P R O F I L E
ECOLOGIA marks Baltic success
Ecologia. The word is nearly the same in many European languages, from Hungarian to Lithuanian to English: It means the relationship and interaction between organisms and their environment. What a fitting appellation, then, for an organization that offers training, funding and technical support to grassroot NGOs in the former Soviet Union, the Baltic states and Central and Eastern Europe.
ECOLOGIA'S PRESIDENT, Randy Kritkausky, encourages NGOs in the Baltics to take advantage of his organization's successful mini-grant program.
ECOLOGIA's goals are similar to most other funding organizations who have stepped through the tattered old Iron Curtain in recent years, and is perhaps best summed up by their promotional sticker that reads: "Replacing Cold War competition with environmental cooperation." To accomplish this, ECOLOGIA (which stands for Ecologists Linked for Organizing Grassroots Initiatives and Actions) offers technical and humanitarian assistance to people in those nations emerging from the ecological effects of Soviet history, hoping to help locals solve the manifold environmental problems that often transcend the new geopolitical borders that have transformed the region.
But their mandate goes way beyond the issue of the environment to a kind of general Sorosian philanthropy. ECOLOGIA wants to encourage face-to-face encounters between people from different cultures, according to their introductory brochure, and increase the possibility that future generations will live in peace.
"We want to encourage work on projects to improve the environment because this will improve the world in general. I don't want my daughter to grow up in the same world I did," said Randy Kritkausky, ECOLOGIA's president, at a recent Baltic Mini-grant conference held at a lakeside resort in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Good things, small packages
How does ECOLOGIA accomplish this? The cornerstone of their program seems to be the Baltic Mini-Grant Program, implemented in 1993 with support from the Moriah fund to improve local environmental conditions by strengthening the NGO movement in the Baltics. "We want to professionalize NGOs so they can stand as equals with universities, scientific institutions and governments," says Kritkausky.
The concept is simple: Small grants with big results. Grants of between $246 and $750 have been awarded to 63 Baltic NGOs since 1993 for a total of $35,119. Projects include nature conservation, clean-up campaigns, seminars, and environmental education, and have been surprisingly cost-effective. Good things do indeed come in small packages, so the Moriah fund has pledged to continue its support for a third year.
Another of ECOLOGIA's programs is a citizens' water quality monitoring network operating in 10 countries. This program provides NGOs with the equipment and training necessary to conduct accurate on-site tests for nitrates, ammonium and other water-bound pollutants, as well as radioactivity, in any river, stream or water body. By empowering NGOs with Hach spectrophotometers, ECOLOGIA hopes to end a long and deadly tradition of government monopolization of information on environmental problems and their related health effects.
"Working on projects to improve
the environment will improve
the state of the world in general.
I don't want my daughter
growing up in the same world I did."
Recent projects include a joint venture between the REC, ECOLOGIA and the Pannon Ecologists Club (POK) in Pecs, Hungary. The project monitored the water quality of the Drava River, a drinking water source for many small villages that line its banks in southern Hungary. Nearby wells used for household and drinking water were also monitored. The project raised the public's awareness of water quality issues and stopped some polluting activities, such as a car wash that was dumping wastewater directly into the river.
Information at your fingertips
Increasing traffic along the information highway has long been the goal of many support organizations, including the REC, but ECOLOGIA's information service is unique, and may be ECOLOGIA's "greatest contribution" to date, says Kritkausky. The Technical Information Project (E-TIP), developed to provide professional quality information to environmental NGOs, not only provides access to library materials, e-mail and a "question and answer" service; an E-TIP editorial board also evaluates and screens the infinite, and often unmanageable, amount of data available on-line, presenting only information useful to environmental NGOs in the Region. Because it is expensive and relatively labor intensive, this ISAR-funded project currently serves only the former Soviet Union, but ECOLOGIA hopes E-TIP will be expanded to include the Baltic states, Central and Eastern Europe, and even the United States.
For more information, contact
Jonas Tamulis at ECOLOGIA's Baltic office,
Kalvariju 130-48, 2022 Vilnius, Lithuania
Tel: (370-2) 765-609
Fax: (370-2) 766-737
E-mail: jonas.tamulis@litcom.sprint.com
THE BULLETIN * SUMMER 1995