Context

This project is proposed as a complementary element of the Mother and Child Health Project that is in course of implementation within the Bragin district with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Its main objective is to develop an inclusive radiation monitoring in the Bragin district that will serve as basis for the development of rehabilitation actions in the framework of the CORE Programme in the district. It is based on the findings of the ETHOS project that has been implemented successfully in the Stolyn district to help the population to regain control on its living conditions.

The ETHOS project has shown that the direct involvement of the population in the day-to-day management of the radiological situation resulting from a nuclear accident is a necessary approach to complement the rehabilitation programme implemented by public authorities in contaminated territories, especially in the long term. To be effective and sustainable, the involvement of the local population must rely on the dissemination of a practical radiological protection culture within all segments of the population and especially within professionals in charge of public health and education. Experience from the ETHOS project has demonstrated that the development of such a culture requires several factors to be combined. These include a basic knowledge about the mechanisms through which individuals are exposed within a contaminated environment combined with the direct access through measurements of the radiological quality of this environment (inclusive radiation monitoring). The establishment of such a shared culture also implies the setting up within the contaminated territories of a specific infrastructure related to the health care and education system. This infrastructure must bring together public and local professionals to implement the necessary management procedures. The involvement of NGOs and representatives of the public in the practical implementation of rehabilitation strategies has proved to be a key factor in the effectiveness and quality of the strategies.

Purpose of the TP

The general objectives for the intended three years project are:

• To include the radiation monitoring dimension within the Mother and Child Health Project in the Bragin district through the implementation of an inclusive radiation monitoring system.
• To support the development of a practical radiological protection culture among the population of the Bragin district, especially among pregnant women, young mothers and children based on the ETHOS experience.
• To evaluate the sustainability of the system that will be implemented in the Bragin district in the perspective of its long term operation based on local resources and commitment of local professionals and individuals.

It is expected that the project will also serve as a test for setting up an integrated approach of health care and radiation monitoring that could be implemented later on in the other contaminated districts participating to the CORE Programme.

Local, national and international partners of the Topical Project

Local partners: local population of the Bragin district, local authorities, Local Centres for Radiation Control (LCRC), Whole Body Counter (WBC) operators in Bragin hospital, the "Sprouts of life" NGO.

National Partners: Komchernobyl, Ministry of Health of Belarus, the Institute of Radiology of Gomel, the Brest Branch of the Research Institute of Radiology (BB RIR), the Belarus Institute of Radiation Safety (BELRAD)

International Partners: Centre d'etude sur l'Evaluation de la Protection dans le domaine Nucleaire" (CEPN) - France, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation - Cooperation Office in Belarus (SDC) - Switzerland, "Association pour le Controle de la Radioactivite dans l'Ouest" (ACRO) - France

Co-ordination and integration of the TP into the CORE Programme

The co-ordination of this TP within the CORE Programme is performed by all the partners. This is done through continuous contacts with the local actors during regular missions to follow up the evolution of the situations and address problems in close co-operation with others national and international partners of other TPs and priority areas (PAs)

Main activities provisioned throughout the CORE Programme duration

Activity 1: Organisation of a Launching Seminar

This Seminar will aim at presenting the project to the local actors to discuss its objectives and to identify the local arrangements for its implementation. The partners of the projects, together with the local professionals and authorities and representatives of the population will evaluate the alternative approaches to achieve the objectives of the project described above and decide in common how to proceed in practice to implement the selected options.

As part of this Seminar will also be included a detailed presentation of the ETHOS experience with the support of a video film and the testimonies of local professionals from the Stolyn District and researchers from the BB-RIR institute that have participated directly to the development of the ETHOS experience. All Belarus and European partners of the project will participate actively to the preparation and the running of the Seminar.

Activity 2: Setting-up of an inclusive radiation monitoring system in the 6 selected localities

To regain control on the radiological situation which characterise their living conditions, the individuals must have access to information concerning 1/ the ambient dose rates in their homes and outside in the places where they work or they use for recreational activities, 2/ the levels of contamination of all the foodstuffs they eat on a day to day basis and 3/ the levels of contamination of their body which is the only way to control the effectiveness of their protection behaviour against the contamination.

An inclusive radiation monitoring system will be developed using the existing infrastructure in the Bragin district i.e. the whole body counter operated by the Bragin hospital and the Local Centres for Radiation Control (LCRC) operated by BELRAD in Komarin, Khrakavitchi, Mikulitchi and Dublin. Support will be provided by the project to complement this infrastructure which needs to be modernised, rationalised and extended. The project will adopt a graduate approach taking into account the available human, technical and financial resources available. The personal dosimeters to measure ambient dose rates will be provided at the very beginning of the project. The next step will be the modernisation and /or the installation of dosimeters for the monitoring of the foodstuffs. The last step will be the modernisation and/or installation of whole body counters for the monitoring of the population and especially children.

Following the lessons from the ETHOS project, the objective of the project will be to develop a system that will be inclusive, effective, reliable, pluralistic and sustainable. These last criteria will be a determinant in the selection process of the measurements options that will be adopted in the district. It is expected that the project will result in the implementation of a monitoring system that will be able to continue long after the end of the project based on the local and national resources.

Taking into account the lack of experience in Belarus as far as NGO practice is concerned the "Sprouts of Life" NGO will be supported at the methodological and organisational levels through the partnership with ACRO which is operating in the same domain i.e. radiation monitoring of the environment and the foodstuffs, dissemination of preventive message related to radiological protection, general information of the population.

Activity 3: Development of a practical radiological protection culture among the population

Beyond the implementation of an effective infrastructure to ensure a reliable radiation monitoring of the population and particularly from pregnant women, young mothers and children, the objective of the project will be to develop among all actors a practical radiological protection culture to allow each of them to adopt a preventive approach with regard the radiological situation. The development of such culture relies on education, training and information. The role of the project will be to support actions that will favour the development of actions in co-operation with the local authorities and the local professionals involved in health care and education of children. In particular, links will be established with the schools of the localities where the project will take place to organise a dissemination of the radiological protection culture at school. The existence of relevant information on the radiological situation coming from the radiation monitoring system will be extremely useful in this perspective.

The exact actions to be developed within this task will be identified by the local actors with the help of the project partners in the course of the project. The "Sprouts of Life" NGO, in partnership with the ACRO NGO will be partners in the definition and the implementation of these actions.

Activity 4: Follow-up of the project

During the 3 years of the project 4 annual missions will be organised in the Bragin District to follow the development of the project in the 6 localities. All partners will participate to theses missions that will be used to:

• Review the state of development of the project, identify difficulties and develop strategies to overcome them;
• Evaluate the result of the radiation monitoring with the local actors and identify actions to further improve the situation;
• Make decisions if necessary concerning the installation of further measurement equipment ;
• Support the development of actions to educate, train and inform the Bragin population;
• Organise public meetings to favour the direct involvement of the local population;
• To organise meetings with the District authorities to evaluate the progress of the project and disseminate the new approach within the Belarus administration.

Beyond the 4 annual missions, BB-RIR will ensure the methodological back up of the project during the 3 years with the help of professionals of the Stolyn district who have been directly involved in the ETHOS project and intervene as soon as possible in case of difficulties. Additionally, the project will be integrated in the planned regional CORE coordination group that will be created to ensure the general coordination of all actions that will take place in the Region in relation with the CORE Programme.

Activity 5: Final Seminar

Towards the end of the Project an International Seminar will be organised to draw the lessons of the experience, to evaluate the success of the project and to explore ways to disseminate its results in the other contaminated districts in the framework of the CORE Programme. This Seminar will be organised by all the Belarus and European partners involved in the project in co-operation with all local actors including authorities and professionals bodies. Representatives from national and international organisations and authorities as well representatives of other districts will be invited to participate to the evaluation.

Budget

Topical project within frame work of CORE Programme will be carried out in villages Krasnoe, Khrakovitchy, Dublin, Mikulichy, Komarin of Bragin district of Gomel region on 2004-2006. The proposed budget of the project for the 3 year period is 135 920 _.

All Rights Reserved, CORE, 2004