In 2006 Nonviolence International – CIS continued its work in a number of fields, related to the development of civil conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts in the North Caucasus and a number of other geographical regions in the CIS states. Most activities of NI-CIS have in this respect fall into five thematic areas:

• The continuation and expansion of practical peacebuilding efforts in the Chechen republic and along its administrative border of with neighboring regions of the Russian Federation.

In this filed NI-CIS activities included dozens of practical activities which, as a rule were carried out through cooperation between NI-CIS and local partners in the North Caucasus (NGOs and individual activists) including:

• Round tables with the representatives of different social and professional groups, leading to practical cooperation plans;
• Different activities aimed to reintegrate Chechen youth in normal life and to develop tolerance among young people of Chechnya, Dagestan, North Ossetia, Stavropol region;
• Practical activities of representatives of different professional groups (such as, for example, cooperation between veterinarians from Dagestan and Chechnya)
• Public events (traditional “Mavlid” ceremonies, sports, concerts and meetings);
• Meetings and seminars with representatives of district administrations, NGO activists and journalists from many different areas, located along the administrative border of Chechnya and neighboring regions.

The overall goal of the project was not just to carry out some good activities, but to constructively influence certain aspects of life in the target region.

Significant progress has been made in this sense as well, for example:

• In a number of villages, round tables between youth and local police officers resulted in a better understanding of each-other’s position and in the creation of youth groups in support of order in these locations;

• Teachers from Chechnya participated in a training seminar in neighboring Dagestan;

A new local newspaper began to be published in the Naurski district of the Chechen republic;

• Dagestan is properly addressed in the Inter-Agency Transitional Workplan for the North Caucasus for 2007 – a document, which came in place of the Consolidated Appeals for the North Caucasus;
• Cooperation between local police officers of the two neighboring republics resulted in some successful operations against criminal gangs;
• The experience of such institutions as the Friendship House in Mozdok (North Ossetia) and the Inter-ethnic Council (Kurskoi district of Stavropol Krai) is used in the development of a similar institution in Chechnya.

• Development and fundraising for a set of practical civil peacebuilding initiatives in a number of other regions in the North Caucasus (the Republic of Dagestan, the Karachai-Chrekess Republic and Stavropol Krai).

In 2006 NI-CIS revised its proposal “Regional Stability Through Dialogue & Integration”, which was aimed to develop work on easing tensions & reintegrating youth in conflict-affected areas of the North Caucasus through interaction between civil society and educational, cultural & legal institutions. This plan included activities in the Republic of Dagestan, the Chechen and Karachai-Cherkess Republics and the Caucasus Mineral Waters area of the Stavropol Krai. In response to a request from USAID, which agreed to financially support the proposal, it was agreed that the work will be carried out in partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a US-based NGO, which has a representation in the North Caucasus. Unfortunately, though the contract was signed and funds were allocated, the implementation of practical activities had to be put on hold since IRC had problems getting the permit from the Russian government to continue its activities in the North Caucasus.

• The support and development of a thematic sector “peace and tolerance” within the Interagency Transitional Workplan for the North Caucasus.

This new thematic sector of the international humanitarian plan was established in 2006 largely due to the previous work of Nonviolence International in brining together various civilian peacebuilding actors in the region. NI-CIS co-chaired the development of this sector together with UNICEF and held monthly meetings with individuals and organizations, active within the sector. In June, NI-CIS helped develop an overall vision and presentation of the sector.

• General networking and support of civil pecebuilding activities in the North Caucasus.

In May, NI-CIS held a Round-Table “Civil potential for strengthening stability and peace in the North Caucasus – improving interaction”. Prior to it, a second version of the “North Caucasus NGO Peacebuilding Acion Agenda” was published in two languages, containing both a general action plan of civil NGOs involved in peacebuilding in the region (with clear thematic and sub-regional priorities) and an list of their practical initiatives.

The meeting lead to the development of a general civil peacebuilding strategy for the North Caucasus including clearly formed objectives, directions for practical activities and based on a number of key principles, such as:

• Moving from sets of activities - to continuous programs
• Moving from working in separate locations – to involvement of entire districts
• Creating mechanisms for influencing the situation in a continuous way: from exchanging experience - to setting up institutions
• Qualitatively improving interaction with federal / regional / local authorities: moving from interaction - to cooperation

Also, an important result of the round-table discussions was a joint proposal from participating NGOs to the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation to form a permanent working group on peacebuilding in Southern Russia under its auspices. This initiative had received a positive response from the members of the Public Chamber and such a working group was formed in October of 2006. It includes a number of representatives of North Caucasus civil organizations, including two members of NI-CIS. We currently plan to continue cooperation with the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation and hope that in 2007 this will help acquire additional organizational and financial resources for civil peacebuilding activities in the North Caucasus.

• The development of the Caucasus and West CIS regional networks of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC).

NI representative in the CIS region, Andre Kamenshikov, has continued to serve as a member of the International Steering Group (ISG) of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict. In 2006 he participated in two ISG meetings, in Nairobi (March) and in The Hague (October). NI-CIS played a key role in developing the West CIS and the Caucasus GPPAC regional action plan for 2007-2010 and is currently actively fundraising for their implementation.