Loading...
RSS
Belarus-Russia relations Belarusian language Belarusian military travel to Belarus
Why Support Belarus Digest?

Record Violations at Local Elections, Freedom Day Rally, CRS Awards – Belarus Civil Society Digest

Two thousand people attend Freedom Day rally. Fund of Ideas delivers CSR awards to Belarusian companies.

CityDog rolls out competition for creative solution of Minsk urban issues. EuroBelarus holds international conference on civil society at local level. MediaBarCamp 2014 continues to...

freedom_day.jpg

Photo: svaboda.org

Two thousand people attend Freedom Day rally. Fund of Ideas delivers CSR awards to Belarusian companies.

CityDog rolls out competition for creative solution of Minsk urban issues. EuroBelarus holds international conference on civil society at local level. MediaBarCamp 2014 continues to accept applications until April 7.

EU notes positive trends in Belarus’ cooperation with international community on death penalty and higher education.

Electby.org recorded the record number of violations at the local elections. 635 violations during the recent local elections were recorded on the interactive map Electby.org. This is a record number of violations of the electoral process, starting since 2010, when the platform of civic monitoring of elections was launched. The traditional "leader" in the violations became the category of "Early voting."

Some 2,000 people attend Freedom Day rally. On 25 March an estimated 2,000 people attended a rally that crowned "Dzien Voli" (Freedom Day) demonstration in Minsk. The sanctioned event was staged to mark the 96th anniversary of the proclamation of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR). Ten people were detained after Freedom Day action in Minsk, two of them – activists of European Belarus – were sentenced to administrative arrests.

Civic education from Liavon Volski. On 25 March to the Freedom Day, the multi label 34 Piarshak presented a new album of well-known musician Liavon Volsky titled as Social Science/ Hramadaznaūstva. The musician describes his new CD in terms of civic education: "I think that time of compromises ran out. Time of trading, making rules of the game, the inner censor and manoeuvring ran out. Time of Aesopian language, hidden meanings and reading between the lines has passed." For the first two days in the internet the album was downloaded about 20 thousand times.

Belarus is to join the largest environmental campaign Earth Hour. On 29 March for one hour from 8.30 to 9.30 the campaign suggests everyone to turn off the lights and unnecessary appliances at home or in the office, and thus try to care about preserving natural resources. The initiator of the Earth Hour campaign in Belarus is Green Alliance together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. A number of Belarusian artists supported the campaign.

Folk Spring meeting. The last weekend was marked with the traditional Spring Meeting/ Hukanne Viasny ceremony, held in different parts of Belarus. The national folklore ritual is designed to greet the coming spring. The Student Ethnographic Society organised a ceremony in Vyazynka near Minsk, the youth organisation Talaka – near Gomel.

Peace Gallery photo project is just two weeks but more than 70 people have participated in it. The author of the project, a photographer Alexander Zharnasiek implements his idea to make a gallery of portraits of positive people who oppose the war. Anybody can become a participant of the Peace Gallery.

The Fund of Ideas delivered CSR awards. On 21 March the National Art Museum hosted an award ceremony in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The event was organised by the Fund of Ideas for the first time. The awards went to the best CSR projects of Belarusian business companies in seven categories, for example, the company Velcom was awarded for the best CSR project in cooperation with the local community (the project VELOCITY); socially responsible media was recognised a state-run informational agency BelTA.

MinskFun competition indicates the Minsk urban problems. The independent Minsk portal CityDog.by composed a tentative list of Minsk urban problems that should be solved in a non-standard way. Mapping of problems is done in the framework of the MinskFun open competition announced by Volkswagen and CityDog.by to improve the urban environment of Minsk; the winner receives $1,500 for the implementation of ideas. Among the identified problems are lack of parking, lack of public toilets, dog feces on the streets, etc.

Acting with Unlimited Abilities 2014. The Association School of Leaders (Poland) and the Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Belarus) invite to participate in the second round of the Acting with Unlimited Abilities project. The purpose of the program is to strengthen organisations and informal groups of persons with disabilities through capacity building and leadership development. Participation in the program is available for nonprofit organisations or initiative groups of persons with disabilities or working for the benefit of this social group.

Belarus-EU Relations 

The EU remains committed to a policy of critical engagement towards Belarus. On 27 March the European Commission presented updates on the progress made by the countries in its Eastern Partnership program. The report, in particular, acknowledges that the EU-Belarus relationship is still dire but there has been a positive trend in "Belarus's cooperation with the international community on some specific issues, namely the death penalty and the higher education."

EBRD is to allocate €500,000 to Belarus small, medium-sized business. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to allocate at least €500,000 for subsidies to small and medium-sized enterprises in Belarus in 2014. Non-repayable subsidies will be available for small and medium-sized business that has at least two years of experience on the market and with the personnel of 10 to 250 workers. The EBRD grants can be spent on consulting services.

Education and Trainings

SYMPA held a session in Georgia. On 19-24 March the fellows of the School of Young managers in Public Administration (SYMPA) learned some basic reforms in the public administration in Georgia. The program included visits to the Ministry of Justice, Economy and Sustainable Development, Regional Development, University, as well as meetings with MPs and local experts. The next session will be held in Sweden with a special focus on the management of public finances.

Academy of the First 2014. Belarusian National Youth Council RADA invites to participate in its regular educational course Academy of the First aimed at preparing youth activists to be efficient in building the youth CSOs and manage them. The educational course consists of 5 workshops, a series of public activities, homework and pilot projects. Young people of 18-31 years, representatives of Belarusian youth organizations and initiatives are invited to participation.

Golden People at Golden Age nomination for journalists. Golden Age University announces its nomination for journalists within the national contest at the IV Festival of Youth Journalism Your Style, which is to be held on 16-18 May in Hrodna. The nomination accepts journalistic materials demonstrating active life position of older people who retired, but did not lose optimism and show that anyone can be useful to society at any age. This is the main purpose of the Golden Age University, an educational program implemented by the Hrodna-based Third sector Centre.

The MediaBarCamp 2014 continues to accept applications until 7 April. The 7th International MediaBarCamp will be held on 1-4 May 2014, in Lithuania, and dedicated to using new opportunities of Internet media and development of media activism. This year the MediaBarCamp is organized around the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Belarusian national domain .BY. Organised by Swedish International Liberal Centre (SILC), the MediaBarCamp invites all participants – media, public and political organisations, etc. – to present their projects online and find like-minded people.

Belarus Digest prepared this overview on the basis of materials provided by Pact. This digest attempts to give a richer picture of the recent political and civil society events in Belarus. It often goes beyond the hot stories already available in English-language media.

 

222 reads
ankara escort çankaya escort çankaya escort escort bayan çankaya istanbul rus escort eryaman escort ankara escort kızılay escort istanbul escort ankara escort ankara escort escort ankara istanbul rus Escort atasehir Escort beylikduzu Escort Ankara Escort malatya Escort kuşadası Escort gaziantep Escort izmir Escort