Request number: (Allocated by the Czech Development Agency) Initial Project Proposal Title: ARCHIVES WITHOUT BORDERS: ONE MORE STEP FORWARD Partner country: Region/town/locality: Georgia Tbilisi&Sukhumi Expected Start Date of Implementation: Expected End Date: 1.01.17 30.06.19 Estimated total financial allocation (EUR): Expected Czech ODA financial 170 000 EUR contribution (EUR): (CZK) 170 000 EUR Applicant / Partner Institution: Name, type, mail and web address of partner institution; name and position of responsible manager, phone, fax, e-mail. Caucasus Dialogue Foundation (CDF), http://caucasusdialogue.org. Head of Council, Scientific supervisor of the project – George Anchabadze, [email protected]; mobile: +995 599 98 64 17. Responsible manager – Marina Pagava, [email protected]; mobile: +995 599 601 888. Other key partners: Name, type, mail and web address of partner institution(s); name and position of responsible manager, phone, fax, e- mail. An autonomous non-commercial organization «Work Group for Social and Humanitarian Issues “Alasha”. Director/contact person: Shorena Lakerbaya [email protected]; mobile: + 7 940 776 45 45. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE Development problem: Problem analysis. Please explain current situation, identify major problems and their real causes (problem tree), stating the baseline for the intervention. Please include cross-cutting issues in the problem analysis (identify the major problems from the gender perspective, with regards to environment etc.) It is well-known that in ethno-political conflicts history stops being “just history, just science” and is used by war parties for political expediency. Georgian-Abkhazian conflict is no exception in this context. «The historic aspect» in Georgian-Abkhazian confrontation is so strong that it was, especially at times of escalation, referred to as “conflict of historians”. Specifically historians were the ones who formed the “historical rationale” for the issues so painful for Georgian-Abkhazian relationships such as «whose land is» and “aboriginal population” of Abkhazia. This was pure propaganda which hurt and wounded national feelings of people and aggravated further polarization of the communities. It is obvious that historians played a critical part in creation of general background of tension, non-confidence and hostility in Georgian-Abkhazian relationships which later turned into the bloody conflict of 1992-1993. The experience of communication with Georgian and Abkhazian historians illustrates that a complicated process of rethink is under way within this community. Each side shows willingness to hold a dialogue and get its scientific and citizenly truth across to the counterpart. This was pointed out at the meeting of historians (Moscow, 2003), and at the Round-Table meeting with scientists of Abkhazia (Sukhumi, 2011). Both events were organized by the authors of the given proposal within the framework of International Alert and program COBERM (a joint EU-UNDP initiative) projects respectively. It is clear how important a dialogue is between the groups which bear a direct relation to escalation of the conflict and formation of public opinion. Over the last years sustainable communication has been established between Georgian and Abkhazian scientists on the basis of the archival projects. By this time Abkhazian scientists themselves not infrequently request us for search of archival items through Georgian archives for them which points to the growth of confidence and cooperation. This project creates conditions for strengthening professional interaction and cooperation between the scientists of Georgia and a target group / key beneficiary of the project – the scientists and young people of Abkhazia. Even though the nature of interaction with them will vary, a unifying force will be provision of the both groups of beneficiaries with archival documents that they need for their academic work. Destruction of the Sukhumi Archive in the time of Georgian-Abkhazian war of 1992-1993 was perceived by the Abkhazian community as a deliberate act aimed against the identity and historical memory, negatively impacted the work of Abkhazian humanitarian scientists, deepened alienation and non-confidence between the sides. Caucasus Dialogue has been working in this direction five years and each of the projects had its own specifications. The core of the projects – passing archival documents to the conflict sides – was added with different initiatives aimed at cooperation of scientists, raising awareness of the archivists on modern archive management, technical assistance to archives etc. The efforts to restore the archive have been perceived in Abkhazia as good will and aspiration of the Georgian side towards cooperation and strengthening of confidence. These activities have had a positive feedback both from scientific community and civil society, also from the political administration of Abkhazia. At the Geneva discussions in March 2015 a representative of the Abkhazian delegation pointed out that passing archives holds purely peace-making meaning. So, within the framework of the project we will: - Hold lectures with bachelor students and master’s degree students of Abkhazian State University on the subjects of “Historical Geography of Abkhazia” and “Abkhazia and Caucasian War” (28 hours a year). Due to the exceptional nature of the subjects we will tape-record and publish the lectures. - Identify the needs of Abkhazian scientists and students in terms of archival documents. Then we will search them through Georgian archives, digitalize them and pass to the Abkhazian side. - Prepare and publish two publications: (1) Courses of lectures on the subjects mentioned above and (2) A collection of the most valuable archival documents and photographs of the history of Abkhazia. - The web-site of Caucasus Dialogue is being improved. Improvement of the web-site implies placing all materials passed by Caucasus Dialogue to the Abkhazian and Ossetian sides for the five years of work. This includes 20 000 pages of historical documents and video-phono-photo materials, the documents selected within the framework of the project in question. The implementation of the archival projects would be impossible without support of international organizations. Our partner-donors at different times have been the Embassy of Great Britain in Georgia and program COBERM. The Embassy of Czech Republic in Georgia has been involved since 2011 into the restoration process of the Abkhazian archive. Equipment has been gifted to the Sukhumi Archive. Through the facilitation of the Embassy a guest expert of archive management Juri Ulovec held a training workshop for archivists in Tbilisi and Sukhumi. In addition, the Embassy facilitated the arrangement of an information trip of Georgian and Abkhazian archivists and historians through Czech archives. Key stakeholders and beneficiaries: Analysis of key stakeholders and beneficiaries. Please define stakeholders who have significant influence or importance for the solution of the problem given above. Also, specify groups (e.g. women, men, girls, boys of different age, education, economic status and other categories) who shall directly benefit from the intervention, and those who will benefit indirectly. Please provide gender disaggregated data on both the stakeholders and the beneficiaries, if relevant. The main beneficiaries of the project are scientists-humanitarians and bachelor and master students of Abkhazia. The absence of the archive substantially complicated the scientific work of this academic group. Despite this, they continued to work on the basis of personal archives and collegial exchange of the available personal items. Delivery of the documents which will meet the current scientific needs of the scientists-humanitarians will secure a favorable working environment for them. The archive of Sukhumi, State University of Abkhazia, the Abkhazian Institute of Humanitarian Studies and the Academy of Science of Abkhazia will be replenished with new documents. Thus, the beneficiaries of the project will be both the listed institutions (as the documents will become their property) and staff members and students of these institutions. The process of digitalization of documents has been launched in the Georgian archives. The documents digitalized within the framework of the archival projects remain in the Georgian archives. Thus, the projects facilitate the hard work of digitalizing in the Georgian archives and therefore the latter are the beneficiaries of the project. Confidence building between the Georgian and Abkhazian scientific communities encourages peace- making spirits also in other groups of both communities separated by the conflict. In the first place this concerns the communities engaged in the Georgian-Abkhazian peace- making process both on the formal and informal levels. Thus, the mentioned communities are the beneficiaries of the project. Direct Beneficiaries: In total – 150 persons. (1) The scientists who will be directly communicated with by the scientific supervisor and coordinator of the project and the scientific needs of whom will be considered in the process of search of the archival documents. (2) Bachelor and master students of State University of Abkhazia. Average age of the direct beneficiaries – 20-85 years old. Approximate gender balance among the direct beneficiaries: 40% is women. Indirect Beneficiaries: In total - 3000 persons, 4 Institutions in Sukhumi and 5 archives in Tbilisi: (1) The institutions: the