Public Association "Center for Informational Support of Civil Initiatives "The Third Sector" Hrodna, Belarus.

Our mission is to raise the level of civic activity among different social strata through informational support of democratic public initiatives and by spreading civil education in the population.
We believe that advances in social life are only possible if people recognize the directions for necessary changes, if they possess both the desire and the ability to commence constructive transformations.
The organization's priorities: The organization was registered by Hrodna Oblast Executive Committee Department of Justice on September 09,1997. The organization was reregistered by Hrodna Oblast Executive Committee Department of Justice on September 30th, 1999.
ACTIVITIES:
"Informational Support of the Public Initiatives" Program
A long-term program focusing on collecting and distributing information about the activities of Hrodna region's public organizations, nongovernmental media and trade-unions as well as providing access to informational resources (information about grant competitions, trainings, educational programs, etc.)

"The Third Sector" Magazine is published since 1997. The publication covers current activities of public organizations across Belarus; presents new organizations and people, working in the NGO sector, and discusses prospects and opportunities for public work. The journal is distributed among the public organizations of Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland. Selected materials are available on the organization's web site http://sektar.cjb.net

"Hrodna Public Life Chronicles" is a weekly electronic newsletter published since April, 1999. The edition provides a glance on the projects, actions and events carried out by the public organizations of Hrodna region. The "Chronicles" is distributed to over 200 subscribers - media and NGOs of Belarus, Poland and Ukraine among them.

Web presentation of the organization. The web site features a unique electronic archive, documenting Hrodna region's public life, provides continuous coverage and the most up-to-date information about the NGO activities. Available at http://sektar.cjb.net

"Civil Education in the Field of Journalism" Program
The program was launched in 1997 through a joint effort with the Youth Press Club and the "Pahonia" newspaper. Public Organizations "VIT" and "Rada-23" joined the project in 1999/2000 within the framework of the "The Center for Youth Education" Program.
The program is aimed at raising the level of youth involvement in the social life through providing basic journalistic training, arranging internship and trainings in the region's media and public associations, providing an opportunity to publish an educational newspaper.
Over a hundred young people have passed the "School for Young Journalists" training since 1997. The "School" graduates work in the local and national media; some of them currently pursue undergraduate degrees in Journalism and Mass Communications in the universities of Belarus, Poland, and Bulgaria.
The "Youth Information Agency" and "Addresses of Trouble" subprojects were carried out within the
framework of the "School for Young Journalists" project.

"Support of Female Initiatives" Program
The Program is aimed at facilitating and broadening the range of female initiatives in Hrodna region. It is carried out in collaboration between Belarusian and international female organizations since 2000.
The following activities were accomplished in the course of the program: "The Women's Role in the Belarusian society," a conference (November 2000), an art exhibition "The World Through the Women's Eyes" (November 2000) both organized with the "Zhanochy Lad" Initiative Group participation; "The Women's Role in Solving Social Problems," an international conference (March 2001). Materials collected as a result of the aforementioned conferences and activities were released as a separate brochure (March 2001).
The "School of Women's Economic Independence" (2001-2003) - a training in basic economics, business communications, and computer skills was organized together with the "Zhanochy Lad" Initiative Group.

The "Dialogue" Program
The program started in 2001. It is aimed at stimulating mutually beneficial cooperation between public organizations, media, and local authorities.
"The Role of Public Participation in the Regional Problems Solving," a round tablediscussion was conducted with the participation of public organizations, media and trade unions representatives in Slonim, April 2001. It was made possible with the support of the Counterpart Alliance for Partnership.

The project on attracting public attention to the possible negative consequences of constructing a hydro-electric power station on the Neman River was carried out in April-June 2001 with the ISAR(USA) support. The project activities included holding open discussion devoted to the problem, as well as a rafting event on the Neman river.

"Increasing the Operational Efficiency of Hrodna Region's Public Organizations." The project activities (in collaboration with "VIT" Public Organization) are taking place since Fall 2001 with TACIS support. The project is aimed at providing skills of practical NGO operation (e.g. fund-raising and PR, legal awareness, etc) for the civic activists (especially those working with youth). Another project goal relates to the organization's long-term objective of providing continuous informational support for the local NGOs.
The project was concluded with the Youth NGO Forum of Hrodna Region (November 2002).

Forum of public organizations of Euroregion "Neman-Niemen-Nemunas"
The Forum of public organizations of Euroregion "Neman-Niemen-Nemunas" was held on October, 18-19, 2002, in Hrodna, with the support of the World Bank Bureau in Belarus.
Forum participants included representatives of NGOs from Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and the Kaliningrad region of Russia, as well as local government officials and the Euroregion's authorities. The Forum was aimed at facilitating a discussion of the strategies for expanding areas of co-operation between public organizations, local authorities and structures of the Euroregion.

Creation of a web directory "Info-Region "Neman," which is now available on the

http://sektar.cjb.net. It features a database on NGOs (more 60 than organizational profiles), mass media and government structures of the Euroregion. The database has become a valuable resource used by the Euroregion's NGOs as the means for locating potential partners and researching information on the Euroregion.
Publishing a weekly electronic newsletter "Euroregion-NEWS" within the duration of the project.

International Youth Camp "PoLiBelKa" (means Po(land), Li (thuania), Bel(arus), Ka (liningrad) region of Russia) was held on August, 13-18, 2003 in Pionerskiy (Kaliningrad region of Russia). More than 40 young people from NGOs of all parts of Euroregion "Neman-Niemen-Nemunas" took part in the activity. At the same time the web site www.polibelka.org was created. The site www.polibelka.org devoted to the Euroregion "Neman-Niemen-Nemunas", 1st Forum of NGOs of Euroregion and International Youth Camp "PoLiBelKa". The materials on the site are prepared in four languages: Belarusian, Lithuanian, Russian and Polish.

Development of the local communities subprogram
The subprogram started in 2003 within the Dialogue program.
Since 2003 Centre "The Third Sector" have to the carried out three projects directed development of the local communities in Hrodna Region and in Belarus at all: " Partnership through the Dialogue" (together with NGO "Vit", Hrodna, Belarus and "DRA", Berlin, Germany), " Development of the local communities" and "Local communities – the force of the civil community" (both together with Centrum "OPUS", Lodz, Poland).
The conference "Development of the Local Communities in Hrodna Region: expierience, conclusions and prospects" was held in Hrodna on November, 22-23, 2003.
International Belarusian-Polish conference "Innovative methods of work for local community" was held in Hrodna on November, 12-13, 2004. The materials of the conference was presented in Belarusian in special issue.

Since 2000 our organization carried on more than 30 trainings on organization development and management of NGOs.

email: trecisektar@yahoo.com
www: http://sektar.cjb.net
tel./fax: 375+152-75-71-72

Postal address:
vul.Budzionaha, 48A-11,
Hrodna, 230004,
REPUBLIC OF BELARUS
Address for correspondence:
P.O.Box 54,
Hrodna, 230009,
REPUBLIC OF BELARUS