The Civil Society European Academy is a non-governmental,non-commercial public organisation.

The Academy was registered as an independent legal entity.

It has a Board (President Yarygina Tatyana Vladimirovna, Vice-President Khlebnikov Boris Nikolayevich) and Management (Director Lerman Yelena Vladimirovna).

The Civil Society European Academy does scientific,informational-analytical, enlightenment, intermediary and organisational work on subjects related to the development of civil society in Russia.

The Academy works in the following basic directions:

1) Public dialogue

2) The institutions of civil society and their operation

3) Social monitoring

4) Informational and publishing activities

Academic work is based on broad inter-regional contacts and international ties, designed to create networks and structures for the development and introduction of the idea of civil society in the regions of Russia.

1. Public Dialogue

Efforts in this direction are designed above all for the "multipliers" of public dialogue, that is, journalists, staff and freelance workers of the mass media, PR specialists, press secretaries of government agencies or public associations, and so on.

The Academy holds inter-regional and international conferences, seminars, discussion meetings, lectures, and professional on-site training. The main goal is to assist in:

- the evaluation of professional problems and tasks of Russian journalism with due consideration for its specific role in public dialogue and the development of civil society;

- increasing the competence of journalists in a wide range of subjects related to the development of civil society in Russia;

- development of public dialogue in the mass media, all-round discussion of outstanding and prospective problems in the development of civil society in Russia.

2. The Institutions of Civil Society and Their Operation

This direction covers the following aspects:

- contacts between public associations (non-governmental and non-state) and different branches of power, state agencies and communal agencies;

- public control and self-government;

- theoretical, legal, methodical, and practical questions of the establishment and effective operation of public associations.

3. Social Monitoring and Humanitarian Projects

While addressing a wide range of subjects related to the development of civil society in Russia, the Academy pays special attention to social problems.

Social monitoring provides for the following:

- regular collection and analysis of social information;

- contribution to the writing of reports on social policy of the Centre for Economic and Political Studies (EPIcentre);

- organisation of or participation in conferences, seminars, and lectures on the following programmes: "Social Management," "Economic Ethics," "Local Self-Government as an Element of Civil Society," and "Problems of the Development of the Third Sector";

- mediation and contacts with charity organisations;

- assistance to individual model social and humanitarian projects.

4. Informational and Publishing Activities

The Academy is working to:

- create an information and contact network, including on the basis of the Internet;

- expand and bring up to date its data bank;

- print books and other publications by Russian and foreign authors (including electronic versions) on the problems of civil society;

- popularise its own and other materials or publications, provided to the Academy, in the regions of Russia (free dispatch to university and regional libraries and public organisations).

5. Inter-Regional Contacts and International Ties

While working through dialogue or as an intermediary, the Academy regards its inter-regional contacts and international ties as the basis for its own activity, and at the same time, as one of the most important aspects of its operation.

Working together with partners in Russian regions, the Academy holds various functions on the problems of federalism, inter-regional cooperation, and regional and local self-government, spotlighting the issues of the development of civil society.

The pride of place in the Academy's international programmes and projects belongs to:

- problems of European integration and its influence on different aspects of the development or establishment of civil society in European countries, especially in Central and East European ones, the CIS and Russia;

- the study of theoretical and methodological questions, as well as practical experience from the operation of institutions of civil society in European countries;

- dialogue and mediation efforts designed to develop contacts between the regions of Russia and Europe, especially in the sphere of projects and programmes related to civil society.

REPORT FOR 1998

BASIC SPHERES OF OPERATION

I. Public Dialogue

II. Mass Media

III. Social Monitoring and Humanitarian Projects

IV. Information and Publishing Activities

I. Public Dialogue

The organisation and holding of international and inter-regional seminars, conferences, meetings.

1. International seminar "The Role of Moral Values in Russo-German Economic Relations," Weingarten, Germany, January 21-23, 1998

Organisers: The Civil Society Academy, Akademie der Diozese Rottenburg-Stuttgart

Participants: 30, including 13 from Russia

A research and practical gathering, the seminar included a discussion held by Russian and German scientists, businessmen and legislators. Business ethics were discussed from the viewpoint of relations between the state and businessmen; between the state and employers; and between employers and hired labour.

When summing up the results of the seminar, all participants in that discussion suggested that dialogue on this subject should be carried on.

The organisers pooled their efforts to draft a programme, "Business Ethics," to be carried out in 1998-99. A representative of the Kerber Fund (Hamburg) who attended the seminar offered partial funding for this project.

Several working meetings were held in the first half of 1998, where specific functions and their dates were suggested, including:

- A lecture by Prof. J. Wieland in Moscow - July 2, 1998

- Preparation of the seminar materials for publication - Autumn 1998

- A seminar in Belgorod - October 9-11, 1998 (it was postponed until March 1999 for reasons beyond the organisers' control)

- Preparation of a programme of lectures on this subject by German and Russian specialists in two Russian universities - 1999

2. Seminar "Municipal Finances Amidst a General Crisis,"
Tomsk, November 13-15, 1998

The seminar was held as part of the project "The Problems of Local Self-Government in the Russian Regions."

Organisers: The Civil Society Academy, The Goethe German Cultural Centre, The Tomsk city administration

Participants: over 50 managerial and other specialists from Siberia (Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Zheleznogorsk), Perm, and Moscow, as well as German specialists, namely Herr P. Kaminski, ober-burgomeister of Leipzig, Dr. E. Rost, burgomeister of Fankfurt-am-Oder, Dr. M. Kahn-Ackerman, director of the German Cultural Centre.

Other project participants are the Institute of Municipal and Regional Establishments (President S. Mitrokhin), the Tomsk and Tomsk Region administrations, and the administrations of other Russian regions.

The agenda of the seminar included a key problem of local self-government - the formation of the municipal budget.

Both the Russian and the German participants suggested practical methods of developing the municipal financial base. Heads of local German governments expressed readiness to share their experience of developing the financial base of cities in East German regions. Cooperation plans were discussed separately by the leaders of Tomsk, Leipzig and Frankfurt-am-Oder.

The seminar had a model character.

A programme was formulated based on the results of the seminar.

The next seminar will be held in Perm in 1999.

In order to develop and carry on the projects, negotiations were held with representatives of the European Union on including the project in EU programmes. A request is being prepared for receipt of the requisite funds.

3. Preparations have been launched for the project "Establishment of the Third Sector in Russia."

A report, "On the Problem of the Third Sector in Russia," has been drafted by the analytical group (head T. Yarygina).

The first scientific-theoretical seminar on the subject will be held in Bad-Urach, Germany, in March 1999. Fifteen people are expected to attend it, including deputies from the State Duma and regional assemblies, scientists, and mayors.

Partners: Landes Centrale fuer politische bildung

4. A programme is being elaborated for a conference of experts on the problems of senior citizens (to be put on the agenda of European functions devoted to the Year of Senior Citizens).

The conference is planned for May 1999.

Partners: Akademie der Diozese Rottenburg-Stuttgart

5. Participation in the conference, held under the auspices of the Council of Europe, "The Role of Businessmen in the
Development of Democracy in Russia," Stuttgart, July 1998.

With the Academy's help, three representatives from Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg and Tomsk attended the conference.

6. Contribution to the organisation of and participation in the ceremony to award the annual Father Alexander Men Prize,
Stuttgart, June 25, 1998.

The Academy contributed to the elaboration of the programme of functions and the award ceremony (jury secretary B. Khlebnikov, Vice-President of the Academy). We organised the visit of Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the Yabloko public association, to the award ceremony as a guest of honour. The motto of the prize is Men's words: "For the Oikumene of culture," which corresponds to the goals and tasks of the Academy. Writer Chinghiz Aitmatov and politician Grigory Yavlinsky gave press conferences and addressed journalists and the public, and met with German intelligentsia.

II. Mass Media

1. The 42nd international conference of agrarian journalists, Berlin, July 1998

Acting upon the Academy's recommendations, two journalists from Penza and Rostov-on-Don attended the conference.

2. "East European Weeks in Hohenheim University": an international seminar of journalists, "Germany Before Elections," Stuttgart, September 13-27, 1998.

Organisers: The Civil Society Academy, the East European Centre of Hohenheim University, Stuttgart, Akademie Diozese Rottenburg-Stuttgart.

Participants: 17 journalists from Russian regions (Bryansk, Kaliningrad, Nalchik, Moscow, Penza, Perm, the Moscow Region, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Severodvinsk, Tomsk, Yaroslavl) and 11 journalists from Eastern Europe (Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania).

The seminar was held for a second time as part of the programme "East European Weeks in Hohenheim University."

During preparations for this function, materials were sent to participants on the political system, political culture, and work of the mass media and press services of Germany, which helped them to quickly join the work of the seminar.

The goal of the function was to inform journalists of the system for holding election campaigns in Germany, and the role of public, state and party organisations. During the seminar, journalists from Eastern Europe listened to speeches delivered by candidates to the Bundestag, lectures by prominent political scientists, representatives of key public organisations, press services, and the staff of German federal and land mass media. On the election day of September 27, journalists visited polling stations and attended a session of the Baden-Wuertemberg Lantag where the election results were read out.

The publications of the participants in that seminar will be printed in the annual collection "Press Mirror."

3. Seminar for press secretaries and PR staff, Berlin, December 14-20, 1998.

Organisers: The Civil Society Academy, The European Academy of Berlin

Participants: 15 representatives from Russian regions (Astrakhan, Barnaul, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Kropotkin, Nizhni Novgorod, Moscow, Murmansk, Petrozavodsk, Perm, the Moscow Region, Cheboksary, Yaroslavl).

The programme was specially designed to give Russian specialists an opportunity to listen to lectures and analyse practical aspects of the work of officials of the executive and legislative branches of power. In addition, the programme provided for visits to the press services of public and commercial organisations and advertising agencies.

When discussing the seminar results, all participants pointed to the need to hold such programmes in Germany and Russia.

Financing: The Federal Press and Information Agency of Germany, the Berlin Senate, the Kerber Fund, EPIcentre.

4. Competition for regional journalists, "Russia and Germany on the Eve of the 21st Century," November 1, 1998 through
May 1, 1999.

The competition is held jointly by the German Embassy, the Goethe Cultural Centre in Moscow, the "Journalist" editorial board, and the East European Centre of Hohenheim University.

Terms were published in the ninth issue of "Journalist" magazine.

The aim of the competition is to establish a group of journalists writing on European integration and Russo-German relations.

Winners will have a chance to receive on-site training in Germany, travel there, and take part in the Academy's functions.

5. Linguistic, National and Professional Trips

1. Lyudmila Kunitsina, a graduate student of the University of the Friendship of Nations in Moscow, received practical training at the journalism department of Hohenheim University. In July 1998 she delivered a large report on the situation in the Russian mass media at the university.

2. Three two-month practical training trips to Goethe institutes of Germany.

Offers were made to journalist A. Kislitsina from Belgorod, journalist Ye. Ivanova from the Moscow Region, and graduate of the psychology department of Moscow State University A. Lipkovich, who specializes in the psychological influence of the mass media on public consciousness.

3. Journalist A. Lagutkina from Penza, who graduated from a language course in Germany in 1997, was offered practical training at Die Zeit, one of Germany's most prestigious weeklies.

III. Social Monitoring and Humanitarian Projects

The scientific backing of the Academy's projects is provided by the analytical group of the Centre for Economic and Political Studies (EPIcentre, group head T. Yarygina). Reports thematically related to the Academy's projects are written in series under the common title "The Development of Civil Society in Russia," and are sent to subscribers and all concerned persons and organisations.

Published reports:

1. New Aspects of Social Policy Reform (Local Self-Government)

2. Senior Citizens: Problems and Possible Solutions

Reports in the stage of preparation:

1. The Problems of the Development of "The Third Sector" in Russia

2. Parliamentarism in Russia

IV. Information and Publishing Activities

The following articles and translations on the Academy's topics have been prepared for publication:

1. "Great Expectations or New Utopia?" by Prof. V. Bakshtanovsky (Perm)

2. "The Political-Legal Encouragement of Moral Enterprise," by Prof. K. Homan (Ingolstadt), translated by B. Khlebnikov

3. "The Role of Moral Values in the Development of Economic Relations in Russia and Germany," by Prof. M. Aslender (Konstans), translated by V. Kuzavlev

4. "The Elements of Joint Moralpoint View," by Prof. J. Wieland (Konstans), translated by B. Khlebnikov

5. "Social Policy and the Ethic of Relations in Russia," by Dr. T. Yarygina (EPIcentre)

6. "Local Self-Government in Conditions of Economic Crisis," by Prof. A. Barsky, M. A. A. Dankov (Economy) (Central Economic-Mathematical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences)

7. "An Active City," by Dr. O. Alekseyev (Moscow)

8. "Local Self-Government in Baden-Wuertemberg," by B. Khlebnikov

9. "Local Self-Government and Aspects of New Social Policy," by Dr. T. Yarygina

10. "The Role of Journalism in a Communicative Society," by R. Muench, translated by B. Khlebnikov

11. "Direct Neighbours" (Enlarged European Union and the Russian Federation), by Iris Kempe, translated by B. Khlebnikov

12. Relay of Power (On the Results of 1998 Elections in Germany), by B. Khlebnikov

13. The Year of the Seniors. Analytical Study on the Problems of Older Citizens, by B. Khlebnikov

BASIC PROJECTS IN 1999

1. "Economic Ethics," headed by T. Yarygina; partners: the Catholic Academy of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, the Kerber Fund

2. "The Development of the Third Sector in Russia," headed by T. Yarygina; partners: Centre of Political Education of Baden-Wuertemberg

3. "Local Self-Government," headed by S. S. Mitrokhin; partners: the Goethe Institute in Moscow, the Institute of the Development of Regions and Municipal Formations (Moscow), city administrations

4. "Mass Media," headed by Ye. V. Lerman; partners: the East European Centre of Hohenheim University (Stuttgart), the Goethe Institute, the European Academy of Berlin, the German Embassy in Moscow

FINANCIAL BACKING

In 1998, all projects were financed by sponsors, which include:

EPIcentre

The R. Bosch Fund

The Bertelsman Fund

The Kerber Fund

The Goethe German Cultural Centre

The Berlin Senate

The East European Centre of Hohenheim University

The Political Education Centre of the Baden-Wuertemberg Land

The Catholic Academy of Rottenburg-Stuttgart

The Federal Department of Press and Information of Germany

The German Embassy in Moscow

The City of Tomsk administration

The Association of Merchants and Industrialists of Belgorod

The Academy plans to expand its activities and welcomes cooperation with all interested organisations in Russia and abroad.