|
A brief progress report of ISGP Foundation activities in 2007. A tentative plans for 2008
1. Major areas and activities: goals and stages
In 2006, we implemented stage 1: monitoring CEDAW compliance through the open grant contest “1,000 Women’s Stories and Testimonies. Proposals for Improving the Status of Women in Russia.”
In 2007, we are implementing the following three stages:
1. Lobbying initiatives for protecting women’s rights and interests. At the national level, we brought the problem of the non-payment of child support (alimony) after divorce before the State Duma in 2007 (in 2006, we did the same with the problem of the shortage of space in preschool education system). At the local level, we developed technologies allowing women to combine self-fulfillment and maternal functions and proposed them to the Moscow City Government;
2. Strategic litigation constructive examples of women defending their rights. This includes the participation in and organization of public trials allowing women to defend their rights as well as the collection and presentation of successful practices of women solving various problems for a broad audience.
3. Mobilization of resources for supporting women’s initiatives for raising legal awareness among women and protecting women’s rights;
In 2008, we plan to continue the programs launched in 2007 as well as to introduce a new component: consultative and practical assistance for women defending their rights in court (labor rights, the right to child support after divorce, etc.).
2. Problems, challenges, unexpected issues:
It became clear in 2007 that the Interdepartmental Commission on Gender Equality in the Russian Federation of the Government of the Russian Federation is incapable of serving as a national mechanism for improving women’s status. There is still no central organization for coordinating the work of the Committee for Women’s, Family, and Youth Affairs of the State Duma, the Commission for Women’s Affairs of the Council of the Federation, and the offices of Ministries and Government Departments.
The demographic policy declared by the state only affirms the reproductive role of women and does not devote any attention to women’s self-fulfillment, the combination of career with maternal functions, and the implementation of state obligations in the event of divorce.
One notices a clear reduction in the activities of women’s NGOs involved in the promotion of gender equality and the promotion and protection of women’s rights and interests. They have been displaced by other women’s NGOs working with different categories of children.
Low rights awareness and absence of strategic litigation cases creates the climate of impunity in respect to violations of women's rights.
Russian legislation does not contain any definition of the term “discrimination.” This makes court work more difficult.
Most outspoken NGOs with long history of support from international donors, are considered as «too independent» and are looked upon with suspicion by local donors. They are subjected to scrutiny by tax agencies considerably more often than NGOs with the bulk of their funds received from local sources.
3. Programmatically, organizationally and politically changes in Russia
At the state level, the top-down command structure continues to be strengthened. The year 2007 was marked by a pre-electoral campaign leading to the State Duma elections of December 2007 and the presidential elections of April 2008.
The pro-state civil sector continued to grow rapidly for the second straight year as a result of the policy of the displacement of international donors by state funds for the development of Russian civil society. In 2007, the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation allocated 50 million dollars for the support of social projects and programs. However, the Public Chamber’s reputation of corruption led to a low interest in the contest among NGOs. In April 2007, a new law on the registration and accountancy of NGOs came into effect; it made NGO work a lot more complicated and bureaucratic without giving any tax reductions.
Russia is implementing national projects in education, public health, and the residential sphere. For this reason, all Russian donors, businesses, and leading parties are supporting programs exclusively in these areas, which were selected by the government. Changes in the demographic policy are declared a priority task. For this reason, the status of maternity is being raised everywhere. Women are encouraged to have more children, while the infrastructure for the preschool education of children is dismantled. Federal subsidies for multiple-child families have been incorporated into the policy for raising the birth rate, despite the fact that their existence and amount have little influence on women’s choice, as studies show.
During the last changes in the government, two women ministers have been appointed.
4. Key outcomes, accomplishments, achievements or impacts.
Impacts:
– A Conception for Attaining Gender Equality in the Russian Federation has been developed and proposed to the Government of the Russian Federation in spring 2007.
– A Conception for Resolving the Child Support Problem has been developed and proposed for examination in the State Duma.
– The State Duma has adopted amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code aimed at combating evaders from child support payments. The bill puts court marshals in charge of investigation, i.e., the identification of and search for evaders.
– In September 2006, the State Duma has adopted the new law “On Enforcement Proceedings” that aims to increase the powers of court marshals for collecting child support from evaders.
Key outcomes:
– In the framework of a joint project with the UN Gender Thematic Group, ISGP Foundation is preparing the publication of a book on the materials of the contest “1,000 Women’s Stories and Testimonies. Proposals for Improving the Status of Women in Russia” that was held in 2006. The book intends to serve as an alternate report on CEDAW compliance in the Russian Federation.
– In the framework of a joint project on increasing the legal awareness of women, ISGP Foundation provided support to three regional women’s NGOs from different federal districts for holding educational club meetings.
– ISGP Foundation has developed a conception for a contest entitled “Best Enterprise for Working Mothers” that will be held in November among Moscow enterprises.
– ISGP Foundation developed and conducted pilot testing at several Moscow industrial enterprises of the anti-discrimination tools for overcoming stigma and discrimination against working women with children.
Achievements:
– As a member of the Russian Governmental Interdepartmental Commission on Gender Equality in the Russian Federation, ISGP Foundation took part in drafting and lobbying the National Gender Equality Strategy, which was approved and recommended as the principal handbook for developing a policy for improving the status of women at the national level.
– As a member of the Council for Consolidating the Women’s Movement in Russia, ISGP Foundation took part in the event “Women Come into Power” that promoted the participation of independent women from civil organizations in State Duma elections.
– As a member of the Moscow City Women’s Expert Council, ISGP Foundation took part in drafting and lobbying the city program “Women for a SafeCity”.
– As a member of the Council of Public Associations of the Moscow Region under the Patronage of the Ministry of Local Affairs of the Moscow Regional Government, ISGP Foundation took part in drafting the Conception for Improving the Effectiveness of the Work of Law-Enforcement Organizations.
– The efforts and contribution of ISGP Foundation to a joint action of women’s NGOs allowed a Russian woman to win a court case on an unlawful reduction in maternity leave payments in the Constitutional Court on March 22, 2007.
– In January 2007, ISGP Foundation was admitted as a partner to the Russian Donors’ Forum.
– In the fall of 2007, ISGP Foundation became a member of International Women’s Funding Network (still in the process).
– ISGP Foundation received a diploma for participating in the 2006 Contest of Public Reports initiated by the Russian Donors’ Forum and the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.
– ISGP Foundation was put on the list of experts that comment social events in the country for various national mass media (Kommersant, RBKDaily, etc.).
Fundraising:
The total amount of raised funds in 2007 was $289,000
– ISGP Foundation won 6 tenders in contests organized by departments of the Moscow City Government for a total amount of $228,000.
– ISGP Foundation was awarded a grant for supporting an interregional women’s network for informing women about their rights from the Sigrid Rausing Trust for an amount of $61,000.
|
21.04.2008 Приглашаем Вас на просмотр документального фильма "Мать" с последующей дискуссией, которые состоится в рамках занятий Гендерной школы «Яблоко». 21.04.2008 Дорогие коллеги! Институт социальной и гендерной политики приглашает вас на презентацию "Если вам нужно взыскать алименты: простые ответы на ваши вопросы" / презентация сайта ИСГП "Алименты-инфо" 16.04.2008 ПРООН и ЛШЭ приглашают на страницы информационного бюллетеня «Переходный период: проблемы развития»! http://www.developmentandtransition.net/index.cfm?NewLanguageID=ru 03.04.2008 На сайте Общественной палаты РФ: http://www.oprf.ru/feedback/675/ открылась юридическая консультация для НКО. 01.04.2008 В понедельник, 24 марта, Минэкономразвития опубликовало "Концепцию долгосрочного социально-экономического развития РФ до 2020 года". Работа над проектом Концепции продолжается... |
|