Center for Civil Society International ([email protected])
Mon, 13 Jul 1998 12:54:31 -0700 (PDT)
CCSI presents excerpts from the Agency for Social Information
(ASI) e-mail information bulletin. Translated from Russian by
CCSI staffer Alyssa Deutschler. For more information on how
to receive ASI's bulletin regularly, contact:
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AGENTSTVO SOTSIALNOI INFORMATSII
Kutuzovskii pr. 22 pod. 14a,
Moscow, 121151
Tel./fax: (095) 249-3989
E-mail: [email protected]
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ASI Bulletin No. 25
26 June - 2 July, 1998
In this issue:
I. Farmers in Novosibirsk Believe They Can Protect
Their Rights By Working Together
II. Volunteers Collect Donations for Campaign Against
Tuberculosis in Nizhnii Novgorod
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Farmers in Novosibirsk Believe They Can Protect
Their Rights By Working Together
A conference entitled "Reform of the Private Agricultural Sector" was held
on June 25 at the Novosibirsk State Agrarian University (NSAU). Attendees
at the conference included farmers, scientists, government representatives
and professors from the university. The conference was sponsored by the
Consultating Center for Family and Private Farming, together with the
Novosibirsk oblast government and NSAU.
Conference participants discussed many of the issues facing farmers in
Russia today, when more than half of the agricultural production in the
country takes place in the private sector. Approximately 250,000 people
in Novosibirsk oblast live in rural areas; 5000 of them are private
farmers, and 200,000 have some type of family farm. The output and scale
of many of these small family farms is rapidly approaching that of the
larger private farms. Many of the family farms already possess
significant numbers of livestock and agricultural equipment, such as
tractors. But these small farms have no sort of legal protection, they
fear the big cooperative farms and have limited access to technical
information. Those gathered at the conference proposed drafting an
oblast law regarding cooperatives in rural Novosibirsk, as well as
initiating a program to develop credit unions for small farmers.
The conference's main sponsor, the Consulting Center for Family and
Private Farming, has already established 12 branch offices throughout
Novosibirsk oblast. Rural residents can participate in educational
seminars put on by the center and subscribe to the center's informational
bulletin, "The Peasant Farmer." Recently, the Consulting Center for
Family and Private Farming helped establish a new NGO - The Agrarian
Information Center. According to the new organization's director, Vasilii
Perekrestov, the Agrarian Information Center will be staffed by
experienced specialists (including recent graduates from Novosibirsk State
Agrarian University) who will work with farmers to help develop the
private sector in rural areas.
Contact telephone: (3832) 67-3333 (Vasilii Perekrestov)
E-mail: [email protected]
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Volunteers Collect Donations for Campaign
Against Tuberculosis in Nizhnii Novgorod
On July 1 a press conference was held at the Parliamentary Assembly in
Nizhnii Novgorod to publicize the preliminary results of the "White
Flowers" campaign against tuberculosis. The campaign was initiated by the
Service Association on June 1 of this year. The goals of the campaign
are threefold: to increase public awareness about the spread of
tuberculosis in the Nizhegorod oblast; to educate the populace on
treatment for and prevention of the disease; and to revive the tradition
of charitable donation campaigns for the sick.
June 28 was the main day of the campaign. White flowers were given in
exchange for charitable donations at five different points in the city of
Nizhnii Novgorod. Along with the flowers, donators also received
informational flyers about tuberculosis and how to prevent its spread.
The grand total of donations for June 28 was 5,480 rubles. More than 75
volunteers gave their time to collect donations, and their numbers
included representatives from NGOs, college students and even school
children. Over 120 volunteers and 30 organizations (both commercial and
non-commercial) overall helped to plan and implement the campaign. The
official sponsor of the event was the METEXPO company.
At the press conference Igor Shestnev, head doctor at the Nizhnii Novgorod
Tuberculosis Clinic, noted that while it may be difficult to evaluate now
whether enough donations were collected during the campaign, the money
shouldn't be considered the campaign's primary goal. The most important
aspect of the event was to educate the populace on the dangers of
tuberculosis and how to keep the disease from spreading. Evgenii
Nenashev, chairman of the Nizhegorod parliament's Commission on Social
Issues, stated that the "White Flowers" campaign was a first step on the
path to developing a sense of public responsibility towards resolving
serious social problems in Russia.
Contact telephone: (8312) 31-3564
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| CCSI presents excerpts from the ASI Bulletin. The |
| ASI Bulletin is a publication of the Agency for Social |
| Information (ASI) in Moscow. Originally published in |
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