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Over Sixteen years of on the ground accomplishment in Russia and the CIS
- A federally registered U.S. 501c(3) international public charity founded in 1991
- A federally registered Russian non-governmental charitable organization in Moscow , Russian Federation
- Non-governmental organization with SPECIAL Consultative Status with ECOSOC Council of the United Nations
- Founder of the "Angel Coalition," Russia's largest and most successful anti-trafficking consortium
In 1991, an American medical team lead by MiraMed founding director, Dr. Juliette Engel, started a pilot project in the Birth House of Savior's Hospital of Peace and Charity in Moscow which became the MiraMed - Magee Womencare Center, the first operational western style birth house and clinic in Russia. Since its founding, the center, which is now run by Magee Womens Hospital of Pittsburgh, has trained over 700 physicians and attended 4000 births.
In 1992, at the request of the Ministry of Family Matters, MiraMed Institute began studying the plight of children abandoned or orphaned at birth. Working with the Ministry of Health and regional oblast governments, MiraMed Institute began providing humanitarian aid to orphanages in the Moscow region.
In 1993, at the request of the Karelia Regional Government, MiraMed Institute began a pilot project at Svir Stroi Orphanage in Svir Stroi, a small village 150 km east of St. Petersburg . The pilot project focused on health care and humanitarian aid delivery.
In 1995, MiraMed Institute sponsored a "Women's Leadership Exchange" which brought 35 American NGO leaders to Russia where they met with Russian women NGO leaders, Deputies from Russian Parliament, and regional governmental leaders who conducted a series of roundtables and seminars. In Moscow , they attended a session of the Duma as the guests of Galina Starovoitova. The goal was to form partnerships between US and Russian organizations and to expand international resources for fledgling Russian groups.
By 1996, MiraMed Institute was supplying aid to four orphanages, home to over 400 children and sending teams of American volunteers to teach English, computer skills, arts, carpentry and life skills at two orphanages. At that time, MiraMed staffers were made aware of the recruitment of young girls from the orphanages into prostitution rings operating in Eastern Europe and began a program of education directed at at-risk adolescent girls in an orphanage in Yaroslavl oblast.
In early 1998, becoming aware of the growing and widespread practice of trafficking orphanage girls into sexual slavery overseas, MiraMed developed a proposal to begin an anti-sexual trafficking education campaign for highest risk girls in the rural regions of the Russian Federation . During the 1998 UNIFEM Violence Against Women Trust Fund funded program, MiraMed Institute formalized partnerships with over 100 Russian Federation NGO's who participated in all of the following programs. Also in 1998, MiraMed Institute was recognized for its work in Russia by the United Nations and was granted SPECIAL Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the UN.
In 1999, MiraMed received grants to expand its anti-trafficking activities including developing a six oblast public information/media campaign, developing Russia 's first anti-trafficking coalition of NGO's, the Angel Coalition, and doing a series of global chatrooms on trafficking in the Russian language.
In June of 2000, MiraMed opened the first independent living center for orphans and social orphans in the Russian Federation , the MiraMed Independent Living and Social Adaptation Center. The Center was developed in partnership with the Moscow Committee on Social Protection and the Russian Federation Ministry of Education. A curriculum has been developed by Russian and American psychologists, teachers and sociologists which has formed the basis of planning life skills training for hundreds of orphans from the Moscow region.
The independent living curriculum was completed in May 2000 and is already in demand throughout the Russian Federation .
In 2001 MiraMed obtained funding for Russia 's first large scale, multi-media anti-trafficking campaign and worked with member NGO's of the Angel Coalition in 5 regions of Russia.
In 2002, with funding from the U.S. Department of State's Trafficking in Person's Office (TIP), MiraMed created Russia 's first network of safehouses for the rehabilitation of repatriated trafficking victims. Supportive funding from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation also allowed for the development of "best practices" Protocols to ensure effective medical evaluation and treatment of survivors.
Also this year, a grant from the World Childhood Foundation enabled the organization to begin programs for Young Single Mothers (15-23 years old) in Moscow that provide medical treatment, counseling and support and educational classes. To help young mothers, a mentoring "brigade" of pensioner "babushkas" (grandmothers) was also created to teach cooking, child-rearing skills as well as provide a sense of extended family support.
In 2003, the success of the Young Mother's Progam resulted in increased funding to expand it to a second Moscow site and a third site in 2005. The program now serves more than 150 young mothers and their babies.
MiraMed's Independent Living and Social Adaptation Center found a new, permanent home in the N.E. region of Moscow that includes newly-remodeled space for classrooms, counseling, enrichment (cooking, computer classes, sports hall, etc.). In addition to the Moscow program, sister programs in St. Petersburg , Ryazan , Uglich and Perm impact a total of 600 orphans. A grant from the GE Foundation enabled the Moscow Center and the St. Petersburg Center to begin a National Traning Program in 2004. This program will train orphanage staff from both of these regions how to use the curriculum and strategies developed by MiraMed to begin social adaptation and independent living programs in their own orphanages.
In 2004, MiraMed received funding from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Health Foundation to conduct a three year project in partnership with the Russian NGO “Women and Children First” and the Ministry of Education to write an HIV/AIDS prevention and education curriculum for Russian public schools.
In June, 2003, MiraMed opened Russia 's first Victim Assistance Center in Moscow (in partnership with the Russian NGO The Angel Coalition ) to coordinate the rescue and return of trafficking victims from Russia. Funding for a total of nine safe houses to receive and rehabilitate trafficking victims was also obtained. In 2005, MiraMed received funding from the World Childhood Foundation to work with the City of Moscow in developing shelter services for child victims of trafficking in Moscow.
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