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Uniting civil society in Georgia during Covid-19

Uniting civil society in Georgia during Covid-19

Little did Ketevan Chachava know that the concepts for civic initiatives she developed while in the UK in 2019 on her John Smith Trust Fellowship Programme would be a life line for many less than a year later during a global pandemic! Ketevan is at the heart of civil...
Developing financial services in Turkmenistan

Developing financial services in Turkmenistan

  The John Smith Trust has welcomed Fellows from Turkmenistan to its Fellowship Programmes since 2012 – and Maksat Keshiyev was our first. Turkmenistan has been taking steps to modernise its banking industry in recent years. Investment in financial institutions,...
Protecting the Environment in Belarus

Protecting the Environment in Belarus

Anastasia Zhdanovich (JST Belarus Fellow) with Baroness Catherine Ashton, then Chair of the John Smith Trust. Anastasia Zhdanovich is a lawyer from Minsk – a 3rd generation lawyer in a family of lawyers in fact.  Deeply impacted by the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear...
Access to pro-bono legal services in Azerbaijan

Access to pro-bono legal services in Azerbaijan

Legal aid and pro bono legal services are available in Azerbaijan in some form, but a structured and efficient system at the national level which guarantees access to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups is not yet in place. Steps are being taken by some institutions...
Leadership in Kazakhstan’s Akmola Region

Leadership in Kazakhstan’s Akmola Region

One hour outside Nur Sultan is the rural village of Rodina in the Akmola region.  Rodina is the home of Bella Gazdiyeva (JST 2017, Kazakhstan), a passionate educationalist and environmentalist. Bella has had a spectacular career progression in recent years against all...
Dialogue and Devolution in Moldova

Dialogue and Devolution in Moldova

Following the finalising of a protracted and controversial governmental reform process, the 12-month period between 2018 and 2019 in Moldova was politically turbulent. Parliamentary elections were followed by political crises and the inability for three months to form...