The 2011 Insights Into Development conference that I am planning with partners in Almaty is off and running. This past week, we released the conference announcement, invitation, program, and accompanying registration documents. The project is live!, you might say. So far, we have received 5 applications to participate in the conference, and I am busy reaching out to donor representatives and potential trainers to attend the event which takes place on May 22-24 in Almaty.
As I've mentioned before, this project is being funded by a grant that I wrote to the Royal Norwegian Embassy back in October. The conference is only one part of the project, where 50 NGO representatives, 15 donor representatives, 10 journalists, and 10 professors from KIMEP (an English-speaking Kazakh University) will come together to exchange knowledge and skills, share perspectives about development initiatives in the country, and work together to achieve a mutually beneficial set of expectations and feedback mechanisms for the future. The deadline to participate in the conference is 24:00 on April 27, and I expect that we will receive several hundred applications due to our ability to provide financial reimbursement for travel, as well as the unique stance that the conference takes in trying to establish more successful frameworks of interaction between all relevant stakeholders in this game called development of civil society.
If you want to read a copy of the 2011 Conference Materials/Goals/Program, please go to www.insights-into-development.com find English language materials on the left-hand side of the screen.
The second part of the project is the publication of NGO stories/opinions/successes/challenges/expectations in a nationally-distributed bilingual book. The book will be authored by NGOs themselves, who, in their own words, will submit essays on one of 4 themes we have chosen in order to guide potential authors. The goal is to have 50 different stories that cut across a multitude of social areas, so that the work of civil society organizations can be promoted within a larger audience than at the present time. Personally, I am already very excited for the kinds of essays I know we will receive.
So that's what's going on there. Trucking along as always, and proud of myself for helping to develop a national forum and national event that has already received great praise and support from many partners. It's so rewarding to see the idea I cultivated from a simple conversation over tea with my coworkers over a year ago, come to fruition on such a grand stage.
As I've mentioned before, this project is being funded by a grant that I wrote to the Royal Norwegian Embassy back in October. The conference is only one part of the project, where 50 NGO representatives, 15 donor representatives, 10 journalists, and 10 professors from KIMEP (an English-speaking Kazakh University) will come together to exchange knowledge and skills, share perspectives about development initiatives in the country, and work together to achieve a mutually beneficial set of expectations and feedback mechanisms for the future. The deadline to participate in the conference is 24:00 on April 27, and I expect that we will receive several hundred applications due to our ability to provide financial reimbursement for travel, as well as the unique stance that the conference takes in trying to establish more successful frameworks of interaction between all relevant stakeholders in this game called development of civil society.
If you want to read a copy of the 2011 Conference Materials/Goals/Program, please go to www.insights-into-development.com find English language materials on the left-hand side of the screen.
The second part of the project is the publication of NGO stories/opinions/successes/challenges/expectations in a nationally-distributed bilingual book. The book will be authored by NGOs themselves, who, in their own words, will submit essays on one of 4 themes we have chosen in order to guide potential authors. The goal is to have 50 different stories that cut across a multitude of social areas, so that the work of civil society organizations can be promoted within a larger audience than at the present time. Personally, I am already very excited for the kinds of essays I know we will receive.
So that's what's going on there. Trucking along as always, and proud of myself for helping to develop a national forum and national event that has already received great praise and support from many partners. It's so rewarding to see the idea I cultivated from a simple conversation over tea with my coworkers over a year ago, come to fruition on such a grand stage.
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