BEARR News
New volunteer: Rory Connor
BEARR is always delighted to have new volunteers. A warm welcome to our latest recruit. Rory is currently studying for a Masters in Russian Studies at University College London, where he also completed his BA in French and Russian. Prior to postgraduate study he worked as an English teacher in Nizhny Novgorod (see photo). He has also spent time working in Paris, Berlin, and Brussels. His interests include current …
Project report: “Homes without violence!”
Grantee: Association of Public Assessors, Tajikistan Project: “Homes without violence!”: training for paralegals and publication of articles and information booklets on judicial proceedings and prevention of domestic violence. The Association of Public Assessors of the Republic of Tajikistan implemented the project “Homes without violence”, with the support of The BEARR Trust’s Small Grant Scheme from July to December 2020. During the first month, the project group developed handout modules on the following training topics: Handouts in …
Project report: exchanging experience
New opportunities for women Grantee: MIR – Office for Initiatives Development, Tajikistan Project: “Women’s joint work – effective foundation for preventing domestic violence” Isfara and Bobojon Gafurov are rural districts of Tajikistan, where gender stereotypes and a lack of legal awareness have limited the participation of women and young girls in the decision-making process, both in the family and in social life. By combining the efforts of rural women leaders and women journalists to carry out an awareness campaign about domestic violence prevention, and presenting …
Project report: women - guardians of the hearth
Grantee: MIR – Office for Initiatives Development, Tajikistan Project: “Women’s joint work – effective foundation for preventing domestic violence” For Tajik society, family is the main school of life, since it helps form family members’ ideology and the relationships between people. Family life shapes how humans represent themselves in society. Muazzamkhon Nazirova, one of the active women in Surkh jamoat, Isfara city, has been making her contribution to life in the community for more than 30 years. Thanks to her, many of her students, …
BEARR Trust Spring Lecture 2021
The BEARR Trust is most grateful to Nigel Gould-Davies for agreeing to give a lecture on Thursday, 18 February at 5pm UK time, on the subject of “Belarus: what happened and what next?” You can watch a full recording of the lecture on BEARR’s YouTube channel here and read the report by BEARR trustee, Ross …
The BEARR Trust: Small Grants Scheme 2021
Projects to reduce the social isolation of people living with disadvantage People who live with disadvantages often face the additional difficulty of social isolation, and this problem has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the BEARR Trust invites applications for projects that propose ways of reducing social isolation. The deadline for applications is midnight on 15th February (i.e. 23:59 GMT, 15 …
Updates from Luke Grenfell-Shaw’s “Bristol2Beijing” expedition
Here are two articles from Luke Grenfell-Shaw’s time in Moldova as part of an intrepid journey cycling over 23,000km from Bristol to Beijing, via many of the countries which BEARR supports. He has been raising money for different charities and visiting some of BEARR’s grant recipients – past and present – along the way. Whilst …
Webinar: civil society and innovative practice in a time of pandemic, 19 November
Report by Megan Bick, BEARR Trustee Kristina Spirina, Winds of Changes, Odessa, Ukraine Kristina began by acknowledging the BEARR Trust as the first donor to believe in them, a women’s initiative started 2018, and to fund their first project working with Roma women and girls. Since then they have run 5 projects in 18 months with the current one finishing at the end of December 2020. We have created a map of …
Webinar: civil society support for persons with disabilities, 5 November
Report by Biljana Radonjic Ker-Lindsay, BEARR Trustee The BEARR Trust webinar on 5 November explored how service providing and advocacy disability CSOs are supporting persons with disabilities and their families in the EECCA region during the COVID-19 crisis. Particular attention was paid to their activities to address COVID-19’s impact on community inclusion and to promote equal rights …
The womanly face of change in Belarus
Alison Cameron got in touch with BEARR recently to offer her services as a volunteer, renewing contacts going back decades. She has been involved with Belarus for most of that time. We asked her to tell us about her latest project. This year is the 30th anniversary of my involvement with Belarus, a link that has weathered storms both political and personal including my life-changing experience …