Fall Newsletter
In the Fall 2005 issue of the Newsletter you will read about Partners’ newly opened Centers in Jordan and Mexico; new and continuing civil society, good governance and tolerance building programs in Central Asia, the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe, and 2005 program highlights from Partners and Centers around the world.

New Center in Jordan
Partners-Jordan, directed by Dina Dukhqan, works to strengthen ongoing government reform efforts by facilitating government-civil society dialogue and cooperation, and by fostering increased political participation, especially among women, youth and marginalized groups.

Trainings for Iraqi Civil Society Leaders
In 2005 Partners offered training to 25 civil society leaders from northern, central and southern Iraq. The overall goal of the program was to strengthen nascent democracy in Iraq by empowering civil society leaders with the tools to facilitate inclusive community change and mobilization. Participants developed action plans to be supported with small grants, to enhance community initiative and cohesion, improve the delivery of services and model the application of democratic methods to local issues. The program was implemented in cooperation with Women for Women International. Due to security reasons trainings were held in Jordan.

When USAID/Bolivia Mission requested to USAID/Americas’Accountability/Anti-Corruption project (USAID/AAA), administered by Casals & Associations, Inc., for assistance in strengthening civil society oversight of government, USAID/AAA staff met with Raymond Shonholtz, President of Partners for Democratic Change. The result was a two-day workshop on coalition building for eight emerging Bolivian anti-corruption civil society organizations and NGOs. The workshop, held in Bolivia in May 2005, combined examination of actual experiences of anti-corruption and transparency coalitions in the region and instruction on the more technical aspects of the coalition building process. Building on the experiences and the technical tools presented, participants engaged in an extended discussion about lessons learned, including the benefits of specific approaches and barriers to achieving meaningful anti-corruption and transparency coalitions. The results of these discussions are reflected throughout the report.

Partners for Democratic Change, in conjunction with IREX, has begun the Citizen Participation Program (CPP) though a grant from USAID. CPP is a program designed to strengthen the capacity of Moldovan citizens to use democratic processes to create tangible and positive change in their communities. IREX has organized the implementation phase of its Citizen Participation Program (CPP) with a three-day Visioning Conference in Chisinau, Moldova from 28 February to 2 March 2005.