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 …

Tushinskaya Trust assets are transferred to The BEARR Trust

The BEARR Trust is very grateful to Dr Harald Lipman and his fellow trustees for choosing BEARR to receive Tushinskaya Trust’s residual assets following the Charity Commission’s recent approval of Tushinskaya Trust’s dissolution.  Tushinskaya Trust was established in 1988 by Dr Harald and Nahid Lipman, whilst Dr Lipman was Medical Attaché at the British Embassy in Moscow. Its aim throughout its years …

New volunteers

BEARR is always delighted to welcome new volunteers, who play such a great role in our activities. Here are two of our newest recruits.  Holly Battye  Holly graduated from Cambridge with a degree in Russian and French and has spent a number of years studying, working and volunteering in Russia, primarily with a focus on translation work. Most …