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IATP News from Western Eurasia

May 2005

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MOLDOVA

Sergiu Martinenco (FLEX 95), left,
contributed to the team’s success

IATP Chess Team Qualifies for European Chess Tournament in Sweden
On May 9, after long hours analyzing chess strategies online at the IATP access site in Chisinau, the IATP Chess Team won the bronze medal in the men’s National Chess Team Championship of the Republic of Moldova. The IATP Chess Team, which was founded in May of 2003, currently consists of seven internationally-rated Moldovan chess players. For the past two years, the IATP Chess Team finished fifth in this annual tournament. This year, however, the team members spent months analyzing games on a chess website that provides information on successful strategies chess masters have used at prestigious chess tournaments. Six of Moldova’s highest-rated teams participated in the round robin competition, hosted from May 5 to 9 at the Republican Chess Club in Chisinau. Despite an inauspicious beginning, the IATP Chess Team managed to clinch third place with one loss, two draws, and two wins. The results of the tournament results can be found at www.iatp.md/chess. The bronze medal enables the team to qualify for the Fifteenth Annual European Chess Team Championship to be held in Goteborg, Sweden, from July 29 to August 8. Thanks to their remarkable performance, the three youngest players on the team considerably improved their chances of receiving a full scholarship to the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, which supported the team in partnership with IATP. These young men are among the more than 250 Moldovans who benefit from IATP training courses every month at the network’s eight access sites in the country.

Experts join the online conference
from the IATP access site in
Chisinau, Moldova

Alumni Discuss Education in Moldova in Online Conference
On April 28, more than 40 citizens of Moldova, including alumni of US government-sponsored exchange programs, educators, and NGO representatives, gathered at eight IATP access sites across the country for an online conference on the Education For All (EFA) National Action Plan. The EFA National Action Plan was approved by the Moldovan government in May of 2004 to ensure the efficient operation of the educational system and to enhance its role in the economic and human development of the country. The plan stresses Moldova's firm commitment to reach out to children with special education needs and to provide access to high quality basic education to all of Moldova’s citizens. EFA Country Adviser at the United Nations Moldova Larisa Virtosu, National Council Secretariat for Child Rights Protection Manager Domnica Ginu, and three representatives from the Ministry of Education of Moldova, Nadejda Velisco (CC 00), Mihai Paiu, and Eugenia Parlicov joined the conference as the guest experts. The participants discussed Moldova’s educational needs and focused on the lack of resources and qualified teachers in rural areas. Ginu stressed the role of community leaders and local government officials in developing and promoting alternative education services, while Paiu focused on the efficient use of human and financial resources in the educational process. Dumitru Orlov, a journalist in Cahul, inquired about the funding sources for the EFA National Action Plan. Virtosu answered, "The state covers 86% of the costs related to the implementation of the EFA National Action Plan, while the remaining 14% are to be covered by external sources." The conference on increasing educational opportunities continues IATP’s online coverage of pressing issues facing the country.

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UKRAINE

The Zaporizhia Educational Web
portal contains an index of local
school websites

New Educational Portal Appears Online in Zaporizhia, Ukraine
On May 13, the IATP access site, in collaboration with the Zaporizhia Department of Education, sponsored an awards ceremony for the winners of a Web design contest. Thirty-one local schools participated in the contest, which began on March 28. From February through May, the IATP access site in Zaporizhia hosted trainings and consultations on Web design for groups of students and teachers interested in participating in the contest. The IATP staff covered the main concepts of Web design, including a common Web programming language, website structure, and graphic layouts. As a result of the training, 29 local schools established their presence online by posting their websites on the IATP server. Department of Education employees, teachers, alumni of US government-sponsored programs, and IATP staff evaluated the quality of Web design for each of the websites and its content (including the effectiveness of the presentation and methodological materials). Zaporizhia Classical Lyceum won the contest with their website at http://claslyceum.zp.ua/. As a result of the contest, the participants created a new educational Web portal at http://zposvita.iatp.org.ua/, which contains an index of local school websites in addition to news and useful resources for teachers. The 29 new websites brought the number of resources hosted on the IATP server in Ukraine to 2,211.

Professionals from Ukraine and
Russia learned about fundraising
in an online course

IATP Users Study Fundraising in Online Course
On May 20, Anna Honorskaya (CI 98) finished conducting a distance learning (DL) course on fundraising for 22 managers, students, educators, and entrepreneurs from different regions of Ukraine and Russia. Honorskaya was selected by IATP in November 2004 along with seven other alumni experts to receive a grant to create and conduct a DL course. During the fifteen-week course, her students explored various methods of raising funds, researched funding opportunities, and learned how to write grant proposals. As a result of the course, the participants developed grant proposals for their local communities. Anastasiya Kostsova, who works with disabled athletes through the nongovernmental organization Invasport in Sevastopol, wrote a grant proposal entitled, “Social Protection of Vulnerable Population Groups through Social Initiatives.” Kostsova remarked, "The course helped me to understand the many nuances of fundraising. It was useful, since we were able to develop our proposals and get feedback on them.” Thanks to the DL format, users from Ukraine and Russia could acquire new skills in a short period of time without needing to interrupt their work or leave home. Currently IATP in Ukraine hosts 29 distance learning courses, in which 181 users have participated.