The Crimean Tatar Initiative (Simferopol)

The Crimean Tatar Initiative (CTI) was registered in 1997 as a non-profit, non-governmental public organization. The main goal of the CTI is to coordinate activities of three organizations, the Rebirth of Crimea Foundation (Bakhchisaray), the Evlād Charitable Organization (Simferopol), and the Yashlik Cultural Center (Yevpatoria) by ensuring the efficient use of their resources.

The Crimean Tatar Initiative conducts programs in several areas:

Civic Education

This program offers seminars and round-tables for NGO representatives to share experiences in civic initiatives and administers training sessions for Crimean and Ukrainian NGOs on the following topics:

Democratic Leadership
Strategic Planning of NGO Activities
The Role of Civic Initiatives
Fund raising
Civic Education in Schools
How to Write Successful Project Proposals
Methods of Effective Partnership with Local Governments
The Parents' Committees in Schools
The School Self-Governance

In 1997-1998, the project "Assistance in Writing Project Proposals," aimed to provide technical and consulting support to NGOs, schools and libraries, was implemented. The goal of this project was to get citizens from the far regions of Crimea to participate in the Soros Foundation program "Integration of formerly deported Crimean Tatar people, Armenians, Bulgarians, Greeks, and Germans into the Ukrainian society." As a result, 27 projects from 14 Crimean regions were approved.

The CTI seminars and training sessions are based on the methods of the Education for Democracy Foundation (Warsaw, Poland) and adapted to the practical needs of participants. In making selections, the trainers group takes into account the input from the representatives of local organizations. In general, teachers, doctors, journalists, and public activists are invited.

Because local authorities also take part in these sessions, The CTI began to develop a new series of seminars for NGOs on how to maintain effective partnership with local governments. The aims of these seminars are to assist in the development of local democracy through better understanding of the role of state and society, to establish contacts among them, and to share the positive experience of successful cooperation in other regions of Crimea.

To meet information needs of the Civic Education Program, a database called Civic Initiatives in Crimea was compiled and is being regularly updated. A small library with newspapers, bulletins, books and other needed publications has been established. Presently the CTI is also working on creating a WEB page.

Social Program

The goal of this program is to provide assistance to parents of seriously ill children and arrange for medical treatment. For the 1993-1998 period, hundreds of Crimean Tatars have received help from this program, which distributed humanitarian aid (mainly medicines, totaling 15 tons) to people with urgent needs.

13 doctors visited clinics in Poland, Russia, Germany, and Turkiye to improve and update skills, and further develop contacts with other NGOs working in the health-care areas. The CTI assisted in creating 10 self-help groups of parents of ill children in different regions of Crimea in order to develop local civic initiatives and join efforts to resolve problems.

Program for Youth and Children

This program includes the following major activities:

Organization of the International Camps in Crimea, where teenagers from various regions of Ukraine and foreign countries participate. In 1997, one hundred teenagers spent one month learning conversational English with the support of 15 professional teachers from the US, using methods of the Bridges for Education organization (Buffalo, New York).
Administration of the Recent History Competition among school students. This competition covers the history of Crimean Tatar people from 1937 to 1964.

Internet for Schools and Libraries

The program involves the development and realization of the Information Support Program for Education using Internet resources and other computer technologies in cooperation with schools and libraries. Within this program, Crimean Tatar schools and libraries were provided with computers and communication equipment at a total cost of $34,000.

Illustration: A meeting at the CTI office. Guests included: Arthur C. Helton, Forced Migration Project, Open Society Institute, USA (left); Yuri Buznitzky, International Renaissance Foundation, Kiev, (middle); and Yakov Shraiberg, ILIAC, Moscow and Washington, D.C. (right).

Address:
76/74, 1st Konnaya Armiya Street, Simferopol
Crimea, Ukraine
Tel/Fax: (0652) 497274
E-mail: ngo@crimea.com

Executive Director: Ayder Seitosman
Program Coordinator: Elvedin Chubarov