ONLF Collaboration Grant Projects
The Collaboration Grants Initiative is part of the Omidyar Network Leadership Forum (ONLF) program, an alumni initiative of the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program, aimed at strengthening communication among members of our network and stimulating valuable and impactful partnerships among the ONLF community. We believe these small grants will build capacity, fuel action, and improve the impact and knowledge base of our network. Ultimately, we see these partnerships helping to foster cooperation and strengthen democratic development on a regional and global scale. Ultimately, we see these partnerships helping to foster cooperation and strengthen democratic development on a regional and global scale.
Below is a listing of the current and past grantee projects from three rounds of funding:
Round 3 Projects (Expected Completion-Mar. 2017)
RESEARCH INITIATIVE: Gender Based Violence in Liberia
Project Location: Liberia
Alumni Collaborators:
Malcolm W. Joseph [Liberia 2009]; Executive Director, Center for Media Studies and Peacebuilding.
Pewee Flomoku [Liberia 2008]; Chief of Party, Carter Center Liberia
NEW PROGRAM INITIATIVE: Change Makers Venture Challenge
Project Location: India - Nepal
Alumni Collaborators:
Prathima Manohar [India 2011]; Founder, The Urban Vision
Jay Nishaant [Nepal 2007]; Chairman, Nepal Democracy Forim
POLICY: Civic Space in Eurasia
Project Location: Russia
Alumni Collaborators:
Anna Sevortian [Russia 2006]; Executive Director, EU-Russia Civil Society Forum
Tanya Lokshina [Russia 2005]; Russia Program Director, Human Rights Watch
MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION: Democracy Development Information Exchange & Nonviolent Action Tool
Project Location: Ukraine - Serbia - Bosnia and Herzegovina
Alumni Collaborators:
Dmytro Potekhin [Ukraine 2005]; Director, Nonviolent Solutions Agency
Jovan Jovanovic [Serbia 2005]; Advisor, Intersection - Center for Science and Innovation
Darko Brkan [Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013]; President, Civic Association "Why Not"
POLICY: Europe’s Changing Geostrategic Landscape
Project Location: Ukraine - Georgia
Alumni Collaborators:
Kateryna Ryabiko [Ukraine 2009]; Project Coordinator, Human Dimension Dialogue in Ukraine OSCE ODIHR
Nino Evgenidze [Georgia 2013]; Executive Director, Economic Policy Research Center
REGIONAL CONFERENCE: Accountability and Rule of Law in South America
Project Location: Latin America
Alumni Collaborators:
Mauricio Alarcón Salvador [Ecuador 2016]; Executive Director, Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo
Jana Macedo [Brazil 2016]; Public Policy Manager, Brazilian Federal Government - Ministry of Planning
Lisseth Boon [Venezuela 2016]; Iinvestigative Journalist, RunRun.es
María Victoria Llorente [Colombia 2016]; Executive Director, Fundación Ideas para la Paz
Round 2 Projects (Expected Completion-Oct. 2016)
REGIONAL CONFERENCE: Democracy Roundtable on Transitions to Democracy
Project Location: Nigeria - Zimbabwe
Alumni Collaborators:
Sylvester Odion Akhaine [Nigeria 2005]; Chair, Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation
Rindai Chipfunde Vava [Nigeria 2005]; Director, Zimbabwe Election Support Network
ADVOCACY CAMPAIGN AND WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT: Documentation Project of Police Human Rights Abuse
Project Location: Nigeria
Alumni Collaborators:
Oludotun Babayemi [Nigeria 2015]; Co-Founder, Connected Development (CODE)
Okechukwu Nwanguma [Nigeria 2015]; National Coordinator, Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN)
REGIONAL CONFERENCE: International Refugee Protection Roundtable in Latin America
Project Location: Ecuador
Alumni Collaborators:
Laura Gil [Colombia 2015]; Chair, Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation
Juan Londono [Colombia 2006]; Centro de Analisis y Asuntos Publicos (CAAP)
Karina Sarmiento [Ecuador 2015]; Regional Director, Asylum Access Latin America
Round 1 Projects (Completed by Spring 2016)
REGIONAL CONFERENCE: A Conference on Malaysia's and Serbia's Chairmanship over ASEAN and OSCE in 2015
Project Location: Malaysia
Alumni Collaborators:
Jovan Jovanovic [Serbia 2005]; Advisor, Intersection - Center for Science and Innovation
Yusmadi Yusoff [Malaysia 2008]; Partner, Fahda Nur & Yusmadi (Advocates & Solicitors)
WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT: Promoting a Culture of Documenting Mass Atrocities in Africa
Project Location: Nigeria and Cameroon
Alumni Collaborators:
Agnes Ebo'o, [Cameroon 2011]; Founder and Coordinator, Citizens Governance Initiatives
Stanley Ibe [Nigeria 2014]; Associate Legal Officer, Open Society Justice Initiative
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS: Assessment and promotion of the conflict of interest institution for the public services in the Kyrgyz Republic
Project Location: Kazakhstan
Alumni Collaborators:
Timurlan Baiserkeev [Kyrgyzstan 2010]; Executive Director, Public Association Atuul
Ruslan Daiyrbekov {Kazakhstan 2011]; Senior Legal Expert, Lawyer Internews Network
FULL DESCRIPTIONS
Round 3 Projects
Summer 2016
16 Collaborators; 6 Projects
Project Location: Liberia
Alumni Collaborators:
Malcolm W. Joseph [Liberia 2009]; Executive Director, Center for Media Studies and Peacebuilding.
Pewee Flomoku [Liberia 2008]; Chief of Party, Carter Center Liberia
Project Description:
The Liberia civil recorded high toll of abuse and violations of women and children in rape, assault, sexual slavery, child labor, wholesale murder and other forms of mayhem. The war ended based on negotiated peace accords that among other things sought to address the effects of the war. Liberia interim and successive governments especially under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as the first female president in Africa signed onto a host of international human rights instruments that among other things crafted legal frameworks to respond to the abuses and violations meted out to women. There are penal codes to deal with rape, inheritance issues for women, protection of rights to education for girls and participation in all spheres as part of the ideal to eliminate all forms of discrimination that had characterized the patriarchy instituted in culture and traditions for years predating the war. In spite of these reforms, enforcement of legal frameworks to minimize gender based violence remains an intractable problem to surmount. This is notwithstanding the fact that exist a plethora of gender promoting CSOs and advocate in the country doing one thing or the other. The project seeks to create an interactive forum whereby all voices on the issue will be captured to do a diagnosis. The process will seek to interrogate what, when, where, how and why of gender based violence in Liberia. Once these questions are answered actions to redress the problem can be identified and use as an advocacy tool that be pursued and monitored beyond the project cycle.
Project Location: India - Nepal
Alumni Collaborators:
Prathima Manohar [India 2011]; Founder, The Urban Vision
Jay Nishaant [Nepal 2007]; Chairman, Nepal Democracy Forim
Project Description:
The goals of the Change Makers Venture Challenge is to identify start-ups and entrepreneurial ideas within the ONLF community. The Change Makers Initiative will encourage an entrepreneurial approach to Democratic development. Guided by the CDDRL’s wider values & philosophy; the initiative will pursue prospects as well as enable, incubate and support innovative projects , initiatives and organizations in the area of democratic development. The projects the Change Makers Initiative seeks to apply innovation and entrepreneurial spirit towards solving important civic and political challenges.
Project Location: Russia
Alumni Collaborators:
Anna Sevortian [Russia 2006]; Executive Director, EU-Russia Civil Society Forum
Tanya Lokshina [Russia 2005]; Russia Program Director, Human Rights Watch
Project Description:
Our project "Civic Space in Eurasia. Ideas for Change" will produce a policy document focusing on current common trends in the civil societies in Eurasia. The paper will be published online and followed by a series of public events/ discussions with audiences in major capitals in the EU and the US (Brussels, Berlin, New York, etc.). At the times when shrinking civic space has become a global trend, we aim to identify and promote existing ways to support the civil society actors in Russia and Europe alike.
Project Location: Ukraine - Serbia - Bosnia and Herzegovina
Alumni Collaborators:
Dmytro Potekhin [Ukraine 2005]; Director, Nonviolent Solutions Agency
Jovan Jovanovic [Serbia 2005]; Advisor, Intersection - Center for Science and Innovation
Darko Brkan [Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013]; President, Civic Association "Why Not"
Project Description:
Existing social networks and campaigning platforms are good at involving and connecting people, but when it comes to the efficient organization they are not very informative. As a result, people in the field of nonviolent resistance keep developing new educational and campaigning tools. While most efforts today are focused on the development of secure ways to communicate with like-minded people, our solution will instead help people learn nonviolent campaign strategies and ways to organize the campaigning for legitimate and low-risk activities already – though mostly only formally – envisaged by the law. Another feature will be usage of data description standards used in the search industry and e-governance, such as http://schema.org/ and other xml-based standards, which will allow efficient integration of e-campaigning, e-governance and e-government functions. Special attention will be given to usability and security.
Project Location: Ukraine - Georgia
Alumni Collaborators:
Kateryna Ryabiko [Ukraine 2009]; Project Coordinator, Human Dimension Dialogue in Ukraine OSCE ODIHR
Nino Evgenidze [Georgia 2013]; Executive Director, Economic Policy Research Center
Project Description:
On 6-7 September 2016, the Economic Policy Research Center will organize a high level international conference entitled Europe’s Changing Geostrategic Landscape to be held in Tbilisi, Georgia. During the course of two days, the participants will debate contemporary challenges to democracy and security in light of the latest NATO Summit. A coalition of Fellows from Ukraine and Georgia would like to use this opportunity to hold the inaugural meeting of the “Policy Hub” of Stanford’s University Draper Hills Fellows, while also allowing the opportunity for Ukrainian Fellows to take part in the aforementioned conference. The “Policy Hub” is aimed at strengthening links between Fellows in Georgia and Ukraine to promote a debate on the variety of policy issues such as the resistance of the post-soviet system of governance to reforms in comparative perspective, the priorities of the reform agenda in Georgia and Ukraine and lessons learned from the region, conflict resolution and peace building processes in light of the frozen conflict in Abkhazia/South Ossetia and the on-going armed confrontation in Eastern Ukraine. The first meeting of the “Policy Hub” will take place in September in Tbilisi and will take a format of a brainstorming meeting gathering three Fellows from Ukraine and three from Georgia. The meeting will result in identifying the priorities of the “Policy Hub”, an informal intellectual network of Fellows, and an overarching strategy for its modalities.
Project Location: Latin America
Alumni Collaborators:
Mauricio Alarcón Salvador [Ecuador 2016]; Executive Director, Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo
Jana Macedo [Brazil 2016]; Public Policy Manager, Brazilian Federal Government - Ministry of Planning
Lisseth Boon [Venezuela 2016]; Iinvestigative Journalist, RunRun.es
María Victoria Llorente [Colombia 2016]; Executive Director, Fundación Ideas para la Paz
Project Description:
The regional conference will be a pilot of several roundtables that will host important topics regarding democracy, development, rule of law and accountability involving the Latin American alumni. For this conference, five different views and experiences from government, civil society and media will be presented in a public event in Ecuador. This will be an opportunity to exchange best practices, open dialogue with different actors and share common values regarding the sustainability of democracy in the region. Local experts and leader will be invited to share panels with CDDRL alumni. Besides the conference itself the event will be transmitted online in order to receive participants from other regions related to the alumni network. As Ecuador will face an electoral process in February 2017, that will be the beginning of an important transition, it’s important for us to share experiences of similar processes in other countries. There will be a great impact related to the public debate as the conference will be broadcasted by digital media. This is also a good way of promoting the Latin American Network that started in Buenos Aires, and it’s also a good opportunity to present the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program to potential candidates. After the regional conference, presentations will be published in a digital document that will be available for public.
Round 2 Projects
Spring 2016
7 Collaborators; 3 Projects
Project Location: Nigeria - Zimbabwe
Alumni Collaborators:
Sylvester Odion Akhaine [Nigeria 2005]; Chair, Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation
Rindai Chipfunde-Vava [Zimbabwe 2005]; Director, Zimbabwe Election Support Network
Project Description:
This project is centered around a multi-day roundtable meeting in Lagos, Nigeria, in September, which would convene 10 activist leaders from Zimbabwe and Nigeria to share knowledge on the role civil society has in the transition of political systems from authoritarian rule to multi-party democratic societies. The convening also aims to foster a stronger community of democratic activists in Sub-Saharan Africa via the development of an online platform, which would allow roundtable participants to continue and strengthen their dialogue long after the conference's end. The roundtable will organized by two 2005 alumni of Stanford CDDRL's Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program, Sylvester Odion Akhaine, chair of the Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation, and Rindai Chipfunde Vava, director of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network.
Project Location: Nigeria
Alumni Collaborators:
Oludotun Babayemi [Nigeria 2015]; Co-Founder, Connected Development (CODE)
Okechukwu Nwanguma [Nigeria 2015]; National Coordinator, Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN)
Project Description:
This 6-month project involves the development of a time, web-based map platform (www.policemonitor.org) that would allow citizens in Nigeria to document police human rights abuses in Nigeria, including unlawful detention, brutality, torture and extortion. The project also aims to strengthen existing police human rights abuse networks via its web-based platform, allowing for the creation of new projects among stakeholders and external actors. Throughout the entirety of the project, the two main project leads, Okechukwu Nwanguma, national coordinator of Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) and Oludotun Babayemi, co-founder of Connected Development (CODE), plan to engage Nigerian police to ensure that they fully understand the results of the reports submitted through the platform. Both Nwanguma and Babayemi are alumni of Stanford CDDRL's 2015 Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program.
Project Location: Ecuador
Alumni Collaborators:
Laura Gil [Colombia 2015]; Chair, Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation
Juan Londono [Colombia 2006]; Centro de Analisis y Asuntos Publicos (CAAP)
Karina Sarmiento [Ecuador 2015]; Regional Director, Asylum Access Latin America
Project Description:
The multi-day roundtable will gather 25 experts and leaders from academia and policy in Quito, Ecuador, to discuss the role of Latin America in the international refugee protection system. The aim of the roundtable is to formulate recommendations that would bolster refugee protections in Latin America. The outcomes of the conference and respective recommendations would come in the form of a publication to be released 2 weeks after the roundtable's close. Such recommendations would be presented to policy and government leaders in the region. Asylum Access Latin America, led by regional director Karina Sarmiento, will convene and host the roundtable with the support of Laura Gil, director of Dialogos y Estrategias, and Juan Fernando Londono of Centro de Analisis y Asuntos Publicos (CAAP). All three are alumni of Stanford CDDRL's Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program.
Round 1 Projects
Fall 2015
6 Collaborators; 3 Projects
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REGIONAL CONFERENCE
A Conference on Malaysia's and Serbia's Chairmanship over ASEAN and OSCE in 2015
Alumni Collaborators:
Jovan Jovanovic
[Serbia 2005]
Advisor
Intersection - Center for Science and Innovation
Yusmadi Yusoff
[Malaysia 2008]
Partner
Fahda Nur & Yusmadi (Advocates & Solicitors)
Project Description:
After first meeting at the 10th Anniversary Alumni Reunion of the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program in 2014, Yusmadi Yusoff (Malaysia) and Jovan Jovanovic (Serbia) organized a one-day conference in Kuala Lumpur on December 10, 2015, that brought together over 250 experts and practitioners from both the European and Southeast Asian regions to compare experiences, challenges, and outcomes of Malaysia’s and Serbia’s chairmanship over ASEAN and OSCE. This conference was the first of its kind to use a comparative lens to examine the Asian and European experiences, and closer collaboration between the two regions was encouraged as an outcome from conference participants. Former President of the UN Security Council Tan Sri Razali Ismail lauded the conference, as it marked the first interaction between ASEAN and OSCE in Malaysia. A video (below) overviewing highlights can be seen below. For more on the conference agenda and proceedings, please visit the site here.
WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
Promoting a Culture of Documenting Mass Atrocities in Africa
Alumni Collaborators:
Agnes Ebo'o
[Cameroon 2011]
Founder and Coordinator
Citizens Governance Initiatives
Stanley Ibe
[Nigeria 2014]
Associate Legal Officer
Open Society Justice Initiative
Project Description:
After first meeting at the 2014 ON Leadership Forum in Nigeria and through the assistance of the ON Collaboration Grants, Agnes Ebo’o (Cameroon) and Stanley Ibe (Nigeria) have started a website project that would enable scholars, media professionals, and members of the general public to share work and material pertaining to mass-atrocities in the West Africa region. The platform aims to serve as both an archive and as an interactive platform to engage varying stakeholders in meaningful conversations on how to pursue justice for victims of mass-atrocities. The site is still under development and will be ready for public view in the following months.
View an article on their project here.
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Assessment and promotion of the conflict of interest institution for the public services in the Kyrgyz Republic
Timurlan Baiserkeev
[Kyrgyzstan 2010]
Executive Director
Public Association Atuul
Ruslan Daiyrbekov
[Kazakhstan 2011]
Senior Legal Expert
Lawyer Internews Network
Project Description:
During the 2014 ON Leadership Forum in Tblisi, Georgia, Ruslan Daiyrbekov (Kazakhstan) and Timur Baiserkeev (Kyrgyz Republic) agreed to cooperate on the development of a draft law on conflicts of interest in the Kyrgyz Republic to curb corruption. Daiyrbekov was invited to serve as a legal expert by the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic to develop this draft law on conflict of interests, and the bylaws arising from the law. The project leveraged Daiyrbkov’s legal acumen with Baiserkeev’s large civil society network to produce a number of outputs, including the drafting of new legislation; outreach efforts to increase public awareness; production of a documentary; working meetings; and a press conference. Although the draft is still yet to be implemented, the Office of the Prime Minister’s Office has invited Diayrbekov to continue development of the draft law in conjunction with the Anti-Corruption Policy Department.
View a video (in Russian) on their project here.