The standard of volunteer support will be implemented by all regions by the end of 2018
The Volunteer Support Standard, developed by the leading experts at the site of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), will be implemented in all regions of Russia by the end of 2018. Its provisions formed the basis of federal legislation on the support of volunteering activities, according to which the executive and local self-government bodies received appropriate powers, eliminated excessive tax burden on volunteers, and identified tools to overcome barriers.
Svetlana Chupsheva, the General Director of ASI, reported this at the meeting on supporting volunteering activities in the regions, which was held at the Boiling Point coworking in Moscow on June 25.
‘Within the assignment of the President of the Russian Federation this year, all regions should ensure the normative implementation of the Standard requirements: these are 9 steps for creating an infrastructure, measures to support and coordinate the development of the volunteer movement in the regions. These are fundamental requirements formulated based on the best regional practices,’ she said.
According to Svetlana Chupsheva, today 48 subjects of the Russian Federation have implemented more than half of the document’s points: coordinators at the level of vice-governors responsible for volunteering activities have been identified, work on elimination of the administrative barriers is underway, and regional legal and regulatory framework has been adopted that provides a long-term perspective and a strategy for volunteer development. Also, as an example of successful implementation, it resulted in the creation of resource centers that provide consulting and methodological support, and conduct educational programs.
The remaining entities will join the implementation of the Standard in the second half of 2018, and methodological recommendations explaining the mechanisms of this activity will be sent to the regions.
The Head of the ASI said that in order to prevent bureaucracy and a formal approach to the implementation of the Standard, local councils are being formed in places from representatives of the volunteers’ community, the non-profit sector, and charitable foundations. The tasks of the public councils will include providing feedback and monitoring the work of all institutions and infrastructure to support volunteers.
‘Together with the Foundation for Presidential Grants, we want to present some metrics for assessing volunteer activity, so that each region that implements the Standard sees the economic and social impact of those projects supported by non-profit organizations and volunteers,’ Svetlana Chupsheva said.
The monitoring will be based on the same principles that have been successfully applied in assessing the implementation of the investment standard. Experts from among the entrepreneurs evaluated each position of the document, and the real work of regional authorities, which were supposed to protect these results before the Expert Board. For the same format, it is planned to monitor the implementation of the standard on volunteering activities.
‘Such councils are being formed in the regions, and they will confirm whether this or that mechanism is really created, whether it really works. Only after evaluating the ‘two keys’ - when the region reports, and experts confirm that it works, the ASI counts this as a completed point,’ - commented the Head of the ASI.
The organizers of the project expect that volunteers who have been trained at international competitions school will join the public councils in the regions where the Football Championship is held. They will be able to find interest in the implementation of regional strategic tasks in various fields.
‘This is not a one year work. We plan that the organizing committees created for the Championship will be transferred to public councils for the support of volunteer movement,’ said Svetlana Chupsheva.
REFERENCE
Implementation of the Volunteering Activities Standards in the regions
In accordance with the recommendations of the Ministry of Health of Russia and the Ministry of Labor of Russia in Quarter 3-4, 2018, the regions will adopt procedures for interaction between state and municipal institutions and volunteers. Now, the interaction procedures are in place in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Ulyanovsk region.
In 40 regions, responsible persons supervising the volunteering (volunteers) issues are appointed: Deputy Governors, Deputy Prime Ministers of the Russian Federation subjects, and Ministers. Thus, in Ryazan region, the task to involve up to 25 thousand people in volunteer activity by 2019 is under the control of the Deputy Governor.
In 32 regions, about 40 organizations function as a resource center for volunteer support: they train volunteers and officials, and methodically support the volunteer movement. The profile resource centers are being opened: in Samara region, with the support of the Autonomous Non-Profit Organizations ‘Center for the Search of Missing Persons’, a regional resource center has been launched.
Public councils work in 33 regions in the field of volunteering activities. Open competitive selection of board members was held in the Moscow and Orenburg regions.
Schools of volunteers work in 17 regions. In the Novgorod region and the Komi Republic, the volunteer organizers and officials are trained according to the professional developing programs.