A C H I E V E M E N T S
Fellowships
Junior Fellowship Program
The Regional Environmental Center's Junior Fellowship Program, which completed its first full year in 1994, is one of the REC's most effective programs for building partnerships among the environmental leaders of the future across the Region.
Junior Fellow
TUDOR BALINISTEANU (Romania)
writes a report on environmental education as part of his work with the Initiatives Team.
Twenty-nine youth from twelve countries, each from a different non-government organization, participated in this program in 1994. Fellows come to the REC's head office for one month of practical training in how to manage their environmental non-government organizations. While at the Center, the junior fellows not only attend lectures, give seminars, and visit successful environmental organizations in Central Europe, but they also get the chance to use all the REC's facilities, like its excellent library, to collect information or to work for their own groups back home. In some cases, fellows choose to work with a REC team on a current project. By participating in the work of the team, junior fellows acquire hands-on experience in project management.
TOMAS BITINAITIS,
a Junior Fellow from Lithuania prepares a project proposal.
Five junior fellowship sessions were held in 1994. Each fellowship period unites young environmental activists from different Central and Eastern European countries. Through this direct, personal contact, the REC builds understanding of the similarities and differences of the state of the environment and of the environmental movement in each country. Besides becoming more effective in their organizations after their training as junior fellows, these young environmentalists have also helped the REC by serving as contact points in their countries.
Senior Fellowship Program
The Senior Fellowship Program was created in 1994 to bring experienced environmental experts to the Regional Environmental Center for up to four weeks to explore an issue of their choice. In 1994 we hosted the head of environmental protection from a chemical plant in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the head of environmental planning in the City of Zagreb, the director of the Ecological Center of Ukraine, and a dean at the Bucharest University of Agricultural Sciences.
VALERIJA KELEMEN PEPONIK,
Head of Environment Protection with the City of Zagreb, developed many ideas for cooperation during her stay as the REC's second Senior Fellow.
Through visits to several libraries in Hungary and to organizations in neighboring countries, senior fellows learned about how others have solved problems similar to their own, and built partnerships with colleagues throughout the Region. The REC's Senior Fellowship Program clearly promoted a Regional approach to sharing knowledge and know-how.
REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER * ANNUAL REPORT 1994