In September 2006 the Krasnoyarsk Centre for Community Partnerships (Russia) and the Community Information Association “Educador" (Poland) launched the Russian-Polish joint project “The School as a Centre of Community Activism”. The project is carried out with financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.

The project was initiated as a result of the meeting of Polish and Russian NGOs that took place in June 2006 in Warsaw. The meeting was organized by the New Eurasia Foundation (Moscow) and the Stephan Batoria Foundation (Warsaw). During one week the participants learned about activities of their NGOs and exchanged experiences. They also took part in presentations and seminars, went to visit Polish NGOs, and discussed ideas of prospective cooperation.

Other participants of the project are the Association for the Disabled at an Early Aged “Vozrozhdenie” (the Altai Republic), the Penza Branch of the Russian Children’s Foundation (Penza Oblast) and the Association of Community Schools of the Khakassia Republic (the Khakassia Republic).

The project will be carried out from September to December 2006 and will include seminars and other activities for teachers of village schools from three Russian regions: the Altai Republic, Penza Oblast, and the Khakassia Republic.

The first seminar for the teachers of the Khakassia Republic took place from 26 to 29 September in Krasnoyarsk.  At the seminar the participants were able to:

• Get acquainted with the experience of the Polish Association “Educador” in helping village schools become pro-active and of the KCCP in the developing of community schools in Russia;
• Learn about various programs that have been designed for schools by the state and non-state organizations in Poland;
• Exchange experience;
• Discuss acute issues of democracy, civil society, as well as problems in the sphere of human rights and the rights of children;
• Talk about needs assessment and various methods of data collection;
• Define pressing problems in their communities and develop possible ways of solving them.

From 17 to 20 October another seminar of the series will take place in Krasnoyarsk for teachers of the Altai Republic. From 26 to 29 October the seminar will be held in Penza for teachers of Penza Oblast.

The organizers of the project hope that the experience the village community schools receive during the project will be useful and inspire new ideas for future development.