Each of the broad program areas is the responsibility of one of the
program officers.
Human
Rights, Legal Reform, and Legal Education
Since 1990 the Foundation has supported organizations such as Memorial,
the Glasnost Defense Foundation, the Human Right Project Group and its small grants
competition, as well as women’s organizations. It has financed training for judges,
preparatory work on the jury system, related research and publications, and regional
seminars and a journal on constitutional reform. The Moscow office will continue to
support organizations which use legal methods to defend freedom of speech, as well as
individual and collective rights violated by the government or private organizations. It
will also support projects aimed at strengthening legal institutions, or encouraging legal
defense of rights, including legal education. Applications from practicing legal and
academic institutions, and from nongovernmental human rights organizations, from both the
regions and the capital, are equally welcome.
Program Officer: Mary McAuley
Independent Analysis of Economic
and Social Policy
One of the Ford Foundation’s priorities in Russia is to support
economic reform and mitigate its negative social consequences. Grants support indigenous
Russian institutions and initiatives which seek to define and promote solutions to
problems in such areas as banking and fiscal policy, pension reform, labor market
development, income distribution and social stratification, migration and refugees, and
taxation policy. Past grants have supported, among others, the Institute for Economic
Analysis in Moscow, the Expert Institute for research on the adaptation of enterprises to
economic reforms, and the Moscow School for Social and Economic Sciences for a conference
on the “informal” economy.
Program Officer:
Higher
Education in Sociology, Politics, Economics, and Modern Russian History
For the last five years, the Ford Foundation has supported the
strengthening of individual social science disciplines such as economics, political
science, sociology, and modern Russian history, as well as the creation and development of
independent institutions which contribute to improving the quality of higher education in
Russia. During the past five years, Foundation-funded programs have included the social
science research competition “New Perspective” administered by the Moscow Public
Science Foundation, and the establishment of a new university in St. Petersburg.
Preference at this time is given to proposals which seek to develop the social sciences
and higher education in Russia’s regions; inter-regional proposals are given particular
attention.
Program Officer:
Regional Civic Initiatives
The Ford Foundation believes that the initiatives of citizens, united in civic
associations and local governments, are the basis for a civil society, as well as an
important mechanism for the defense of citizens’ interests.
Support for
Nongovernmental Organizations
Many of the Foundation’s grantees are organizations that help third sector groups
organize, and develop more effectively. Funded activities may take many forms. Some
grantees provide training for NGOs, such as the Charities Aid Foundation. Others
disseminate information to aid social movements, such as the Information Center for the
Independent Women’s Forum, while others provide telecommunications support. Although
many of the Foundation’s initial grantees, including those listed above, are Moscow
organizations, the Foundation is very interested in expanding the geographic scope of its
activities. It welcomes and supports projects from the regions (for example, the Congress
of Women of the Kola Peninsula). In addition, the Foundation foresees providing support in
new areas, which have particular importance for the nonprofit sector.
Program Officer: Christopher Kedzie
The
Development of Local Communities and Local Governance
Decentralization has thrust new responsibilities on Russian city,
oblast , and republic administrations. Assistance for the development of local
self-government is a new area of activity for the Ford Foundation in Russia. Key aspects
of this initiative may include public accountability, municipal finance, the delivery of
social services, and NGO/government relations. The Foundation expects that innovative
programs to address these issues will come from a variety of sources, including
educational institutions, community-based organizations, research institutes,
inter-regional associations, and local administrative bodies themselves, as well as other
groups.
Program Officer: Christopher Kedzie
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Human
Rights, Legal Reform, and Legal Education