Civil Society International  

Business and Economics

Organizations Academy for Educational Development is an "independent, nonprofit organization committed to solving critical social problems in the U.S. and throughout the world through education, social marketing, research, training, policy analysis and innovative program design and management." Alliance of American and Russian Women, Inc assists Mild88 Russian women in developing and managing micro-enterprises, through which they can support themselves and their families. American Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center) fosters the development of viable free democratic and independent trade unions. American Institute of Business and Economics is "an independent, noncommercial business school in Moscow ... offering a full range of business courses taught in English..." American-Russian Center "trains entrepreneurs, business managers and government leaders through grants from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other U.S. agencies and promotes the transition of the Russian Far East to democracy and a free market economy." Canadian Cooperative Association For more than a quarter century CCA has assisted co-operatives of all types and descriptions in over 40 countries through its International Development Program. Canada Russia Business Forum is a non-profit organization committed to promoting bilateral business growth by helping Canadian companies to do business in Russia. Center for Citizen Initiatives currently has two business related projects--Economic Development Program and the Mild88 Productivity Enhancement Program--to aid business development in the NIS. Center for Economic Initiatives "helps Ukrainian and Western business enterprises locate trading and investment partners by describing services and products which are available for export to and from Ukraine."  Center for International Private Enterprise is an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce which works directly with foreign business organizations, think tanks, and private sector organizations assisting them to function as national entities supportive of free enterprise. Citizens Democracy Corps helps place business volunteers with small and medium-sized enterprises in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs is a "non-profit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to stimulating international economic growth in developing and emerging world markets." E. F. Schumacher Society is "an educational non-profit organization ... whose programs demonstrate that both social and environmental sustainability can be achieved by applying the values of human-scale communities and respect for the natural environment to economic issues." Financial Services Volunteer Corps is a "private-public partnership whose mission is to help build the sound banking and financial systems required by countries seeking to develop transparent market-oriented economies." Since its inception in 1990, FSVC claims to have leveraged approximately $45 million in USAID funding to provide nearly $150 million in technical assistance, principally through the involvement of private-sector volunteer experts. Experts from the financial, legal and regulatory communities have taken part in over 1,100 FSVC missions to developing and transition countries. FSVC currently operates its two largest programs in Russia and Indonesia. Foundation for International Professional Exchange, Inc. facilitates the exchange of professional persons, information, equipment, and students between the U.S. and the NIS. Foundation for Russian/American Economic Cooperation The Foundation for Russian American Economic Cooperation (FRAEC) has ten years of experience with businesses and government throughout Russia, with a special focus on the Russian Far East. International Executive Service Corps believes itself to be "the largest not-for-profit business development organization of its kind in the world." Its volunteers operate in 55 countries around the world, offering assistance described on the IESC Programs and Services web page.  Junior Achievement International was established in 1994 to develop and serve JA programs outside the United States. It has grown into "an organization that annually serves over 2.2 million young people in 112 countries. Programs have been developed in 36 languages." In addition to the world headquarters office in Atlanta, Georgia, there are regional operating centers in Brussels, Belgium; Zlin, Czech Republic; Almaty, Kazakhstan; and Accra, Ghana. Mennonite Economic Development Associates has been serving the poor since 1953 "through the development of business by providing credit, business training, marketing and technical assistance. Our mission is to promote economic growth to the benefit of and in partnership with poor people in Low Income Countries. This is accomplished through a business-oriented approach to development which results in sustainable enterprises." USAID Microentreprise. USAID has been "the leading bilateral donor of funds and technical assistance to microenterprise development programs for the last 20 years. Since 1988, when USAID began formally tracking its microenterprise funding, the Agency has committed over $1.5 billion to support microenterprise development. During the last twenty years ... huge strides have been made in developing systems and methods to effectively and sustainably deliver services to the underserved poor." Peace Corps runs a variety of programs relating to business in the developing nations of Eastern Europe and the NIS. The TACIS Program, launched by the EC in 1991, "provides grant-financed technical assistance to 13 countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan), and mainly aims at enhancing the transition process in these countries." €4,226 million were committed through the Tacis program between 1991 and 1999, an additional €3,138 million in Tacis budget will be committed for the period 2000-2006.

Online Information BISNIS BISNIS (Business Information Service for the Newly Independent States) is the U.S. government's primary resource center for U.S. companies exploring business opportunities in Russia and the NIS. BISNIS provides U.S. companies with the latest market reports and tips on developments, export and investment leads, and strategies for doing business in the region. Since opening in 1992, BISNIS claims to have facilitated more than $3.2 billion worth of U.S. exports and overseas investments CEEMAN-L CEEMAN-L is managed by retired professor of finance Dennis McConnell for the Central and East European Management Development Association (CEEMAN), based in Slovenia. While the primary purpose of the list is to provide information for CEEMAN members--much of the information is about academic exchange programs, funding opportunities, and online tools and resources for management students and professors--McConnell monitors so many information resources, electronic and print, that CEEMAN-L is of interest for a much larger audience.  Archives are available at the website. To subscribe, send a message directly to McConnell ([email protected]), providing name, e-mail address, postal address, institutional affiliation, and academic/professional interests. CERRO-L CERRO is an acronym for Central European Regional Research Organization. The list is a combination of announcements and discussion on the general topic of economic reform in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Archives of back messages are available at ecolu-info.unige.ch/archives/.  To post a message to the list, send it to [email protected]. To subscribe, send the message subscribe cerro-l firstname lastname to listserv@ wu-wien.ac.at. ELDIS Development Reporter ELDIS, “the gateway to information on development,” is hosted by the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, UK. The Development Reporter carries general news and information; there are 21 subject-focused bulletins also. Subscriptions are free and can be obtained either at the website or by e-mailing [email protected]. (As of late 2003, ELDIS boasted links to more than 4,500 organizations, 12,000 full-text online documents covering development and environmental issues, and 15,000 email messages.) For those with limited access to the Web, ELDIS offers an automated service to deliver documents by email, making use of the Bellanet web-to-email service. For full instructions on receiving a web document as an email message, send an email to [email protected].   J Has the information on this page been helpful to you?  If so, please consider making a small donation to Civil Society International to support its website. Just click on the secure PayPal button below to initiate the donation process.

© Civil Society International, 2003