Russia

Coal Sector Restructuring - The Government of the Russian Federation/World Bank/US Agency for International Development/European Union - this 5-year activity encompassed a variety of components required for restructuring that including serious measures for corporatization and privatization. The project commenced with minimal donor funding and has resulted in leveraging approximately $2 billion in donor and Russian Government funding. AEAI staff led the program design for this activity and implemented a number of actions including:

· Subsidy management

· Management and operations training

· Pricing and tax; trust management/valuing assets

· Social and economic impacts/development at regional and local levels

· Labor-government-management relations.

Community Development

As the evolution of the new "internet economy" continues to bring rapid change and new developments to the makeup of the national and international economic infrastructure, a number of critical issues must be addressed to assure both the well-being of the public and the overall community economic framework are being protected.

Important steps can be taken that will enable communities to transition, develop and retool in response to the demands of this new economy and to mitigate the ever widening and well-publicized "information gap" between different segments of society.

For any Community Development Activity, Advanced Engineering Associates International (AEAI) maintains in-house staff and also maintains a reliable and available list of individual and corporate resources that will bring a combination of Community Development approaches that have worked in various communities worldwide.

For much of the past decade, AEAI's core work has included support to governments in the design of energy sector restructuring strategies, social monitoring during restructuring, public information at local, regional and national levels and targeted employment and training programs to support affected communities during restructuring. These activities have included:

• Incubators
• Business training centers
• Job training/re-training
• Computer and basic job skills' training
• Leadership training
• Finance options information
• The establishment of incubators, credit unions and revolving loan funds

Highlighted Community Development activities include:

Russia - Novokuznetsk Business Assistance and Incubator - Funded initially by USAID and then supported by the World Bank and TACIS, AEAI staff worked in this coal/steel city with the city government, local community groups and NGOs and local small and medium businesses as well as individuals. This activity had three critical components:

1. Provision of assistance in preparing business plan including financial/managerial

2. Small lending and grant programs that, pursuant to perspective recipients' presentation of business plans and committee review, were available on a regular basis with 100% payback

3. For up to 30 small businesses, "incubator" space was available in a city-donated building from which tenants paid electricity, telephone and general repair. Average tenant remained 6-18 months before moving business out into separate venue; estimated 60% success in carry on business.

Russia, Nuclear Cities Program - AEAI staff is currently working as part of the "Community Development Program" of the US Department of Energy grant/lending activity to support the growth of new business and job opportunities in closing nuclear cities. We have assisted in the development of project criteria and assistance in project plan development, followed by evaluation of project viability and provision of financing. We are working with counterparts to establish regular project evaluation and monitoring capacity so as to institutionalize process at local level. So far more than 30 projects have received funding in these extremely difficult venues. One of the activities being funded is a business incubator based near St. Petersburg.