The Open Society Institute's Education Support Program (OSI-ESP) and the Interkulturelles Zentrum (IZ) Austria are jointly carrying out the Caucasus Education Initiative, which will fund up to two-year local projects in the Caucasian regions.

On May 30-31, 2008, ESP in cooperation with the Austrian Government will hold a workshop in Vienna where education representatives from Russia, North and South Caucasus will come together to discuss cooperation opportunities in the region. Representatives from education NGOs from this region will showcase education initiatives that they would like to implement to improve access to quality education for marginalized children. Donor representatives interested in potential co-funding of these initiatives will be also attending the event.

The pre-selection process of the project proposals started early 2008 by the relevant Soros foundations and the New Eurasia Foundation in Russia.

For more information, please contact Natalia Shablya at nshablya@osi.hu or the country coordinators of the Caucasus Initiative:

Azerbaijan: Parviz Bagirov, pbagirov@osi-az.org
Georiga: Giga Zedania, giga@osgf.ge
Armenia: Armenuhi Tadevosyan, armenuhi@osi.am
Russia: Yelena Golovko, egolovko@neweurasia.ru