US embassy cable - 05PRAGUE1614

UNCLAS PRAGUE 001614 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, PREL, EZ, IZ 
SUBJECT: CZECH NGO WILL SEEK USG SUPPORT FOR PLAN TO EXPAND 
DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE IN MIDDLE EAST 
 
REF: A. PRAGUE 01399 
 
     B. PRAGUE 01198 
 
1. (U) Poloffs met with Simon Panek, Director of Czech NGO 
People in Need (PIN), and Igor Blazevic, head of PIN,s Human 
Rights Section, to discuss PIN,s ongoing efforts to promote 
democracy in the Middle East (ref A.). Panek said PIN began 
training Iraqi civil society in August 2005 at a center 
located in Amman, Jordan, with the working title, The 
Democracy and Transition Center (ref B.). This Center trains 
carefully selected Iraqi journalists on their role in 
transforming society, and on professional ethics. It also 
helps Iraqi NGOs develop management skills, and provides 
training for the trainers. In 2006, PIN plans to expand the 
training program at the Center to include Iraqi civil 
servants. In 2007, PIN hopes to expand the focus of the 
Center to include other countries in the region, such as 
Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. 
 
2. (U) The Czech MFA has strongly supported the Center by 
providing 75 percent of the funding though 2006; the 
remaining 25 percent came from the National Endowment for 
Democracy (NED). PIN anticipates it will require additional 
funding for the proposed expansion of the Center in 2007, and 
informed Poloffs that PIN intends to formally apply for US 
financial support. 
 
3. (U) Background. PIN is the largest partner/implementing 
NGO for the Czech MFA development assistance program. PIN 
helps countries striving to transform from authoritarian 
regimes to democracies by relying on experiences from the 
Czech transformation after the fall of communism in 1989. PIN 
is well-known and respected in Central Europe, and 
coordinates its efforts with NGOs in other Visegrad countries 
(Hungary, Slovakia, Poland). PIN is the largest domestic NGO 
in Central Europe with over 500 employees in 16 different 
offices (100 in the Czech Republic and 400 worldwide). In 
addition to democracy promotion, PIN,s activities range from 
crisis response to reconstruction, and it recently became 
involved in development projects. PIN is registered as an 
international PVO and aspires to funding from USAID. End 
background. 
 
4. (U) Comment. PIN programs support the USG policy of 
promoting democracy in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, 
Eastern Europe (including Belarus), and Cuba. PIN,s 
objective and comparative advantage is the "export of 
transitional know how." Post therefore encourages favorable 
USG support for PIN's plans to expand its Democracy and 
Transition Center in 2007 to include training for leaders 
from Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. 
CABANISS