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Training Course in Nizhnij Novgorod At
the request of the Department on Relations with the Public and Confessional and
Interregional Relations of the Nizhnij Novgorod Administration the training
course in Nizhnij Novgorod was planned to take place on the 19th
and 20th of February that is working days.
пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ How they had told us before, the
pension was a miniature and comfortable house. The rooms were big and nice
and the halls, where the training and work in groups should take place,
roomy. And all these premises, including the dining-hall, were situated in
one corpus. пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ The first meeting in the chimney
room (even such premises they had there) showed that the participants had
expected a set of boring lectures about the sense of life, and about the role
of national minority NGOs for the establishment of a shining future. The
participation of the leader of the Nizhnij Novgorod patriotic organization
пїЅOtchiznaпїЅ (native country) let us, and especially our trainer, expect a
funny and turbulent seminar. пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ It seemed that the participants
would peacefully go in their rooms after the meeting in the evening. But they
didnпїЅt. Probably because of the big interest in international contacts one
could hear laughter and excited voices of disputants behind the doors till 2
oпїЅclock in the night. And at the end the people sang the song пїЅTy menya
podmanulaпїЅ. Nevertheless, at 10 a.m. the majority of the
participants were on their places. It is true that the representative of the
Armenian unity proposed to exchange the chairs for more comfortable
armchairs. But Karasev as an experienced trainer had no problems to get back
the control and went on with his training program. Every experienced trainer
will пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ Although (like in Samara) the
leaders of national communities thought, that they could get more results if
they were pulled together, they did not strongly believe in such a coalition.
That completely verified our presumption that the efforts of a
non-governmental and non-national organization, that is an organization like
the Center for Interethnic Cooperation, are necessary to coordinate the
activities of different national communities. One of the basic tasks of
the training was to teach them that different national communities are
confronted with almost the same problems. As Germans, Azerbaijanis, Jews and
others have at first sight different mentalities, traditions, customs etc.,
one actually expects them to have very different tasks to fulfill. But then
the training showed that the most of the national communitiesпїЅ leaders suffer
from the same affection: their main problem is the lack of financial support.
However they seemed to be very sure that they knew how to spent money if they
would have some. For the sake of justice it is to mention, that the majority
of our officials think exactly that way. Due to that there is the following
immortal phrase: пїЅwe wanted to make it better, but the outcomes were like
alwaysпїЅ (My khoteli kak luchshe, a polychilosпїЅ kak vsegda). Worth mentioning,
that only two of the participating leaders of national organizations had
experience in writing grant proposals. The others first had to become aware
about the fact that they had to point out their mission before they could
start their activities. That is defining the problems they want to solve, the
aims and tasks they want to start on, and elaborating strategies how to
fulfill their mission. One of the most imported outcomes of the training was
that the majority of the participants understood, that they need supplemental
knowledge and skills for a more effective work. The work in groups, lively
arguments, the cultural program, were doubtless not in vain. Unanimously, the
participants noted in the questionnaires that it is necessary to carry out
such training courses systematically. The
participating leaders of national minorities from Nizhnij Novgorod asked each
other why they did not organize such a meeting out of the city on their own.
They did not have an answer to this question. At the end of the training
course the authority of the training organizers and of Feliks Karasev had
grown to the same amount, as the participants liked the technical conditions
of the seminar. We emphasized that the laurels for this festive day of
friendship and reconciliation are owing to the colleagues of the Moscow
office of the Program of Democracy and Human Rights of the European Union,
because the trusted in us and granted our program. As
expected, nobody of the leaders of national minorities has known about the
existence of the Framework Convention on the Protection of National
Minorities. But we have to mention that Nizhnij Novgorod is a quite peaceful
region concerning international contrasts. There are not so many immigrants
and foreigners, and the local authorities show enough tolerance towards
national groups. Due to their participation, the representatives of the
Administration have become more acquainted with the leaders of national
communities from Nizhnij Novgorod and also with the problems they are
confronted with. We, the Center for Interethnic Cooperation found new
organizations and new people to which we can address in our further work.
This is for us a really important result. It means that we are on the right
way. |
