Cablegate: Czech Ngo Will Seek Usg Support for Plan to Expand

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS PRAGUE 001614

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID PREL EZ IZ
SUBJECT: CZECH NGO WILL SEEK USG SUPPORT FOR PLAN TO EXPAND
DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE IN MIDDLE EAST

REF: A. PRAGUE 01399

B. PRAGUE 01198

1. (U) Poloffs met with Simon Panek, Director of Czech NGO
People in Need (PIN), and Igor Blazevic, head of PIN,s Human
Rights Section, to discuss PIN,s ongoing efforts to promote
democracy in the Middle East (ref A.). Panek said PIN began
training Iraqi civil society in August 2005 at a center
located in Amman, Jordan, with the working title, The
Democracy and Transition Center (ref B.). This Center trains
carefully selected Iraqi journalists on their role in
transforming society, and on professional ethics. It also
helps Iraqi NGOs develop management skills, and provides
training for the trainers. In 2006, PIN plans to expand the
training program at the Center to include Iraqi civil
servants. In 2007, PIN hopes to expand the focus of the
Center to include other countries in the region, such as
Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine.

2. (U) The Czech MFA has strongly supported the Center by
providing 75 percent of the funding though 2006; the
remaining 25 percent came from the National Endowment for
Democracy (NED). PIN anticipates it will require additional
funding for the proposed expansion of the Center in 2007, and
informed Poloffs that PIN intends to formally apply for US
financial support.

3. (U) Background. PIN is the largest partner/implementing
NGO for the Czech MFA development assistance program. PIN
helps countries striving to transform from authoritarian
regimes to democracies by relying on experiences from the
Czech transformation after the fall of communism in 1989. PIN
is well-known and respected in Central Europe, and
coordinates its efforts with NGOs in other Visegrad countries
(Hungary, Slovakia, Poland). PIN is the largest domestic NGO
in Central Europe with over 500 employees in 16 different
offices (100 in the Czech Republic and 400 worldwide). In
addition to democracy promotion, PIN,s activities range from
crisis response to reconstruction, and it recently became
involved in development projects. PIN is registered as an
international PVO and aspires to funding from USAID. End
background.

4. (U) Comment. PIN programs support the USG policy of
promoting democracy in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East,
Eastern Europe (including Belarus), and Cuba. PIN,s
objective and comparative advantage is the "export of
transitional know how." Post therefore encourages favorable
USG support for PIN's plans to expand its Democracy and
Transition Center in 2007 to include training for leaders
from Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine.
CABANISS

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