AMBASSADOR ENGAGES ON WOMEN'S ISSUES IN UTENA

UNCLAS VILNIUS 000118 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM KWMN XH LH BE SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR ENGAGES ON WOMEN'S ISSUES IN UTENA REGION REF: VILNIUS 64 ¶1. Summary: A cross section of municipal, business, and civil society leaders in Visaginas and Utena told the Ambassador on February 10-11 that the recession continues to hit the region hard, with negative impacts on families and communities and prompting increased immigration. The closure of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant coupled with the economic downturn is giving local governments and socially focused NGO's more than they can handle without additional funding. The GOL itself is not a big player in financing local NGO's, therefore these groups must rely on help from local governments, who are cash starved themselves, and intermittent donations from abroad. ¶2. The NGO's, largely run by women, welcomed not only the news of the April visit of Ambassador at-Large for Global Women's Issues, Melanne Verveer, but also the announcement of the new Community of Democracies working group on women's issues, to be co-chaired by Lithuania and the United States. End Summary. ¶3. Visaginas Mayor Vytautas Rackauskas is dealing first hand with the twin problems of an economic slowdown and the phased closing of the local Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP). Unemployment remains in the low double digits but Rackauskas is prepared for the situation to get worse before it gets better. He noted that the incremental privatizing of land in the region appears to him to be hindering investment because new owners are not necessarily interested in leasing to factories or other large scale business operations. The Ambassador also traveled to the INPP itself, met with longtime Director Viktoras Shevaldinas, and received a briefing on the plant and its decommissioning process, spread out over the next 15 to 20 years and costing between one and two billion EUROS. ¶4. In Visaginas February 10, the leadership of Third Age and Visaginas Community Foundation, along with the Social Support Department of the Visaginas Municipality, described the human story behind the INPP closing. Many times the 'earner' leaves his family and seeks employment in major cities or abroad, leaving broken families. The demand for social services from the city government, even for basics such as the heating bill, is also on the rise. Jolita Zabulyte, the chief specialist for the Visaginas Social Support Department, serves as the link between the city and the NGO community. She said generally NGO's are involved in community activism, for instance Third Age retrains mid career professionals left unemployed by the closure of INPP. The city, on the other hand, aims to reach out to the vulnerable -- children in orphanages or elderly in day care or homebound. The city budget for this outreach however is very tight and may get cut again in 2011. ¶5. In Utena February 11, board members of women's issue umbrella NGO "Ievos namai" (House of Eve) described a similar financial and social situation in their city. Lolita Kaminskiene said "Ievos namai" is getting funding from the government of Norway however the board members are now looking for money in France and Italy because the Norwegian support may be ending this year. She also characterized the instances of single motherhood and domestic abuse as high as they have ever been, underscoring that there is need for both legislation and education to curtail domestic violence. The police are reluctant to get involved in domestic problems. (Note: the city of Utena, according to its Mayor Alvydas Katinas, is weathering the economic recession, however that is not translating into increased funding for these NGO's. End note). The NGO members were delighted to hear of USG interest in women's issues, the appointment of Ambassador Verveer, and Lithuania and the U.S. co-chairing a group on women's issues in the Community of Democracies. They sought USG assistance in establishing links with women's NGO's in the U.S. working on issues similar to theirs, especially domestic violence. ¶6. Ambassador also paid a visit to Amcit and longtime Lithuanian resident Sister Dolorita Butkus, who manages Saint Clare's Patient and Respite Hospice in Utena city. Sister Butkus gave the Ambassador a tour of the facility, which is also suffering from a lack of adequate funding. She said the GOL has cut its funding to hospice care nationwide by 11 percent. Saint Clare is funded primarily by donations from the Lithuanian-American community in the U.S. ¶7. Note: Sister Dolorita made a specific request for used bed sheets, pillows, and wheel chairs and assistance in renovating a floor of an adjacent building, which the hospice recently received from the city government, possibly from the U.S. armed forces. Ambassador has relayed the request to EUCOM and the Pennsylvania National Guard, Lithuania's State Partnership Program partner. End note. ¶8. One group of entrepreneurs attempting to buck the trend of young people leaving the region operate out of the Visaginas Regional Business Incubator (VRBI) complex. They have chosen to stay and, benefiting from the discounted rent offered by the VRBI leadership, are building IT and marketing start-up companies that reach across Europe. One owner, Genrih Sarbaj, reported problems dealing directly with U.S. suppliers, who generally point him to their European headquarters operating in Western Europe, and from whom he receives only tepid interest in exporting to Lithuania. The young entrepreneurs expressed great interest, however, in establishing contacts with young entrepreneur groups in the United States, to establish organizational and potential business links, and sought USG assistance to find interested groups. ¶9. While in Utena, the Ambassador donated English language children's books, part of the USG "1,000 Books for Lithuania's Millennium Program," to the Utena Public Library. ¶10. The head of Lithuania's Ethno-cosmology Museum, which hosts one of the largest telescopes in Northern Europe, outlined the Museum's plans to host a major exhibition on "Cosmic Achievements," and sought a contribution from NASA of an exhibit or educational materials relating to NASA's work in space (information relayed to NB, we appreciate your passing on to OES for appropriate action). DERSE