expertise across the nation. And through training provided by the ADF-MRCHR partnership, these regional groups—most of them isolated and inexperienced beforehand—boosted their ability to effectively promote and protect human rights. Resource centers were created in each of the nine regions cited above.