24.08.2016

A meeting of the activist “Community” forum will take place from 26-27 August in Grozny. The Public Chamber is expecting more than 400 people to attend. After Grozny, the last two in the series of such gatherings will be held in Volgograd and Moscow, the latter being planned for this November.

According to the Federation’s Public Chamber, one of the key areas that will be debated at Grozny will be the creation of a platform for “Citizen involvement in NGO work”. “We’ll be discussing details of proposed interaction between the public, NGOs and the business sector in the North Caucasus Federal District. We’ll also discuss specific cases and share different experiences. It’s important that we not only bring key information to the meeting but also elicit feedback from people and learn about current technologies and trends that are of concern to them”, says Yulia Zimova, the platform’s moderator and Public Chamber member.

During the forum, Zimova will talk about the experiences gained from public involvement in NGO work in terms of public oversight and new projects in the sector. In particular, there will be discussions on the All-Russian audit of children’s orphanages that will begin in the autumn. “Many regional chambers will be involved in this wide-ranging exercise, including the North Caucasus Federal District. Volunteers from various organisations are also expected to take part in this review. We are ready and willing to work with these people – no-one is being excluded”, says Zimova.

At Grozny there will be the first ever meeting of the platform on the “Role of NGOs in countering terrorist and extremism propaganda”.

During 2016, the “Community” forum will be running a number of discussion and educational platforms aimed at stimulating new ideas for promoting the third sector which will be discussed at the forum’s final meeting in Moscow. The idea is to develop a framework that unlocks the potential of SONGOs that can be utilised in the development of civil society, in resolving social issues and helping to establish an NGO sector economy within Russia.

Meetings of the “Community” forum have already taken place in Omsk, Perm, Khabarovsk, Yalta, Ekaterinburg and Cherepovets.

Author: Georgy Ivanushkin

http://www.asi.org.ru/news/137426/