Beginning in 1991, under the guidance of Sarah Harder and in partnership with Olga Bessolova, the National Peace Foundation helped to develop and has worked with Russian Civic Partnerships (formerly known as the Russian Civic and Professional Women's Network).

Since that time, NPF and its Russian partners have provided training in the rudiments of civic political leadership to upwards of a thousand women. Today some twenty local and regional networks of such women, located across the Russian Federation, are connected by the Internet.

Each local and regional group has its own priority issues. These range from Zhukovsky's efforts to rebuild a social safety net to addressing the problem of secondary violence in the Caucasus region near Chechnya.

In April 2001, the National Peace Foundation in collaboration with our partners in the Don Region, presented the third major peace conference in Rostov-on-the-Don. The III Forum of International On-going Conference "Women for Life Without War and Violence" drew over 175 participants, including political officials, NGOs, military officers, and youth from 30 regions across Southern Russia and the Caucasus.

The platform of actions adopted by the Forum was demonstrated by a series of local refugee assistance projects funded by the Soror Foundation, along with an array of other follow-up actions and events.

A new coordinating Council of Representatives from each of the regions in the South Federal District of Russia was elected to advise and lobby a representative of Russia's President. NPF is seeking support to assist the implementation of this Council and to strengthen regional coalitions of women leaders in advocacy efforts and project management.

Partnerships to build corporate social responsibility provide a new focus for the National Peace Foundation's civil society efforts. In 2001, Olga Bessolova established a new Human Resources Division for a Russian-owned aluminum corporation with plants in eleven cities across the Federation. Programs to develop social partnerships with city governments have become a key initiative for the corporation.

NPF helped to organize community action planning sessions with government and plant officials and community leaders to address major social problems. For example, a pilot regional program on youth drug abuse has been developed in four North Ural cities. Focused on prevention and treatment strategies, this project targets traffickers and engages youth leadership. With corporate support to develop and implement the plan, the National Peace Foundation supports onsite participation by Sarah Harder and U.S. Addiction Specialist, Dr. Corinne Gerwe.

Sarah Harder

President of the National Peace Foundation

Sarah Harder has worked for thirty years on issues involving women at grassroots, national and international levels. She serves as President and Board Chair of the National Peace Foundation in Washington DC, where she also co-chairs the National Women’s Conference Committee and serves on the National Council of Women’s Organizations. As the president of the American Association of University Women (1985-89), she chaired its $46 million Education Foundation. She served as vice-president of the International Federation of University Women (IFUW) based in Geneva. Her study and action guide, “Women’s Future, World Future: Education for Survival and Progress” is used by IFUW affiliates in 68 countries. She is Professor Emerita from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where she served for 34 years as administrator and faculty member. Through the National Peace Foundation, Sarah Harder has worked since 1991on civil society, peace building and social partnership projects involving NGOs, their communities and their government in the Russian Federation.