Quarterly Report: Partnership for Innovations (P4I) October-December 2016

The program aims to strengthen civil society in Central Asia and Azerbaijan, fostering progress and sustainability through increased learning, professionalism, and connectivity among leading Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). The program's objectives include increasing the learning, professionalism, and connectivity among CSOs across Central Asia and Azerbaijan, and increasing the resiliency of the CSO community to adapt and recover from the shocks or stressors of a rapidly changing operating environment. The P4I program has adopted a comprehensive approach to promoting its goals and objectives, addressing issues from three directions: direct engagement with the government, capacity building of local CSOs, and capacity building of networks uniting target country CSOs. The program has established and enhanced relations with various partners through meetings and interaction with relevant representatives. Key milestones achieved this quarter include the completion of start-up activities, conclusion of memorandums of cooperation with key partners, and identification of program staff and experts on regional and country levels. Under Objective 1, the program implemented key activities such as the implementation of the first regional program event, a regional study tour on state social contracting for Central Asian and Azerbaijani CSOs and government representatives, and facilitation of their participation in the VII Civil Forum of Kazakhstan in Astana. The program also reviewed and updated the Grants Manual in preparation for the launch of the Small Grants Program, and preparatory work for the three Year 1 regional research projects, including Capacity Building Regional Network Training and a regional study tour on volunteerism to Kazakhstan. Under Objective 2, the program implemented key activities such as initial discussions with the CSO Web Academy partner, KIMEP University, discussions in Sweden with the Uppsala Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and a highly-qualified IT expert in the field of online distance learning. The program also reviewed ARGO training modules and prepared CSO online distance learning surveys. The program has made significant progress in the reporting period, yielding important interim results, including the review and selection of 29 participants for the Capacity Building Regional Network Training, and the review of target country desk analyses. The program has also achieved success in Tajikistan, where a local CSO has successfully raised funds to provide free diagnostics and treatment for children with disabilities. The program's activities have been conducted in collaboration with key partners Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, and have yielded significant results in the reporting period. The program will continue to work towards its objectives, building on the progress made in the reporting period.